Research brief & institution hub

North Carolina State University at Raleigh

NCLarge public institution · Overall rank #99 nationally

Data snapshot September 27, 2026Updated October 1, 2026

Azimuth ranks North Carolina State University at Raleigh #99 among nonprofit four-year institutions.

Who it’s a good fit for

North Carolina State University at Raleigh is a public university in Raleigh, North Carolina, where Engineering and Business account for the largest shares of degrees. Mobility is among the highest we track.

Graduates earn less than predicts for students like them. The model attributes an addition to the factors it measures—field of study, enrollment and the local labor market—and a subtraction to the remainder it does not explain.

Pell recipients complete at a rate below the entering cohort as a whole, and the highest-income band pays more than the lowest. Access is well above average, while affordability, the weakest , is above average.

The admission rate is below the median for comparable institutions, and most graduates are estimated to go into the workforce rather than on to further study. A student drawn to the largest programs should know that the highest-earning ones are in engineering and computer science.

NC State at a glance

Admissions and outcomes

Admission rate^[1]: 41.7%
Six-year completion^[2]: 84.8%
Four-year earnings^[3]: $75,943

Cost and family borrowing

Average annual net price · $48–75K family income^[6]: $13,334
Median student debt^[4]: $20,121
Median Parent PLUS debt^[7]: $23,000

NC State rankings: how Azimuth assesses value^[5]

North Carolina State University at Raleigh is a public university in Raleigh, North Carolina, enrolling 27,371 undergraduates. Its composite standing sits near the top of the Azimuth ranking among nonprofit four-year institutions (93rd percentile).

Admissions run more selective than the peer median: the university accepts 41.7% of applicants, against 78.1% for comparable institutions of the same type and size. Among full-time starters, 94.5% continue into the second year and 84.8% finish within six years.

Both rates sit above the peer medians of 83.1% and 65.0%. An estimated 22.4% of entrants arrive as transfers, so the six-year graduation rate tracks only the first-time, full-time cohort and leaves out a sizable share of the student body.

At North Carolina State University at Raleigh, the four pillars are spread across a wide range. Mobility is the strongest (at the 95th percentile), while affordability is the weakest (at the 70th percentile).

Access and return sit between them, at the 87th and 80th percentiles respectively.

Azimuth ranks North Carolina State University at Raleigh #99 among 1,467 nonprofit four-year institutions. The university's strongest pillar is mobility, in the 95th percentile, reflecting strong outcomes for students from lower-income backgrounds.

Access also stands out, in the 87th percentile, while the return pillar is in the 80th percentile. The weakest pillar is affordability, which lands in the 70th percentile.

19.6% of undergraduates receive Pell Grants, the federal aid that measures financial access. Azimuth ranks North Carolina State University at Raleigh #192 for access among nonprofit four-year institutions.

The access pillar draws on both the share of students receiving that aid and how well they finish. Pell recipients in the first-time full-time cohort complete at 77.2%, below the rate for the cohort as a whole (84.8%) by 7.6 percentage points.

For mobility, Azimuth ranks the university #81 among nonprofit four-year institutions. Graduates earn about $2,587 less than the model expects for similar students.

Mobility is the strongest of the four pillars for the university, while the earnings picture sits below what the model predicts.

How value-added outcomes are assessed · How to interpret program rankings

NC State rankings in context
Geography	Rank
National	#99

Azimuth overall value rankings within each geographic comparison group.

National pillar percentiles

Economic mobility: National percentile: 95

Access & reach: National percentile: 87

Affordability: National percentile: 70

Return on investment: National percentile: 80

Top-ranked majors

Forestry#1
Environmental Design#1
Nutrition Sciences#2

This school’s three highest-ranked programs nationally. Each rank compares bachelor’s programs in the same field; field sizes differ.

Explore major rankings

01 / NC State briefing

NC State cost & financial aid^[6]^[7]

For North Carolina State University at Raleigh, the published cost of attendance is $26,425, with in-state tuition and fees at $8,799 and out-of-state at $32,847. Room and board accounts for $14,332 of that total.

Financial aid reduces the sticker price substantially: the average net price for aid recipients is $17,303, a savings of $9,122. Aid covers about 35% of the published cost for the average aid recipient.

That sits above the peer median of $15,634 for comparable institutions (same type and size) by $1,669. Azimuth ranks the university #430 for affordability among nonprofit four-year institutions.

For aid recipients from families earning under $30,000, the average net price is $6,382, while families in the $48,001–$75,000 band see an average of $13,334 and those earning over $110,000 average $24,652. The spread between the lowest and highest bands is $18,270.

