2023 Best Value Law Schools
Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing
Finding the Best Law School for You
In 2020-2021, 36,216 people earned a degree or certificate in law, making the major the #28 most popular in the United States.
It's not easy to decide which program to enroll in when you have so many options available. You can choose a traditional brick and mortar school, or with the growth of online education, you can attend a school half-way across the country without even leaving your house. Also there are many trade schools that offer short-term programs that open up more career options.
To help you arm yourself with the information you need to make your decision, Course Advisor has developed this Best Value Law Schools ranking. Our analysis looked at 167 schools in the United States to see which programs offered the best value experiences for law students with the aim of identifying those quality schools that are more affordable than some of their counterparts.
Our ranking of value is based on the quality of a program as defined in our per sticker price dollar. Specifically, our score for quality is discounted by the published tuition and fees charged by the given college. This gives the cost per unit of quality for each college. The more quality your dollar buys, the better the value.
In our regional and nationwide rankings, out-of-state tution and fees are used in our calculations. For statewide rankings, we use average in-state tuition and fees.
Top 25 Best Schools for Affordable Quality in Law
Our 2023 rankings named Thomas Jefferson School of Law the best value school in the United States for law students. Located in the city of San Diego, Thomas Jefferson School of Law is a private not-for-profit college with a fairly small student population.
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You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Drake University. The school came in at #2 on this year’s Best Value Law Schools list. Located in the medium-sized city of Des Moines, Drake is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.
Drake undergraduate students pay an average of $45,912 in tuition and fees each year.
Drake excels when it comes to quality. It’s ranked in the top 5% of all schools on our Best Law Schools list.
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Out of the 167 schools in the United States that were part of this year’s ranking, Western Michigan University Thomas M. Cooley Law School landed the # 3 spot on the list. Located in the midsize city of Lansing, WMU-Cooley Law School is a private not-for-profit school with a fairly small student population.
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A rank of #4 on this year’s list means Roger Williams University School of Law is a great value for law students. Roger Williams University School of Law is a small private not-for-profit school located in the large suburb of Bristol.
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You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Virginia - Main Campus. It ranked #5 on our 2023 Best Value Law Schools list. Located in the small suburb of Charlottesville, University of Virginia is a public school with a fairly large student population.
University of Virginia undergraduate students pay an average of $54,438 in tuition and fees each year.
University of Virginia excels when it comes to quality. It’s ranked in the top 5% of all schools on our Best Law Schools list.
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With a ranking of #6, Gonzaga University did quite well on this year’s best value schools for law students. Located in the city of Spokane, Gonzaga is a private not-for-profit school with a moderately-sized student population.
Gonzaga undergraduate students pay an average of $48,470 in tuition and fees each year.
Gonzaga also claimed a spot on our Best Law Schools list. It’s in the top 10% of all schools in this category.
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Liberty University came in at #7 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Law Schools ranking. Located in the city of Lynchburg, Liberty University is a private not-for-profit college with a very large student population.
Liberty University undergraduate students pay an average of $16,160 in tuition and fees each year.
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With a ranking of #7, University of California - Berkeley did quite well on this year’s best value schools for law students. UC Berkeley is a very large public school located in the city of Berkeley.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate student at UC Berkeley are $43,980 a year.
As a testament to the quality of education it offers, UC Berkeley also is in the top 5% of our Best Law Schools ranking.
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Seattle University ranked #9 on this year’s Best Value Law Schools list. Located in the large city of Seattle, Seattle U is a private not-for-profit school with a medium-sized student population.
Seattle U undergraduate students pay an average of $49,335 in tuition and fees each year.
Seattle U excels when it comes to quality. It’s ranked in the top 20% of all schools on our Best Law Schools list.
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With a ranking of #10, The University of Texas at Austin did quite well on this year’s best value schools for law students. UT Austin is a fairly large public school located in the large city of Austin.
Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at UT Austin are $40,996 per year. Law majors at UT Austin take out an average of $19,500 in student loans while working on their egree.
As a testament to the quality of education it offers, UT Austin also is in the top 5% of our Best Law Schools ranking.
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With a ranking of #11, Northern Illinois University did quite well on this year’s best value schools for law students. Located in the suburb of Dekalb, NIU is a public college with a large student population.
NIU undergraduate students pay an average of $14,738 in tuition and fees each year.
