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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.

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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.


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.


RankState 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 stateNet 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

A version of this article appeared in the August 24, 2018, issue.
Read other items in States: Almanac 2018.
We welcome your thoughts and questions about this article. Please email the editors or submit a letter for publication.
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