unitid 126614 · Boulder, CO · public 4-year · city (midsize)
University of Colorado Boulder
American public research university
- founded
- 1876
- enrollment 2023
- 44,787
- predominant degree
- Bachelor's
- website
- colorado.edu/

The University of Colorado Boulder is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado, United States. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University of Colorado system. CU Boulder is a member of the Association of American Universities, is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" and has been referred to as a Public Ivy. wikipedia rev 1363569570 ↗
scorecard 2026-06 · percentiles within public 4-years
The record
admission rate
78%
40th pctl among public 4-years
undergraduates
31,939
95th pctl among public 4-years
Pell share
14%
undergrads on Pell grants
6th pctl among public 4-years
completion
74%
finish within 150% time
91st pctl among public 4-years
sticker cost / yr
$37,684
98th pctl among public 4-years
avg net price / yr
$25,346
after aid, aided students
99th pctl among public 4-years
median earnings, 10 yr
$69,738
after entry, Title IV students
90th pctl among public 4-years
median grad debt
$19,500
49th pctl among public 4-years
what families actually pay
Cost
Sticker price is a fiction for most families — net price is what aided students pay after grants, by family income.
Average net price by family income, 2023–24 aid cohort
Families earning under $30k paid $14,231 per year after aid.
Dashed hollow marks are privacy-suppressed brackets — not zero. Band: middle half of public 4-years (all incomes).
Who enrolls, by family income
- 0-30k19%
- 30-48k12%
- 48-75k15%
- 75-110k15%
- 110k+40%
- Median family income
- $70,221
- First-generation students
- 20%
- In-state tuition & fees
- $15,666
earnings · debt · programs
Outcomes
Median earnings after entry, working grads with federal aid
Ten years out, the median graduate earns 3.6× the median graduate debt.
Earnings cover federally aided (Title IV) students only.
What programs pay — top fields of study
| program | grads | earn 5 yr | debt |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business Administration, Management and Operations. | 1,201 | $91,156 | $21,500 |
| Psychology, General. | 585 | $58,599 | $20,500 |
| Computer Science. | 483 | $122,521 | $19,974 |
| Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communication. | 411 | — | $19,433 |
| Physiology, Pathology and Related Sciences. | 351 | $67,874 | $20,330 |
| Business Administration, Management and Operations. | 309 | $114,292 | — |
| Political Science and Government. | 281 | $74,672 | $19,500 |
| Economics. | 272 | $79,838 | $17,119 |
| Mechanical Engineering. | 262 | $91,715 | $20,500 |
| Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering. | 233 | $136,752 | — |
| Aerospace, Aeronautical, and Astronautical/Space Engineering. | 218 | $103,431 | $25,039 |
| Natural Resources Conservation and Research. | 206 | $63,863 | $21,000 |
— is privacy suppression at small programs, never zero. Earnings are median, 5 years after completing.
annual scorecard files, 1996–2026
Trajectory
Line breaks are years where the measure wasn't collected — a gap is not a zero.
Admission rate
Price per year
- sticker
- net
Median earnings, 10 yrs after entry
Undergraduates
wikidata · 3,941 people recorded
Memory
Wikidata is not an alumni census: a person appears only when volunteer editors record them. Counts measure the archive's memory - access x achievement x documentation - never placement rates or institutional quality.
Field fingerprint — share of recorded alumni by field
Women among recorded alumni, by birth decade
People without a recorded gender are excluded; decades with fewer than 5 recorded alumni are dropped.
Wikipedia attention
monthly article views since 2015
most recorded occupationsresearcher (1,325) · basketball player (577) · university teacher (438) · American football player (142) · politician (91) · mathematician (73) · writer (65) · physicist (50)
Nobel laureates who studied here
- Sidney Altman Chemistry 1989
- Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Peace 2011
The portrait wall
Sized by nothing, ordered by Wikipedia footprint (language editions).

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
128 wikis · CC BY 2.0

Steve Wozniak
103 wikis · CC BY-SA 3.0

Robert Redford
97 wikis · Public domain

Kalpana Chawla
71 wikis · Public domain

Glenn Miller
64 wikis · Public domain

Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj
62 wikis · CC BY 4.0

Sidney Altman
60 wikis · Public domain

Jonah Hill
57 wikis · CC BY-SA 4.0

Trey Parker
54 wikis · CC BY-SA 3.0

Matt Stone
52 wikis · CC BY-SA 4.0

Alan Kay
50 wikis · CC BY 2.0

Scott Carpenter
48 wikis · Public domain

Dalton Trumbo
48 wikis · CC BY 4.0

Chauncey Billups
44 wikis · CC BY 2.0

Jack Swigert
44 wikis · Public domain
nearest neighbors in sector
Compare with peers
built 2026-07-17
Provenance
- U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard, 2026-06 release. Earnings cover federally aided (Title IV) students only. Suppressed values are null, never imputed.
- Annual Scorecard files 1996-2026. A null in early years usually means the measure was not yet collected, not zero.
- Coordinates and locale describe the campus address, not where students live.
- Wikidata is not an alumni census: a person appears only when volunteer editors record them. Counts measure the archive's memory - access x achievement x documentation - never placement rates or institutional quality.
- Images are from Wikimedia Commons under free licenses. Render the credit line (artist + license) with every image.
- Lead text from Wikipedia (revision 1363569570), CC BY-SA 4.0.