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The cheapest law schools cost of living question is best answered with each school's own disclosed cost-of-attendance budget, since that is the number your borrowing is sized against. BYU at $38,428 and Georgia at $44,022 for residents are the cheapest in this set; Stanford at $125,124 is the most expensive.
Every figure below is the school's own posted or 509-derived annual budget, which includes tuition, fees and a living allowance. Public schools use resident rates.
#SchoolCityAnnual COATuitionCar needed1BYUProvo, UT$38,428LDS $15,992 / non-member $31,984Yes2GeorgiaAthens, GA$44,022res $18,044 / nonres $38,944Yes3Ohio StateColumbus, OH$60,955res $35,650 / nonres $50,902No4Texas A&MFort Worth, TX$61,508res $32,634 / nonres $48,522Yes5UNCChapel Hill, NC$62,496res $28,082 / nonres $51,320Yes6WisconsinMadison, WI$63,242res $38,186 / nonres $55,300No7TexasAustin, TX$63,634res $38,236 / nonres $56,822No8MinnesotaMinneapolis, MN$82,558res $51,440 / nonres $61,844No9Wake ForestWinston-Salem, NC$89,783$59,144 incl. feesYes10UCLALos Angeles, CA$99,130res $59,084 / nonres $71,329No11Notre DameNotre Dame, IN$99,420$73,430Yes12BUBoston, MA$100,920$71,382 incl. feesNo13WashUSt. Louis, MO$102,287$73,684 incl. feesYes14MichiganAnn Arbor, MI$103,566res $76,108 / nonres $79,108No15Boston CollegeNewton, MA$104,768$72,380 incl. feesNo16BerkeleyBerkeley, CA$108,562res $66,374 / nonres $79,991No17YaleNew Haven, CT$109,040$76,636No18UVACharlottesville, VA$111,420res $77,900 / nonres $80,900Yes19DukeDurham, NC$113,428$81,829 incl. feesYes20VanderbiltNashville, TN$113,733$78,799 incl. feesYes21GWWashington, DC$114,097$78,060No22NorthwesternChicago, IL$117,452$79,772No23USCLos Angeles, CA$118,246$85,948 incl. feesYes24CornellIthaca, NY$118,364$85,412 incl. feesNo25ColumbiaNew York, NY$119,944$85,368No26NYUNew York, NY$120,046$83,952 incl. feesNo27PennPhiladelphia, PA$120,294$78,348No28HarvardCambridge, MA$121,250$77,100No29UChicagoChicago, IL$122,034$83,316No30GeorgetownWashington, DC$124,600$83,576No31StanfordStanford, CA$125,124$77,454Yes
Sources: each school's 2025 ABA 509 report and class of 2025 ABA Employment Summary, verified July 26, 2026.
Provo, Athens and Columbus anchor the cheap end, and the reason is two-sided: lower tuition at public or subsidized schools, and lower housing costs in smaller metros.
The expensive end is equally legible. Stanford, Georgetown, UChicago, Cornell and NYU all post budgets above $118,000, combining private tuition with high-cost housing markets.
One important caveat that most cost comparisons skip. The ABA does not standardize the living-expenses figure inside a 509; it is each school's self-reported federal cost-of-attendance allowance, set with no ABA formula and no stated budget period (https://fsapartners.ed.gov/knowledge-center/fsa-handbook/2025-2026/vol3/ch2-cost-attendance-budget).
That means the label is comparable across schools but the number is a school's own budgeting judgment. Use it as a citable stated budget, not as a normalized index.
Look at the car column alongside the cost column, because transport is the hidden line item. Nineteen of these schools work without a car, either because rail serves campus or because the town is small enough not to need it; twelve require one for daily life.
A car in a college town costs insurance, parking, fuel and maintenance that no 509 living allowance itemizes, and it can erase the housing savings that made the town look cheap. Chapel Hill, Athens, Provo, Fort Worth, Winston-Salem, South Bend and Durham are the low-budget towns in this set where that cost is unavoidable.
The genuinely cheap combination is a low-cost metro with rail. Columbus, Madison, Austin and Minneapolis are the clearest cases in this set, all four under a $83,000 budget and none of them requiring a car.
Our no-car table ranks all 31 on that variable alone.
At public schools the resident and nonresident figures are not close. Georgia's resident tuition is $18,044 against $38,944 nonresident; UNC's is $28,082 against $51,320; Texas is $38,236 against $56,822.
