Enrollment Trends at ISU

The student population at Iowa State University is 30,380 (25,628 undergraduate and 4,752 graduate students) . The number of students has decreased by 5,334 (14.94%) over the past decade.

Class Level: The percentage of undergraduate students at ISU is 84.36% which is decreased by 4,406 over last 10 years. The graduate student population decreased by 928 and it has been decreasing.
Gender Breakdown: In 2025, there were 119 male students for every 100 female students, down from 130 in 2015.
972 students enrolled in online degree program exclusively and the number of online students has decreased by -32.92% since 2015.

School Home 2024 Student Population

Student Population Changes

The average student population over the last 11 years is 32,964 where 30,380 students are attending the school for the academic year 2024-2025.

Total enrollment fluctuated between 2016 and 2025, with 3 year-over-year increases and 6 decreases. It peaked at 36,350 students in 2017 and was lowest at 29,969 in 2023. Overall, enrollment dropped from 35,714 to 30,380 students, a net loss of 5,334 (14.9%).

The following table and chart illustrate the changes in student population by gender at Iowa State University since 2015.

Year	Total	Undergraduate			Graduate
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	35,714	30,034	17,071	12,963	5,680	3,084	2,596
2016-17	36,350 636	30,671 637	17,585 514	13,086 123	5,679 -1	3,118 34	2,561 -35
2017-18	36,158 -192	30,571 -100	17,586 1	12,985 -101	5,587 -92	3,085 -33	2,502 -59
2018-19	34,992 -1,166	29,621 -950	17,076 -510	12,545 -440	5,371 -216	2,834 -251	2,537 35
2019-20	33,372 -1,620	28,294 -1,327	16,197 -879	12,097 -448	5,078 -293	2,635 -199	2,443 -94
2020-21	31,822 -1,550	26,843 -1,451	15,170 -1,027	11,673 -424	4,979 -99	2,499 -136	2,480 37
2021-22	30,708 -1,114	25,808 -1,035	14,467 -703	11,341 -332	4,900 -79	2,481 -18	2,419 -61
2022-23	29,969 -739	25,241 -567	14,072 -395	11,169 -172	4,728 -172	2,345 -136	2,383 -36
2023-24	30,177 208	25,332 91	14,034 -38	11,298 129	4,845 117	2,425 80	2,420 37
2024-25	30,380 203	25,628 296	14,119 85	11,509 211	4,752 -93	2,406 -19	2,346 -74
Average	32,964	27,804	15,738	12,067	5,160	2,691	2,469

Iowa State University Enrollment Trends Chart

Undergraduate Enrollment Changes

The average number of Undergraduate students over the last 11 years is 27,804 where 25,628 students are attending the Undergraduate school for the academic year 2024-2025. The following table and chart illustrate the changes in Undergraduate enrollment by attending status and gender at Iowa State University since 2015.

Year	Total	Full-time			Part-time
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	30,034	28,771	16,297	12,474	1,263	774	489
2016-17	30,671	28,872	16,504	12,368	1,799	1,081	718
2017-18	30,571	28,743	16,456	12,287	1,828	1,130	698
2018-19	29,621	27,929	16,043	11,886	1,692	1,033	659
2019-20	28,294	26,713	15,231	11,482	1,581	966	615
2020-21	26,843	25,271	14,184	11,087	1,572	986	586
2021-22	25,808	24,461	13,635	10,826	1,347	832	515
2022-23	25,241	23,992	13,297	10,695	1,249	775	474
2023-24	25,332	24,111	13,263	10,848	1,221	771	450
2024-25	25,628	24,445	13,417	11,028	1,183	702	481
Average	27,804	27,804	14,833	11,498	27,804	905	569

Iowa State University Undergraduate Enrollment Trends Chart

Graduate Enrollment Changes

The average number of Graduate students over the last 11 years is 5,160 where 4,752 students are attending the Graduate school for the academic year 2024-2025. The following table and chart illustrate the changes in Graduate enrollment by attending status and gender at Iowa State University since 2015.