Azimuth ranks North Carolina State University at Raleigh #430 for affordability among nonprofit four-year institutions. The published cost of attendance is $26,425, with in-state tuition and fees at $8,799 and room and board at $14,332.

Aid covers about 35% of the published cost for the average aid recipient, an average offset of $9,122. The average net price for aid recipients is $17,303, which is above the peer median of $15,634 for comparable institutions (same type and size) by $1,669.

The median federal student debt at completion is $20,121, with 85.7% of federal aid recipients borrowing federal loans. That median is above the peer median of $20,076 for comparable institutions (same type and size) by $45.

Median Parent PLUS borrowing stands at $23,000. If repaid over ten years, the estimated monthly payment for a borrower with the median federal debt is $229.

Your family income

Choose a household income range to see estimated net price.

Reported average annual net price · $48–75K$13,334

After grants and scholarships. Your aid offer may differ.

Averages within each income band; individual aid packages vary.

Borrowing and repayment at NC State

Federal borrowers who complete a degree at North Carolina State University at Raleigh face a median debt of $20,121. Against the $20,076 median at comparable institutions (same type and size), the university's median is above by $45.

The share of undergraduates with federal loans is 85.7%. Parents who borrow through Parent PLUS face a median debt of $23,000.

In its 2025-26 Common Data Set, the university reported that 44% of graduates borrowed from any source, with an average cumulative amount of $25,393 per borrower. Of those borrowers, 43% held federal loans averaging $19,015 and 7% held private loans averaging $37,306.

Four years after completion, graduates of North Carolina State University at Raleigh earn a median of $75,943, a figure in the 84th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions. They earn about $2,587 less than the model expects for similar students, an outcome that falls in the 45th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions.

Earnings scenarios derived from the university's program mix suggest a typical outcome of $75,943, with a downside scenario of $53,483 and an upside scenario of $99,572. For borrowers, the median federal student debt at completion is $20,121, a level that is above the $20,076 median for comparable institutions (same type and size) by $45.

If repaid over ten years, that debt implies an estimated monthly payment of $229.

Median Parent PLUS borrowing, a separate parent-borrower population, is $23,000. The estimated monthly student payment if repaid over ten years is $229.

How Financial GPS measures payment burden · The four risk-and-reward zones

Financial GPS

What does repayment look like?

Institution median student debt: $20,121
Institution Parent PLUS debt: $23,000

Federal loans only; private or institutional loans aren’t included.

Estimated student payment · monthly: $229/mo
Estimated Parent PLUS payment · monthly: $292/mo

Payments use school-wide median balances, not a specific major’s.

Payment assumptions

Payments are 10-year standard payments on the median balance, before loan fees, used as a yardstick. Rates for newly issued loans may differ, and loans made after July 1, 2026 can repay over a longer term; existing loans keep their original fixed rates.

Explore your own numbers in Financial GPS

Read the full cost & aid brief

02 / NC State briefing

NC State career outcomes & earnings^[3]^[8]^[9]

Four years after completion, completers at North Carolina State University at Raleigh earn a median of $75,943. That is above the peer median of $65,610 among comparable institutions (same type and size) by $10,333.

The median sits in the 84th percentile nationally, and the return pillar overall lands in the 80th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions. Graduates earn about $2,587 less than the model expects for similar students, a result in the 45th percentile.

The part the model attributes to the factors it measures (field of study, enrollment and the local labor market) adds $12,979. The part it attributes to a remainder it does not explain subtracts $15,566. Within the measured factors, the STEM component adds $5,467.

Among federally aided completers who are working and not enrolled, graduates of North Carolina State University at Raleigh earn a median of $75,943 four years after completion. That median falls at the 84th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions.

The median draws on an earnings cohort of 6,075 completers. It sits $10,333 above the $65,610 median for comparable institutions (same type and size).

Graduates earn about $2,587 less than the model expects for similar students. Earnings scenarios estimated from the program mix range from $53,483 to $99,572, with $75,943 as the typical estimate.

An estimated 30.4% of graduates continue to graduate study, based on the program mix. The median is above the peer group yet below what the model expects for similar students.

Four years after completion, graduates of North Carolina State University at Raleigh earn a median of $75,943, which places the university in the 84th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions. That figure is above the median of $65,610 for comparable institutions (same type and size) by $10,333.

Graduates earn about $2,587 less than the model expects for similar students, a result in the 45th percentile. The part the model attributes to the factors it measures (field of study, enrollment and the local labor market) adds $12,979.

