If you are comparing a phd stipend 2026 offer, the ground moved this fall. Several large universities and funders raised their guaranteed minimums for 2026-27, some by a little and some to headline numbers. A minimum, though, is a promise about gross pay. It says nothing about the rent waiting in that city. So we did the boring, useful thing: we took the verified new floors and set them against the average one bedroom rent recorded in our own database of 798 programs, 438 of which publish a stipend. It is the same habit behind the RealPay Calculator, and it changes how the phd stipend ranking reads.

The new 2026-27 stipend minimums, source by source

Every figure below comes from the institution or the funder itself, linked as we go. These are floors at the stated appointment level, not typical offers, and the basis matters: an academic year appointment and a 12 month appointment are different animals.

  • Florida State University: a minimum stipend of 20,000 dollars for a 0.50 FTE academic year appointment, effective October 23, 2026, prorated for smaller appointments, per the university HR memorandum of September 28, 2026.
  • University of Wisconsin, Madison: minimums up 5 percent for 2026-27, to 30,614 dollars per academic year for teaching assistants and 37,417 dollars a year for research and project assistants, at a 50 percent appointment, per the Graduate School announcement. Madison notes that many programs pay above the minimum.
  • Caltech: the PhD stipend rate rose to 50,000 dollars for 12 months on September 1, 2026, up from 48,244 dollars, per the Graduate Studies Office.
  • Binghamton University: the base academic year stipend rose to 25,000 dollars effective January 1, 2026, and rises again to 27,500 dollars for 2027-28, per Binghamton University News.
  • University of British Columbia, Canada: guaranteed base funding for PhD students in years 1 to 4 rises to 40,000 Canadian dollars a year, effective fall 2026, per the UBC Provost announcement. A Canadian figure, here for context.
  • UKRI, United Kingdom: the minimum doctoral stipend is 21,805 pounds for 2026-27 from October 1, 2026, and 23,805 pounds in London, where a 2,000 pound London weighting applies, per the UKRI published minimum and its 2026-27 stipend table.

What the new floors pay after rent

Simple maths, stated plainly. Divide the annual floor by its pay period to get a gross monthly figure, then set that against the average one bedroom rent our database records for the city. These are gross rent shares, before tax, fees and food. They are not RealPay outputs: RealPay adjusts for the full cost of living, subtracts essentials, and ranks the result against all 438 published stipends.

Florida State is the cleanest before and after in our data. The database records Florida State at 19,074 dollars on a 9 month basis for 2025-26, with Tallahassee rent at 1,136 dollars a month. The new 20,000 dollar floor is about 2,222 dollars a month across the academic year, so the recorded rent takes about 51 percent of it, down from about 54 percent on the recorded figure. Progress, of a modest kind.

Wisconsin is recorded at 35,636 dollars for 2025-26, and Madison rent at 1,770 dollars. The new research assistant floor of 37,417 dollars a year is about 3,118 dollars a month, which puts the recorded rent at about 57 percent of it. The teaching assistant floor is thinner again, which is how one university can feel generous and tight at the same time.

Caltech shows the other extreme. Our recorded figure, 48,244 dollars, was the old rate to the dollar. The new 50,000 dollar rate is about 4,167 dollars a month, the largest floor on this list, and Pasadena rent in our data is 3,048 dollars, about 73 percent of it. The highest floor still loses most of itself to one bedroom rent.

For a top end anchor, Yale is recorded in our data at 52,046 dollars for 2026-27, and 53,629 dollars for its biological and biomedical sciences programs, with New Haven rent at 2,344 dollars, about 54 percent of the monthly figure. The full cost of living adjusted stipend ranking shows how these shares reorder the whole table.

A floor is not an offer

Three cautions before you quote any of these numbers back at a program. First, a minimum describes the lowest paid student at that appointment level, not you: Madison itself says many of its programs pay above the minimum, and your offer letter beats any memorandum. Second, the basis changes the monthly reality. A 9 month academic year stipend with no summer money is a 12 month budget problem, which is the whole point of our guide to summer funding and the stipend detail everyone forgets. Third, context figures stay context: Binghamton is not in our database, so it gets no rent maths here, and the UBC and UKRI floors sit in other currencies and other systems.

How to use the phd stipend ranking this season

Start with the shortlist view in the ranking re-sorted by what rent leaves you. Then, for any offer you actually hold, check which side of the floor it lands on, and run the letter itself through RealPay and save the spreadsheet next to the letter. A phd stipend 2026 headline is a starting point. The leftover is the offer.

Sources: Florida State University HR memorandum, September 28, 2026; UW-Madison Graduate School; Caltech Graduate Studies Office; Binghamton University News; UBC Office of the Provost; UKRI minimum stipend figures for 2026-27. Recorded stipends and city rents: the PhDStipend database of 798 programs, of which 438 publish a stipend (265 publish a 12 month figure and 173 publish only a 9 month figure). Rents are recorded city averages for a one bedroom home.