Year	Total	Full-time			Part-time
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	5,680	3,728	1,945	1,783	1,952	1,139	813
2016-17	5,679	3,428	1,796	1,632	2,251	1,322	929
2017-18	5,587	3,426	1,816	1,610	2,161	1,269	892
2018-19	5,371	3,284	1,639	1,645	2,087	1,195	892
2019-20	5,078	3,068	1,499	1,569	2,010	1,136	874
2020-21	4,979	3,031	1,458	1,573	1,948	1,041	907
2021-22	4,900	3,092	1,519	1,573	1,808	962	846
2022-23	4,728	3,029	1,447	1,582	1,699	898	801
2023-24	4,845	3,198	1,550	1,648	1,647	875	772
2024-25	4,752	3,070	1,504	1,566	1,682	902	780
Average	5,160	5,160	1,617	1,618	5,160	1,074	851

Iowa State University Graduate Enrollment Trends Chart

Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity Changes

The percentage of white students is 69.53%. The percentage was 71.45% 10 years ago and ISU still has a high percentage of white students. 4.09% of enrolled students is Asian and 2.37% is black students. Hispanic students comprise 6.56% of the student body.

Over the past 10 years, the racial composition has shifted. The percentage of white students decreased from 71.45% to 69.53%. Asian enrollment grew from 2.78% to 4.09%. Black student enrollment decreased from 2.64% to 2.37%. Hispanic student representation expanded from 4.38% to 6.56%.

The overall racial diversity, measured by the Census Bureau Diversity Index, is 0.5092 which indicates that somewhat diverse. This increased from 0.4858 a decade ago, suggesting that racial diversity has improved.

The following table and chart illustrate the student population trends by race/ethnicity at Iowa State University over the past 11 years (2015-2025).

Year	American Indian or Native American	Asian	Black	Hispanic	Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander	White	Two or More Races
Year	2015-16	91	993	943	1,564	35	25,516	700
2016-17	75	1,083	954	1,724	29	25,550	752
2017-18	75	1,100	976	1,827	29	25,239	748
2018-19	73	1,149	928	1,933	22	24,740	778
2019-20	66	1,149	850	1,982	24	23,831	799
2020-21	56	1,189	867	1,951	24	23,124	837
2021-22	54	1,165	821	1,993	18	22,282	838
2022-23	48	1,228	787	1,986	23	21,634	809
2023-24	43	1,243	773	2,015	17	21,522	851
2024-25	41	1,244	721	1,994	16	21,122	888
Average	62	1,154	862	1,897	24	23,456	800

Iowa State University Enrollment by Race Trends Chart

Distance Learning (Online Courses) Enrollment Changes

972 students are enrolled in online degree programs exclusively for the academic year 2024-2025, which is 3% of total students. The number of online students has decreased -32.92% since 2015. The following table and chart illustrate the changes in the online student population by enrolled type at Iowa State University from 2015 to 2025.

Year	Total Enrollment	Online Completely	Enrolled in Some Online Courses	Not Enrolled in Online Courses
2015-16	35,714	1,449	4,245	30,020
2016-17	36,350	1,517	4,694	30,139
2017-18	36,158	1,406	5,327	29,425
2018-19	34,992	1,374	6,215	27,403
2019-20	33,372	1,298	6,504	25,570
2020-21	31,822	4,289	24,045	3,488
2021-22	30,708	1,108	14,911	14,689
2022-23	29,969	1,013	15,545	13,411
2023-24	30,177	983	16,180	13,014
2024-25	30,380	972	17,472	11,936
Average	32,964	1,541	11,514	19,910

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Enrollment Trends at ISU

Student Population Changes

Undergraduate Enrollment Changes

Graduate Enrollment Changes

Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity Changes

Distance Learning (Online Courses) Enrollment Changes

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