Students who migrated outside the state for jobs after attending college tended to flock in the highest numbers to predictable places. Among the colleges listed below, the top choice for out-migrating students of colleges in Southern California was the Phoenix metropolitan area, and for students of colleges in Northern California, the Seattle area. Out-migrating students who attended colleges in Florida were most likely to take jobs in the Atlanta area, while New York was a common destination among people who attended many colleges in the Northeast. Colleges whose former students tended to stay in state were also those that had relatively high first-time enrollment of in-state students and that had relatively high percentages of students receiving state or local financial aid. Students who attended highly selective private nonprofit colleges seemed to be the least likely to remain in the state.
4-year public institutions
Most likely to work in same state
| 1. | Miami Dade College | 85.9% | Miami-Dade, FL | 126,510 | Fulton, GA | 1,555 | 175,608 | 39.4% | 98.3% |
| 2. | California State U.-East Bay | 84.9% | San Francisco, CA | 26,013 | King, WA | 527 | 61,886 | 62.1% | 99.4% |
| 3. | California State Polytechnic U. at Pomona | 84.6% | Los Angeles, CA | 40,355 | Maricopa, AZ | 814 | 86,307 | 57.4% | 98.6% |
| 4. | California State U. at Los Angeles | 84.6% | Los Angeles, CA | 42,206 | Maricopa, AZ | 495 | 59,909 | 60.6% | 99.7% |
| 5. | Sam Houston State U. | 84.5% | Harris, TX | 30,126 | Los Angeles, CA | 412 | 71,449 | 59.2% | 98.0% |
| 6. | Texas State U. | 84.4% | Travis, TX | 31,355 | Los Angeles, CA | 794 | 102,860 | 48.3% | 98.2% |
| 7. | U. of Texas at San Antonio | 83.4% | Bexar, TX | 42,677 | Los Angeles, CA | 542 | 79,915 | 29.9% | 97.8% |
| 8. | Broward College | 83.4% | Broward, FL | 47,663 | Fulton, GA | 920 | 89,266 | 67.0% | 98.7% |
| 9. | San Jose State U. | 83.3% | San Francisco, CA | 60,428 | King, WA | 1,702 | 173,704 | 49.7% | 98.6% |
| 10. | Stephen F. Austin State U. | 83.0% | Harris, TX | 12,094 | Denver, CO | 322 | 55,319 | 35.9% | 99.2% |
Most likely to work outside state
| 185. | U. of Delaware | 19.6% | New Castle, DE | 20,757 | Philadelphia, PA | 20,039 | 113,955 | 12.5% | 39.5% |
| 184. | U. of New Hampshire | 20.4% | Rockingham, NH | 6,120 | Suffolk, MA | 24,423 | 81,468 | 1.0% | 41.9% |
| 183. | West Virginia U. | 23.1% | Monongalia, WV | 9,461 | Allegheny, PA | 10,168 | 110,076 | 36.3% | 46.1% |
| 182. | U. of Virginia | 27.2% | Albemarle, VA | 13,801 | Washington, DC | 23,009 | 149,031 | 5.9% | 69.7% |
| 181. | U. of Vermont | 27.4% | Chittenden, VT | 13,283 | Suffolk, MA | 6,240 | 60,676 | 12.1% | 25.4% |
| 180. | U. of Maryland at College Park | 29.3% | Baltimore City, MD | 25,474 | Washington, DC | 62,398 | 304,870 | 16.5% | 71.9% |
| 179. | Rutgers U. at New Brunswick | 30.8% | Middlesex, NJ | 21,183 | New York, NY | 74,096 | 253,902 | 24.9% | 91.7% |
| 178. | Troy U. | 30.9% | Montgomery, AL | 7,389 | Fulton, GA | 4,251 | 85,111 | 0.1% | 76.6% |
| 177. | U. of Kansas | 31.5% | Johnson, KS | 19,047 | Jackson, MO | 24,116 | 151,122 | 8.4% | 60.1% |
| 176. | U. of Iowa | 31.6% | Johnson, IA | 19,655 | Cook, IL | 19,996 | 159,241 | 1.9% | 54.6% |
•••
4-year private nonprofit institutions
Most likely to work in same state
| 1. | Dallas Baptist U. | 84.1% | Dallas, TX | 11,350 | Los Angeles, CA | 117 | 22,374 | 34.9% | 89.8% |
| 2. | U. of the Incarnate Word | 79.9% | Bexar, TX | 11,827 | St. Louis City, MO | 239 | 20,728 | 64.3% | 96.5% |
