States With the Highest Net Gains and Losses of First-Time Undergraduate Students, Fall 2016

Almanac 2018

August 19, 2018

In the fall of 2016, 420,964 recent high-school graduates left their own states to attend college in other states. The departing students represent 19.5 percent of first-time undergraduates who had just finished high school in the previous year. California, Illinois, and New Jersey saw the largest numbers of their recent high-school graduates leave to attend colleges in other states. Three other states, New York, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts, attracted the highest number of students from outside their states. The state with the greatest net loss of students, New Jersey, coupled its significant loss of homegrown students with a failure to attract an appreciable number of students from outside the state. See accompanying article.

We’re sorry. Something went wrong.

We are unable to fully display the content of this page.

The most likely cause of this is a content blocker on your computer or network. Please make sure your computer, VPN, or network allows javascript and allows content to be delivered from c950.chronicle.com and chronicle.blueconic.net.

Once javascript and access to those URLs are allowed, please refresh this page. You may then be asked to log in, create an account if you don't already have one, or subscribe.

If you continue to experience issues, contact us at 202-466-1032 or help@chronicle.com

Return to the Almanac home page, or go to the Profession, Students, Finance, or States section. To purchase a copy of the Almanac in print or as a downloadable interactive PDF, visit the Chronicle Store. Help guide us to give you the data you need by taking our 10-minute online Almanac survey.

Rank	State	Out-migrating students	Percentage of recent high-school graduates who left state to attend college	In-migrating students	Percentage of first-time undergraduates from out of state	Net gain or loss of first-time undergraduates
1.	Pennsylvania	16,752	19.4%	28,953	29.4%	12,201
2.	Alabama	3,787	11.5%	12,245	29.7%	8,458
3.	Iowa	2,995	13.0%	10,399	34.2%	7,404
4.	Indiana	5,955	13.6%	13,262	25.9%	7,307
5.	Arizona	4,526	12.5%	11,203	26.1%	6,677
6.	South Carolina	3,485	11.4%	9,452	25.8%	5,967
7.	Rhode Island	2,639	37.4%	8,210	65.0%	5,571
8.	Mississippi	1,592	7.1%	6,509	23.9%	4,917
9.	District of Columbia	2,012	81.6%	6,747	93.7%	4,735
10.	Ohio	11,828	15.2%	16,224	19.8%	4,396
11.	Utah	1,612	9.4%	5,908	27.4%	4,296
12.	North Carolina	8,320	12.6%	12,314	17.7%	3,994
13.	West Virginia	1,161	11.0%	4,795	33.9%	3,634
14.	Oklahoma	2,625	11.0%	6,086	22.2%	3,461
15.	Arkansas	2,143	11.0%	5,562	24.3%	3,419
16.	Kentucky	3,413	12.3%	6,661	21.5%	3,248
17.	Oregon	4,092	22.3%	7,321	33.9%	3,229
18.	Kansas	3,487	15.6%	6,417	25.4%	2,930
19.	North Dakota	1,162	23.8%	3,688	49.8%	2,526
20.	Vermont	1,911	51.4%	4,392	70.8%	2,481
21.	Idaho	2,322	26.6%	4,387	40.7%	2,065
22.	Massachusetts	19,405	35.3%	21,462	37.7%	2,057
23.	Wisconsin	8,117	21.3%	9,841	24.7%	1,724
24.	Louisiana	3,309	10.4%	4,947	14.8%	1,638
25.	Virginia	11,172	18.4%	12,769	20.5%	1,597
26.	Montana	1,181	22.2%	2,722	39.7%	1,541
27.	Tennessee	7,114	15.4%	8,581	18.0%	1,467
28.	South Dakota	1,376	24.0%	2,840	39.5%	1,464
29.	Delaware	2,203	32.9%	3,438	43.3%	1,235
30.	Missouri	8,108	20.2%	9,309	22.5%	1,201
31.	Maine	2,676	31.4%	3,742	39.1%	1,066
32.	Nebraska	2,705	18.4%	3,599	23.1%	894
33.	New Hampshire	4,689	48.5%	5,564	52.8%	875
34.	New York	29,094	20.0%	29,620	20.3%	526
35.	Wyoming	819	25.4%	1,246	34.1%	427
36.	Colorado	8,736	26.2%	9,103	27.0%	367
37.	Michigan	8,230	12.1%	8,260	12.2%	30
38.	New Mexico	2,068	14.9%	1,910	14.0%	-158
39.	Alaska	1,317	39.6%	146	6.8%	-1,171
40.	Nevada	3,321	24.6%	1,786	14.9%	-1,535
41.	Hawaii	3,396	41.2%	1,309	21.3%	-2,087
42.	Georgia	12,409	18.3%	9,961	15.3%	-2,448
43.	Washington	8,760	24.5%	6,219	18.7%	-2,541
44.	Florida	15,504	14.0%	12,149	11.3%	-3,355
45.	Minnesota	13,633	32.2%	7,739	21.2%	-5,894
46.	Connecticut	14,330	46.7%	8,348	33.7%	-5,982
47.	Maryland	15,210	36.8%	6,946	21.0%	-8,264
48.	Texas	22,538	11.9%	8,621	4.9%	-13,917
49.	Illinois	32,424	35.2%	10,594	15.1%	-21,830
50.	California	37,276	13.6%	13,969	5.6%	-23,307
51.	New Jersey	32,025	42.9%	3,403	7.4%	-28,622

Note: The data cover only first-time undergraduate students who graduated from high school in the previous year. “Out-migrating students” are state residents who leave their state to attend college in other states. “In-migrating students” are those who are from a state other than the one where their college is located. Questions or comments on the Almanac should be sent to the Almanac editor.

Source: Chronicle analysis of U.S. Department of Education data