The part it attributes to a remainder it does not explain subtracts $15,566. Within the measured factors, the STEM component adds $5,467.

Azimuth ranks the university #293 for return on investment. Earnings scenarios grounded in the program mix show a downside of $53,483 and an upside of $99,572.

The largest program, Business Administration and Management, awarded 841 degrees and shows median earnings of $84,349 four years after completion, ranking #35 nationally in its field according to Azimuth. Computer Science is the highest-earning large program, with 281 degrees awarded and a median of $113,478.

Forestry holds the strongest national rank at #1, with 81 degrees awarded and earnings of $86,357. Forestry earns 1.47x the national median for its field, ranking #1 nationally.

The spread between the downside and upside scenarios is substantial, reflecting the range of programs at North Carolina State University at Raleigh. The downside earnings scenario lands at $53,483, while the upside scenario reaches $99,572.

The highest-earning programs include Computer Science, where completers earn a median of $113,478 four years after completion, and Computer Engineering, where completers earn $110,416. The largest program, Business Administration and Management, awards 841 degrees and shows median earnings of $84,349.

Graduates of North Carolina State University at Raleigh earn about $2,587 less than the model expects for similar students. The median federal student debt for borrowers who complete a degree is $20,121, which is above the peer median of $20,076 for comparable institutions (same type and size).

If repaid over ten years, the estimated monthly payment on that debt is $229. Parent PLUS borrowers, a separate population, carry a median of $23,000.

The average net price for aid recipients is $17,303, running above the peer median of $15,634 for comparable institutions. For aid recipients from families earning under $30,000, the average net price drops to $6,382, and the spread between the lowest and highest income bands reaches $18,270.

These costs coincide with a six-year graduation rate of 84.8% and a first-year retention rate of 94.5%. Azimuth ranks the university #81 for mobility among nonprofit four-year institutions.

That pillar, which reflects the combination of access and outcomes, sits in the 95th percentile and defines the institution's strongest contribution.

What explains value-added earnings?

Program & institutional factors The part attributed to observed institutional characteristics.: +$12,979
Unexplained remainder What remains after the model’s observed factors.: -$15,566
Total modeled value added The modeled difference from expected earnings.: -$2,587

These are statistical model components, not proven causal effects; the remainder is not a direct measure of teaching quality.

Read the full outcomes brief

Read the full admissions brief

04 / NC State briefing

What are the largest majors at NC State?^[12]

North Carolina State University at Raleigh awards bachelor's degrees across 64 fields with published four-year earnings, and Azimuth ranks 54 of them nationally among nonprofit four-year institutions. The highest-earning program, Computer Science, shows a median of $113,478 four years after completion, with 281 degrees awarded and an Azimuth national rank of #69 in the field.

Computer Engineering follows at $110,416 on 136 degrees awarded. Business Administration and Management, the largest with 841 degrees awarded, reaches $84,349 and ranks #35 nationally.

Biology awards 415 degrees and reports a median of $61,384, placing #98 in its field.

North Carolina State University at Raleigh awards bachelor's degrees across 64 fields with published earnings data, and 54 hold a national Azimuth rank. The largest program, Business Administration and Management, awarded 841 degrees and ranks #35 nationally, with graduates earning a median of $84,349 four years after completion.

Computer Science is the highest-earning large program, with a median of $113,478 and 281 degrees awarded. The university's best nationally ranked program is Forestry at #1, which awarded 81 degrees and shows median earnings of $86,357.

Science, Technology and Society ranks #5 nationally and #1 in North Carolina, with 55 degrees awarded and a median of $67,468.

North Carolina State University at Raleigh awards bachelor's degrees across a broad set of fields, with Engineering accounting for 23.2% of degrees awarded and Business for 17.2%. Biological Sciences is the third-largest family at 9.8%.

The university has 54 programs with an Azimuth national rank and 64 with published four-year earnings data. The largest single programs are Business Administration and Management at 841 degrees awarded, Biology at 415, and Psychology at 305.

The highest-ranked program is Forestry, with 81 degrees awarded and median earnings of $86,357 four years after completion. Environmental Design ranks #1 nationally and #1 in North Carolina within its field, with median earnings of $69,851.

Science, Technology and Society ranks #5 nationally and #1 in North Carolina within its field, from 55 degrees awarded and median earnings of $67,468. The highest-earning program is Computer Science, at $113,478 from 281 degrees awarded.