| 3. | U. of La Verne | 79.2% | Los Angeles, CA | 14,618 | Maricopa, AZ | 366 | 33,074 | 53.7% | 95.4% |
| 4. | Loyola Marymount U. | 79.1% | Los Angeles, CA | 28,952 | New York, NY | 937 | 50,897 | 17.1% | 65.9% |
| 5. | Lawrence Technological U. | 77.8% | Wayne, MI | 10,996 | Cook, IL | 297 | 24,984 | 42.4% | 89.0% |
| 6. | Touro College (N.Y.) | 77.5% | New York, NY | 9,883 | Miami-Dade, FL | 269 | 27,078 | 60.0% | 78.3% |
| 7. | St. Edward’s U. | 77.4% | Travis, TX | 11,876 | Los Angeles, CA | 264 | 23,741 | 43.3% | 82.0% |
| 8. | Keiser U. at Ft. Lauderdale | 76.9% | Broward, FL | 6,725 | Fulton, GA | 346 | 43,190 | 40.2% | 83.6% |
| 9. | Baker College of Flint | 76.7% | Wayne, MI | 5,657 | Maricopa, AZ | 246 | 32,406 | 18.4% | 95.0% |
| 10. | Lewis U. | 76.0% | Cook, IL | 13,783 | Maricopa, AZ | 263 | 27,963 | 39.9% | 90.9% |
Most likely to work outside state
| 218. | Dartmouth College | 4.9% | Grafton, NH | 2,088 | New York, NY | 7,459 | 51,145 | 1.0% | 2.4% |
| 217. | Middlebury College | 6.0% | Addison, VT | 627 | New York, NY | 3,499 | 22,755 | 1.9% | 5.1% |
| 216. | Princeton U. | 7.4% | Mercer, NJ | 2,524 | New York, NY | 10,581 | 49,225 | 1.8% | 17.9% |
| 215. | Norwich U. | 8.3% | Chittenden, VT | 768 | Suffolk, MA | 1,524 | 21,817 | 10.5% | 9.8% |
| 214. | Yale U. | 8.7% | New Haven, CT | 5,649 | New York, NY | 18,188 | 86,400 | 0.3% | 7.0% |
| 213. | U. of Notre Dame | 9.4% | St. Joseph, IN | 5,711 | Cook, IL | 11,572 | 91,176 | 1.3% | 6.0% |
| 212. | Wesleyan U. (Conn.) | 9.8% | Middlesex, CT | 759 | New York, NY | 4,965 | 22,723 | 2.2% | 8.2% |
| 211. | Trinity College (Conn.) | 10.9% | Hartford, CT | 1,376 | New York, NY | 3,727 | 27,443 | 2.7% | 15.0% |
| 210. | Brown U. | 12.1% | Providence, RI | 6,098 | New York, NY | 8,965 | 53,163 | 0.9% | 4.5% |
| 209. | Williams College | 14.6% | Suffolk, MA | 1,691 | New York, NY | 2,859 | 20,169 | 4.4% | 13.4% |
Note: Data for this table are drawn from an analysis by Emsi, a labor-market analytics company, of millions of people who attended and/or graduated from 3,740 private, public, and community colleges. Current job locations were collected from more than 40 sources, including social profiles and résumés in which people mentioned a college. Only the most-recent job mentioned was counted. People may not necessarily live in the county or state where they work. Public institutions with fewer than 50,000 people in the sample, and private nonprofit institutions with fewer than 20,000 in the sample were excluded from the table above. Small colleges whose names might easily be confused with nearly identically named colleges were also excluded. Figures for larger institutions may include combined data for students who attended the university’s medical, law, business, and other schools. More Emsi data on migration can be found here. The “Students awarded state or local financial aid” column shows the percentage of full-time, first-time undergraduates who received such aid in 2015-16. The “In-state enrollment” column shows the percentage of first-time degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduate students from the United States who were from the institution’s state in the fall of 2016. First-time students whose state was unknown were excluded from the calculation. Percentages are rounded, but colleges were ranked before rounding. Questions or comments on the Chronicle List should be sent to Ruth Hammond.
Sources: Emsi for migration data; U.S. Department of Education for financial-aid and enrollment data; Chronicle analysis