Some states allow residency reclassification after the first year and some do not, and the rules are set by the state rather than the school. If you are considering a public school out of state, find the reclassification rules before you deposit, because the difference across three years can exceed $60,000.
Texas is worth naming specifically: its early decision admits automatically receive resident tuition rates regardless of residency, which is a rare and material benefit attached to a binding application.
It does not mean low debt, because debt is net cost after grants and those vary enormously. It does not mean good value, which is cost against outcomes and is the subject of our value table.
And since July 1, 2026, federal borrowing for professional programs is capped at $50,000 a year with Grad PLUS eliminated, so the practical question is no longer which school is cheap but which school's gap above that cap you can actually close. The caps come from the Reimagining and Improving Student Education final rule, published May 1, 2026 and effective July 1, 2026, which attributes them to the Working Families Tax Cuts Act (https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/05/01/2026-08556/reimagining-and-improving-student-education-federal-student-loan-program-final-regulations).
BYU at roughly $38,428 for LDS members is the cheapest in this set by a wide margin, and it pairs that with a 98 percent grant rate, the highest here, though at a small median of $11,646.
Georgia at $44,022 for residents and Ohio State at $60,955 for residents are the two cheapest genuinely open-admission options, both public and both charging roughly double to nonresidents.
At the expensive end, Stanford at $125,124 and Georgetown at $124,600 are the only two above $124,000. Both discount substantially, Stanford at a $52,797 median to 50 percent and Georgetown at $35,000 to 61 percent, but the sticker is genuine.
The middle of the table is where most decisions actually get made, and it is tightly packed. A dozen schools sit between $99,000 and $120,000, which means grant offers rather than sticker will decide among them.
Summer income and summer expenses. A 1L summer in an unpaid public interest or government position costs a full living quarter with no offsetting income, and school funding programs cover some of it, which our public interest table details.
Bar study. The months between graduation and the bar exam are living expenses with no income and a commercial bar course on top, and no cost of attendance figure includes them.
Transport, which the car column flags but does not price. Insurance, parking permits, fuel and maintenance in a car-required town are recurring costs that can erase the housing savings that made the town look cheap.
Health insurance, which several schools bill separately and some list as optional. Boston College, for one, prices it at $4,723 outside its posted total.
Every number in the table comes from a primary disclosure: each school's 2025 ABA Standard 509 Information Report for admissions, cost and aid, and its class of 2025 ABA Employment Summary for outcomes. Both are filed annually and both are free to read.
We did not use rankings, surveys or reputation. Where a figure required arithmetic, such as a percentage or a net cost, we state that it is our arithmetic and give the inputs so you can check it.
Where we could not verify something, the table says so rather than filling the gap with an estimate. That is why some rows read not published or not verified instead of carrying a number that would look more complete and mean less.
It cannot tell you your outcome. Every figure here describes a class of several hundred people, and your position inside that distribution is set by first-year grades that have not happened yet.
It cannot price your offer, because aid depends on where your numbers sit against each school's medians rather than on the median award. Half of every school's grant recipients got less than the figure shown.
And it cannot capture fit, culture, or whether you will do your best work in that building for three years. Those are discoverable only by visiting and asking current students specific questions, which is worth more than any table on this site.
Check whether the posted figure is the 509 number or the school's own budget page, because they frequently differ by a year and sometimes by thousands. Harvard is the clearest example in this set.
Check whether health insurance is inside or outside the total. Several schools bill it separately and a few describe it as optional, which shifts the real number by several thousand dollars.
Check the residency rules if it is a public school, and check them at the state level rather than the school level. That single variable moves more money than any other line in the table.
Provo, Athens and Columbus anchor the cheap end of this set, driven by lower public or subsidized tuition and lower housing costs. BYU posts about $38,428 for LDS members and Georgia about $44,022 for residents.
Look for a low-cost city you can live in without a car, since a required vehicle erases housing savings. Columbus, Madison, Austin and Minneapolis are the clearest cases here, all under a $83,000 budget.
The label is, the number is not. Each school sets its own federal cost-of-attendance living allowance with no ABA formula and no stated budget period, so treat it as the school's stated budget rather than a normalized index.
A great deal. Georgia charges $18,044 resident against $38,944 nonresident, and UNC $28,082 against $51,320. Across three years the difference can exceed $60,000, so check each state's reclassification rules before depositing.
Written by Ali, Georgetown Law, founder of Lovare Institut.
July 30, 2026
July 30, 2026