Forestry carries a benchmark ratio of 1.47x against the national median for its field. The pattern is one of strength spread across several fields rather than concentrated in a single area.

Engineering and business programs dominate the degree count, but the highest-ranked program sits in forestry, and the highest-earning in computer science. 43.0% of degrees awarded are in STEM fields, and the engineering programs that make up much of that share include Computer Engineering at $110,416 and Nuclear Engineering at $100,212 four years out.

Four-year earnings · six largest reported fields

Business Administration, Management and Operations 841 degrees awarded: $84,349
Biology, General 415 degrees awarded: $61,384
Psychology, General 305 degrees awarded: $62,032
Computer Science 281 degrees awarded: $113,478
Mechanical Engineering 249 degrees awarded: $87,112
Communication and Media Studies 240 degrees awarded: $62,039

Fields selected by reported completions. Counts describe credentials awarded, not unique students or the earnings sample. Bars show median four-year earnings.

Read the full majors brief

05 / NC State briefing

How does NC State serve students from different backgrounds?

Ranks its mobility pillar in the 95th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions. The six-year graduation rate for the first-time full-time cohort reaches 84.8%, and Pell recipients complete at 77.2% — below the overall rate by 7.6 percentage points.

Four years after completion, graduates earn about $2,587 less than the model expects for similar students, a result that sits in the 45th percentile nationally.

Azimuth places the access pillar of North Carolina State University at Raleigh in the 87th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions. The public university admits 41.7% of applicants, a rate well below the peer median of 78.1%, and enrolls 27,371 undergraduates.

Pell Grant recipients make up 19.6% of the undergraduate body, and an estimated 22.4% of students arrive as transfers or part-time students.

06 / NC State briefing

What colleges are similar to NC State?^[15]

Azimuth groups alternatives by admissions, location, cost and earnings, then orders candidates within each group. Peer earnings use the matched four-year cohort. How matching works.

A shortlist for different decisions

Choose a row to compare the figures with NC State.

Admissions peerPurdue University-Main Campus49.9% admitted

Comparison with NC State
Measure	NC State	Purdue University-Main Campus
Peer earnings · 4 years	$75,943	$81,751+$5,808 vs NC State
Average annual net price	$17,303	$14,600-$2,703 vs NC State · lower cost
Admission rate	41.7%	49.9%

Explore Purdue University-Main Campus →

Higher-admission alternativeElon University66.4% admitted

Comparison with NC State
Measure	NC State	Elon University
Peer earnings · 4 years	$75,943	$77,800+$1,857 vs NC State
Average annual net price	$17,303	$41,555+$24,252 vs NC State · higher cost
Admission rate	41.7%	66.4%

Nearby alternativeUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel HillNearby option · NC

Comparison with NC State
Measure	NC State	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Peer earnings · 4 years	$75,943	$81,033+$5,090 vs NC State
Average annual net price	$17,303	$11,655-$5,648 vs NC State · lower cost
Admission rate	41.7%	15.3%

Explore University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill →

Higher-earnings alternativeUniversity of Providence$88,535 earnings

Comparison with NC State
Measure	NC State	University of Providence
Peer earnings · 4 years	$75,943	$88,535+$12,592 vs NC State
Average annual net price	$17,303	$17,649+$346 vs NC State · higher cost
Admission rate	41.7%	50.3%

Lower-cost alternativeUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill$11,655 average net price

Comparison with NC State
Measure	NC State	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Peer earnings · 4 years	$75,943	$81,033+$5,090 vs NC State
Average annual net price	$17,303	$11,655-$5,648 vs NC State · lower cost
Admission rate	41.7%	15.3%

Explore University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill →

Similar profileAuburn UniversityMatched across several measures

Comparison with NC State
Measure	NC State	Auburn University
Peer earnings · 4 years	$75,943	$73,151-$2,792 vs NC State
Average annual net price	$17,303	$24,323+$7,020 vs NC State · higher cost
Admission rate	41.7%	45.9%

Explore Auburn University →

Each school is the first-ranked match in its category, not a recommendation across every measure. The same college may lead more than one category. Figures use the matching snapshot; earnings reflect the matched four-year cohort. — means unavailable.

Read the full similar schools brief

Data scope & methodology

Structured payloads generated September 27, 2026Governed hub narrative September 27, 2026Governed spoke corpus September 27, 2026

Four-year earnings describe cohorts of completers. Figures for other horizons describe different cohorts and are not joined into a career-growth projection.

Azimuth's overall rank and pillar percentiles come from the school profile. Absolute pillar ranks, city, enrollment and official-site links are shown only when structured data supplies them.

