College Factual  by our College Data Analytics Team
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Murray State University Data & Information Overview

433 awards Ranking Badges
Great Price Value for Your Money
85% Acceptance Rate
This overview covers the essential stats on Murray State University, including its rankings, majors, diversity, and more.
Want to know more about a specific stat? Just click on its tile, and you’ll go to a page that goes more in-depth on that subject. You can also use the links below to go directly to any section on this page.

How Well Is Murray State University Ranked?

#1,002 Best Colleges in Nation
#9 Best Colleges in KY
Civil Engineering Technology Highest Ranked Major

2024 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.

Murray State University was awarded 433 badges in the 2024 rankings. The highest ranked major at the school is civil engineering technology.

Explore Best Ranked Schools for You

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

Overall Quality

According to College Factual's 2024 analysis, Murray State is ranked #1,002 out of 2,217 schools in the nation that were analyzed for overall quality.

Out of the 38 colleges in Kentucky, Murray State is ranked at #9.

See all of the rankings for Murray State University.

Is It Hard to Get Into Murray State?

85% Acceptance Rate
66% Of Accepted Are Women
16% Submit SAT Scores

Acceptance Rate

The acceptance rate at Murray State University is 85%, which is higher than many other schools to which you may be applying. But don't think getting into Murray State is a sure thing. The admissions staff is still going to review your application to see if you are a good fit for the school.

Average Test Scores

About 16% of students accepted to Murray State submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 490 and 610. Math scores were between 470 and 590.

SAT Reading and Writing Scores for Murray State University  ( 490 to 610 )
200
800

SAT Math Scores for Murray State University  ( 470 to 590 )
200
800
Murray State received ACT scores from 86% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT Composite scores ranged between 20 and 27.

ACT Composite Scores for Murray State University  ( 20 to 27 )
1
36

Learn more about Murray State University admissions.

Murray State University Faculty

16 to 1 Student to Faculty
79% Full Time Teachers

Student to Faculty Ratio

The student to faculty ratio is often used to estimate how much interaction there is between professors and their students at a college or university. At Murray State University, this ratio is 16 to 1, which is on par with the national average of 15 to 1. That's not bad at all.

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 Murray State University is 79%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.

Full-Time Faculty Percent  79 out of 100
0
100

Retention and Graduation Rates at Murray State University

75% Freshmen Retention
31% On-Time Graduation Rate

Freshmen Retention Rate

Murray State University has a freshmen retention rate of 75%. 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  75 out of 100
0
100

Graduation Rate

The on-time graduation rate is the percent of first-time, full-time students who get their bachelor's degree with four years. At Murray State this rate is 31%, which is about average when compared to the national rate of 33.3%.

On-Time Graduation Rate  31 out of 100
0
100

Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Murray State University.

Murray State University Undergraduate Student Diversity

6,149 Full-Time Undergraduates
12.9% Racial-Ethnic Minorities*
61.3% Percent Women

During the 2017-2018 academic year, there were 7,863 undergraduates at Murray State with 6,149 being full-time and 1,714 being part-time.

How Much Does Murray State University Cost?

$11,736 Net Price
49% Take Out Loans
$32,832 Total Student Loans
The overall average net price of Murray State is $11,736. 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 Murray State

$0-30 K $30K-48K $48-75 $75-110K $110K +
$9,339 $9,520 $11,244 $14,681 $15,509

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 Murray State, 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 Murray State, approximately 49% of students took out student loans averaging $8,208 a year. That adds up to $32,832 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at Murray State is 6.0%. This is significantly lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, which is a good sign that you'll be able to pay back your student loans.

Get more details about paying for Murray State University.

How Much Money Do Murray State Graduates Make?

$41,894 Avg Salary of Grads
Average Earnings Boost
Although some majors pay more than others, students who graduate from Murray State with a bachelor's degree go on to jobs where they make an average salary of $41,894 in their early years. This is in the same neighborhood of the average college graduate's salary of $42,485 per year. However, certain majors may produce higher-paying graduates.

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See which majors at Murray State University make the most money.

Location of Murray State University

Kentucky State
6,149 Full-Time Undergraduates
Town Campus Setting
Located in Murray, Kentucky, Murray State University is a public institution. Murray is a great place for students who enjoy small town life.

Get more details about the location of Murray State University.

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Contact details for Murray State are given below.

Contact Details
Address: 218 Wells Hall, Murray, KY 42071-3318
Phone: 270-809-3011
Website: www.murraystate.edu/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/murraystateuniversity
Twitter: http://twitter.com/murraystateuniv

Murray State University Majors

64 Majors With Completions
1,507 Undergraduate Degrees
624 Graduate Degrees
During the most recent year for which we have data, students from 64 majors graduated from Murray State University. Of these students, 1,507 received undergraduate degrees and 624 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
Other Agriculture 124 $37,777
Nursing 120 $54,148
Teacher Education Grade Specific 101 $32,714
Liberal Arts General Studies 100 $31,376
General Business/Commerce 83 $33,385
Public Relations & Advertising 69 $29,325
Quality Control Technology 56 $65,448
General Biology 56 $30,368
Social Work 53 $26,989
Business Administration & Management 35 $36,133

Learn more about the majors offered at Murray State University along with which ones have the highest average starting salaries.

Online Learning at Murray State

47% Take At Least One Class Online
20% 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 2020-2021, 4,384 students took at least one online class at Murray State University. This is a decrease from the 4,581 students who took online classes the previous year.

Year Took at Least One Online Class Took All Classes Online
2020-2021 4,384 1,878
2019-2020 4,581 1,704
2018-2019 3,853 1,253
2017-2018 3,741 1,184
2016-2017 3,454 1,272

Learn more about online learning at Murray State University.

If you’re considering Murray State University, here are some more schools you may be interested in knowing more about.

Curious on how these schools stack up against Murray State? 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.

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