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.
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| 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