College Factual  by our College Data Analytics Team
       Unbiased Factual Guarantee

Columbia University in the City of New York Data & Information Overview

108 awards Ranking Badges
Great Price Value for Your Money
4% Acceptance Rate
Want the scoop on Columbia University in the City of New York? We’ve put together a comprehensive report on the school that covers what majors Columbia offers, how the school ranks, how diverse it is, and much more.
All you need to do to learn more about a stat is click on its tile, and you’ll be taken to another page that analyzes that data more closely. Also, you can use the links below to scroll to any section of this page.

How Well Is Columbia University in the City of New York Ranked?

#15 Best Colleges in Nation
#2 Best Colleges in NY
General English Literature Highest Ranked Major
Quality Badge

2025 Rankings

In its yearly rankings, College Factual analyzes over 2,000 colleges and universities to determine which ones are the best in a variety of categories, such as overall value, quality, diversity, which schools are the best for each major, and much more.

Columbia University in the City of New York was awarded 108 badges in the 2025 rankings. The highest ranked major at the school is general english literature.

Explore Best Ranked Schools for You

Explore the best ranked schools for the programs you are most interested in.

Overall Quality

Columbia is ranked #15 out of 2,152 schools in the nation for overall quality on College Factual's 2025 Best Colleges list. This puts it in the top 1% of all schools in the nation!

Columbia is also ranked #2 out of 136 schools in New York.

See all of the rankings for Columbia University in the City of New York.

Is It Hard to Get Into Columbia?

4% Acceptance Rate
50% Of Accepted Are Women
44% Submit SAT Scores

Acceptance Rate

Columbia University in the City of New York has a very low acceptance rate of 4%, making it one of the most selective out of all the colleges and universities in the nation. It's probably a good idea to apply to other schools in addition to Columbia just in case you don't make the cut.

Average Test Scores

About 44% of students accepted to Columbia submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 730 and 780. Math scores were between 760 and 800.

SAT Reading and Writing Scores for Columbia University in the City of New York  ( 730 to 780 )
200
800

SAT Math Scores for Columbia University in the City of New York  ( 760 to 800 )
200
800
Columbia received ACT scores from 23% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT Composite scores ranged between 34 and 35.

ACT Composite Scores for Columbia University in the City of New York  ( 34 to 35 )
1
36

Learn more about Columbia University in the City of New York admissions.

Columbia University in the City of New York Faculty

6 to 1 Student to Faculty
44% Full Time Teachers

Student to Faculty Ratio

At Columbia, the student to faculty ratio is an excellent 6 to 1. That's much better than the national average of 15 to 1. This indicates that many classes will probably be small, and students will have ample opportunites to work closely with their professors and classmates.

Percent of Full-Time Faculty

When estimating how much access students will have to their teachers, some people like to look at what percentage of faculty members are full time. This is because part-time teachers may not have as much time to spend on campus as their full-time counterparts.

The full-time faculty percentage at Columbia University in the City of New York is 44%. This is comparable to the national average of 47%.

Full-Time Faculty Percent  44 out of 100
0
100

Retention and Graduation Rates at Columbia University in the City of New York

98% Freshmen Retention
84% On-Time Graduation Rate

Freshmen Retention Rate

Columbia University in the City of New York has a freshmen retention rate of 98%. That's a good sign that full-time students like the school and their professors enough to want to stick around for another year. It's also a sign that the admissions team did a good job in choosing applicants who were a good fit for the school.

Freshmen Retention Rate  98 out of 100
0
100

Graduation Rate

The on-time graduation rate for someone pursuing a bachelor's degree is typically four years. This rate at Columbia for first-time, full-time students is 84%, which is better than the national average of 33.3%.

On-Time Graduation Rate  84 out of 100
0
100

Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Columbia University in the City of New York.

Columbia University in the City of New York Undergraduate Student Diversity

7,509 Full-Time Undergraduates
45.9% Racial-Ethnic Minorities*
49.1% Percent Women

During the 2017-2018 academic year, there were 8,148 undergraduates at Columbia with 7,509 being full-time and 639 being part-time.

How Much Does Columbia University in the City of New York Cost?

$23,497 Net Price
10% Take Out Loans
$67,396 Total Student Loans
The overall average net price of Columbia is $23,497. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group. See the table below for the net price for different income groups.

Net Price by Income Group for Columbia

$0-30 K $30K-48K $48-75 $75-110K $110K +
$6,184 $4,569 $8,385 $15,114 $45,873

The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.Note that the net price is typically less than the published for a school. For more information on the sticker price of Columbia, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.

Student Loan Debt

While almost two-thirds of students nationwide take out loans to pay for college, the percentage may be quite different for the school you plan on attending. At Columbia, approximately 10% of students took out student loans averaging $16,849 a year. That adds up to $67,396 over four years for those students.

Get more details about paying for Columbia University in the City of New York.

How Much Money Do Columbia Graduates Make?

$102,491 Avg Salary of Grads
High Earnings Boost
Yearly salaries vary depending on what you major in, but on average, bachelor's degree recipients from Columbia make around $102,491 per year during the early years of their employment. This is good news for future Columbia graduates since it is 108% more than the average college graduate's salary of $49,219 per year.

undefined

See which majors at Columbia University in the City of New York make the most money.

Location of Columbia University in the City of New York

New York State
7,509 Full-Time Undergraduates
Large City Campus Setting
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private not-for-profit institution located in New York, New York. The city atmosphere of New York makes it a great place for students who enjoy having lots of educational and entertainment options.

Get more details about the location of Columbia University in the City of New York.

undefined

Contact details for Columbia are given below.

Contact Details
Address: West 116 St And Broadway, New York, NY 10027
Phone: 212-854-1754
Website: www.columbia.edu/

Columbia University in the City of New York Majors

130 Majors With Completions
29,130 Undergraduate Degrees
29,130 Graduate Degrees
During the most recent year for which we have data, students from 130 majors graduated from Columbia University in the City of New York. Of these students, 29,130 received undergraduate degrees and 29,130 graduated with a master's or doctor's degree. The following table lists the most popular undergraduate majors along with the average salary graduates from those majors make.

Most Popular Majors Bachelor’s Degrees Average Salary of Graduates
Management Sciences & Quantitative Methods 1,539 NA
Computer Science 748 $118,636
Public Health 574 NA
Social Work 545 NA
Economics 535 $83,135
Legal Research 516 NA
Nursing 465 NA
Computer Information Systems 417 NA
Law 410 NA
Journalism 388 NA

Learn more about the majors offered at Columbia University in the City of New York along with which ones have the highest average starting salaries.

Online Learning at Columbia

14% Take At Least One Class Online
3% Take All Classes Online

Online courses area a great option for busy, working students as well as for those who have scheduling conflicts and want to study on their own time. As time goes by, expect to see more and more online learning options become available.

In 2022-2023, 4,953 students took at least one online class at Columbia University in the City of New York. This is a decrease from the 7,666 students who took online classes the previous year.

Year Took at Least One Online Class Took All Classes Online
2022-2023 4,953 1,111
2021-2022 7,666 1,494
2020-2021 28,177 25,843
2018-2019 1,724 586

Learn more about online learning at Columbia University in the City of New York.

If you’re considering Columbia University in the City of New York, here are some more schools you may be interested in knowing more about.

Curious on how these schools stack up against Columbia? Pit them head to head with College Combat, our free interactive tool that lets you compare college on the features that matter most to you!

Notes and References

Footnotes

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

References

More about our data sources and methodologies.

Popular Reports

College Rankings
Best by Location
Degree Guides by Major
Graduate Programs

Compare Your School Options