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University of South Dakota did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best value schools for law students. It came in at #12 on the list. Located in the town of Vermillion, USD is a public school with a moderately-sized student population.
USD undergraduate students pay an average of $12,942 in tuition and fees each year.
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Southwestern Law School ranked #12 on this year’s Best Value Law Schools list. Located in the city of Los Angeles, Southwestern Law School is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.
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Capital University came in at #14 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Law Schools ranking. Located in the suburb of Columbus, Capital is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.
Capital undergraduate students pay an average of $39,338 in tuition and fees each year.
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Oklahoma City University came in at #15 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Law Schools ranking. OCU is a small private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Oklahoma City.
Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at OCU are $32,744 per year.
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Fordham University came in at #16 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Law Schools ranking. Fordham U is a large private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Bronx.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate student at Fordham U are $55,776 a year.
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Mississippi College ranked #17 on this year’s Best Value Law Schools list. MC is a small private not-for-profit school located in the suburb of Clinton.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate student at MC are $20,364 a year.
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University of Pennsylvania ranked #18 on this year’s Best Value Law Schools list. UPenn is a very large private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Philadelphia.
Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at UPenn are $61,710 per year.
As a testament to the quality of education it offers, UPenn also is in the top 1% of our Best Law Schools ranking.
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With a ranking of #19, Inter American University of Puerto Rico - School of Law did quite well on this year’s best value schools for law students. Located in the large city of San Juan, UIPR School of Law is a private not-for-profit school with a fairly small student population.
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University of Nebraska - Lincoln landed the #20 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value law programs. Located in the large city of Lincoln, UNL is a public college with a fairly large student population.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate student at UNL are $26,720 a year.
In addition to its great value ranking, UNL is in the top 10% of all schools on our Best Law Schools list.
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With a ranking of #21, Loyola Marymount University did quite well on this year’s best value schools for law students. Located in the city of Los Angeles, Loyola Marymount is a private not-for-profit college with a fairly large student population.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate student at Loyola Marymount are $53,051 a year.
On top of its placing in our value ranking, Loyola Marymount also did well on our Best Law Schools list. It’s in the top 10% of all schools reviewed in this analysis.
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With a ranking of #22, New York University did quite well on this year’s best value schools for law students. NYU is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the large city of New York.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate student at NYU are $56,500 a year.
In addition to its great value ranking, NYU is in the top 10% of all schools on our Best Law Schools list.
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Creighton University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best value schools for law students. It came in at #22 on the list. Creighton is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Omaha.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate student at Creighton are $44,524 a year.
Creighton also claimed a spot on our Best Law Schools list. It’s in the top 15% of all schools in this category.
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Villanova University landed the #24 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value law programs. Villanova is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the suburb of Villanova.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate student at Villanova are $59,020 a year.
On top of its placing in our value ranking, Villanova also did well on our Best Law Schools list. It’s in the top 5% of all schools reviewed in this analysis.
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New York Law School did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best value schools for law students. It came in at #25 on the list. New York Law School is a small private not-for-profit school located in the large city of New York.
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These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Value Law Schools award.
| Rank | College | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 26 | Loyola University Chicago | Chicago, IL |
| 26 | University of Akron Main Campus | Akron, OH |
| 28 | University of California - Los Angeles | Los Angeles, CA |
| 29 | Texas Tech University | Lubbock, TX |
| 30 | University of Houston | Houston, TX |
| 30 | University of Wisconsin - Madison | Madison, WI |
| 32 | Santa Clara University | Santa Clara, CA |
| 33 | University of North Dakota | Grand Forks, ND |
| 33 | Texas A&M University - College Station | College Station, TX |
| 33 | Marquette University | Milwaukee, WI |
Law by Region
View the Best Value Law Schools for a specific region near you.
| Region |
|---|
| Southeast |
| New England |
| Rocky Mountains |
| Plains States |
| Middle Atlantic |
| Far Western US |
| Southwest |
| Great Lakes |
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Majors Related to Law
One of 4 majors within the area of study, law has other similar majors worth exploring.
Most Popular Majors Related to Law
| Related Major | Annual Graduates |
|---|---|
| Legal Support Services | 11,545 |
| Legal Research | 6,874 |
| Non-Professional General Legal Studies | 4,407 |
| Legal Professions (Other) | 2,013 |
Notes and References
*These averages are for the top 25 schools only.
- The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
- Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
More about our data sources and methodologies.
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