Detailed earnings, cost, admissions and program values come from the endpoint responsible for each measure. Missing values are not replaced with zero. Value-added estimates are model associations, not causal effects.

Figures are refreshed with each data release, at most a quarter apart. The underlying source dates can be earlier than the release.

Explanatory text is AI-assisted drafting checked against those figures; it is not an additional data source.

Analysis and methodology by Daniel Rogers, founder of College Azimuth.

Read the ranking methodology, data definitions and limitations · About College Azimuth

Read the analysis behind value-added earnings and the change to four-year graduate earnings. These articles are published on collegeazimuth.com.

Data notes & source fields

Scorecard field codes identify the underlying measure; Azimuth-derived values are labeled separately. Snapshot dates are not measurement years. Source populations and reporting periods differ across measures. Field definitions are in the U.S. Department of Education · College Scorecard documentation; notes with a different source link it below.

Admission rate. Reported applicants admitted; not a transfer-specific or individual admission probability.
Source fields: ADM_RATE
Six-year completion. First-time, full-time students completing at the institution within 150% of normal time, typically six years for a bachelor’s degree.
Source fields: C150_4
Four-year institutional earnings. Median earnings of graduates in the reported cohort who are working and not enrolled, four years after completion.
Source fields: MD_EARN_WNE_4YR
Median federal student debt. Federal student-loan debt among completers in the reported borrowing cohort. Excludes Parent PLUS and is not total debt across all students.
Source fields: GRAD_DEBT_MDN
National, regional and state ranks; pillar percentiles; major ranks. Derived scores within the stated eligible comparison set, not raw Scorecard fields. Major ranks compare institutions within a field; their denominators differ.
Source fields: Azimuth rankings
College Azimuth · Ranking methodology
Annual net price by family income. Average annual cost after grants and scholarships for the eligible first-time, full-time aid-recipient cohort. Public-school figures reflect in-state tuition. Includes living costs; these are averages, not medians or individual offers.
Source fields: NPT4_PUB/PRIV; NPT41_PUB/PRIV through NPT45_PUB/PRIV
Parent PLUS debt, payments and GPS illustration. Stored payments use Financial GPS loan and repayment assumptions. The adjustable spectrum applies the published framework to annual student payments divided by earnings minus an expense allowance; its initial allowance uses the frozen 2024 framework baseline. It is an illustration rather than a school rating. Parent PLUS uses the completer median where available, otherwise the all-borrower median; these describe different borrowing populations.
Source fields: PLUS_DEBT_ALL_COMP_MD; fallback PLUS_DEBT_ALL_MD; Azimuth Financial GPS calculations
College Azimuth · Financial GPS methodology
Downside and upside earnings; yellow band. The band spans the modeled lower and higher scenarios. It is not the P25–P75 interval for individual graduates. The median marker is the separately reported institutional median.
Source fields: Azimuth modeled program-mix scenarios
College Azimuth · Earnings scenario methodology
Value added and its components. Observed-factor attribution plus the unexplained remainder equals total modeled value added. These are associations, not proven causal effects; the remainder is not a direct measure of teaching quality.
Source fields: Azimuth statistical model
College Azimuth · Value-added methodology
SAT score range and reported midpoint. Reported scores of enrolled score-submitters, not admission cutoffs. The midpoint field is not necessarily the middle of the displayed range.
Source fields: SATVR25 + SATMT25; SATVR75 + SATMT75; SAT_AVG
First-year retention. Retention of the reported full-time cohort at four-year institutions.
Source fields: RET_FT4
Program earnings, completion counts and major-mix dots. Included bachelor’s programs have at least five reported completions. Counts are aggregated credentials, not unique people or an earnings sample. Major-mix dots group those counts by field of study; excluded programs are not zero activity.
Source fields: EARN_MDN_4YR; IPEDSCOUNT1; CIPCODE
College Scorecard · Field-of-study technical documentation
Pell recipients. Share of undergraduates receiving a Pell Grant in the reported academic year.
Source fields: PCTPELL
Entering students outside the first-time, full-time group. This is not an observed transfer-in rate. It includes part-time entrants and other entering-student attendance patterns.
Source fields: 1 − PFTFTUG1_EF
Peer earnings and signed differences. Differences are peer minus this school, from the same matching snapshot. A positive earnings difference does not mean the peer is better on every measure.
Source fields: Azimuth peer model using MD_EARN_WNE_4YR
College Azimuth · Comparison methodology

How to interpret program rankings