First professional · Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Is Law at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill worth it?

High confidence High confidence: 100+ graduates behind the earnings figures.

The verdict · all families, in-state, half paid with loans

Pays back fast: graduates typically recover the cost in about 2.6 years.

Earnings 1 year after graduating: $100,293; Treasury AY2020-21, AY2021-22 pooled earnings cohort measured in CY2022, CY2023, inflation adjusted to 2024 dollars
Earnings 4 years after graduating: $153,522; Treasury AY2017-2018, AY2018-2019 pooled earnings cohort measured in CY2022, CY2023, inflation adjusted to 2024 dollars
Typical federal debt at graduation: $86,403; NSLDS pooled AY2022-23, AY2023-24 cohort
Typical borrowing (no graduate net price is published): $92k (likely $92k – $92k); AcadYr 2024-25, reported in IPEDS DCY2025-26
Earnings bump, year 4: $93k a year vs bachelor's graduates 4 years out in NC; 2023 ACS 5-year pooled, adjusted to 2024 dollars
Payback: 2.6 years (likely 2.3–3.0); Bump vs net cost plus loan interest
10-year net return: $474k (likely $376k – $568k); Today's dollars
20-year net return: $1.58M (likely $1.34M – $1.86M); Today's dollars
Borrowers making progress / in default, 2 years in: not reported / ≤ 5%; NSLDS AY2016-17, AY2017-18 pooled cohorts measured in 2018-19, 2019-20

Scorecard reports no net price for graduate programs; cost is based on what graduates typically borrowed.