Enrollment Trends at Purdue

The student population at Purdue University-Main Campus is 58,658 (44,819 undergraduate and 13,839 graduate students) . The number of students has increased by 18,186 (44.93%) over the past decade.

Class Level: The percentage of undergraduate students at Purdue is 76.41% which is increased by 14,259 over last 10 years. The graduate student population increased by 3,927 and it has been increasing.
Gender Breakdown: In 2025, there were 146 male students for every 100 female students, up from 139 in 2015.
4,902 students enrolled in online degree program exclusively and the number of online students has increased by 159.23% since 2015.

School Home 2024 Student Population

Student Population Changes

The average student population over the last 11 years is 47,475 where 58,658 students are attending the school for the academic year 2024-2025.

Total enrollment increased every year from 2016 to 2025, growing from 40,472 to 58,658 students, a gain of 18,186 (44.9%).

The following table and chart illustrate the changes in student population by gender at Purdue University-Main Campus since 2015.

Year	Total	Undergraduate			Graduate
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	40,472	30,560	17,783	12,777	9,912	5,776	4,136
2016-17	41,513 1,041	31,105 545	18,189 406	12,916 139	10,408 496	5,903 127	4,505 369
2017-18	42,699 1,186	32,132 1,027	18,682 493	13,450 534	10,567 159	5,877 -26	4,690 185
2018-19	44,474 1,775	33,735 1,603	19,445 763	14,290 840	10,739 172	5,960 83	4,779 89
2019-20	45,500 1,026	34,596 861	19,887 442	14,709 419	10,904 165	6,090 130	4,814 35
2020-21	46,655 1,155	35,706 1,110	20,548 661	15,158 449	10,949 45	6,166 76	4,783 -31
2021-22	50,344 3,689	37,806 2,100	21,853 1,305	15,953 795	12,538 1,589	7,204 1,038	5,334 551
2022-23	51,528 1,184	38,593 787	22,210 357	16,383 430	12,935 397	7,580 376	5,355 21
2023-24	52,905 1,377	39,864 1,271	22,943 733	16,921 538	13,041 106	7,716 136	5,325 -30
2024-25	58,658 5,753	44,819 4,955	26,428 3,485	18,391 1,470	13,839 798	8,428 712	5,411 86
Average	47,475	35,892	20,797	15,095	11,583	6,670	4,913

Purdue University-Main Campus Enrollment Trends Chart

Undergraduate Enrollment Changes

The average number of Undergraduate students over the last 11 years is 35,892 where 44,819 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 Purdue University-Main Campus since 2015.

Year	Total	Full-time			Part-time
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	30,560	28,682	16,609	12,073	1,878	1,174	704
2016-17	31,105	29,309	17,072	12,237	1,796	1,117	679
2017-18	32,132	30,277	17,533	12,744	1,855	1,149	706
2018-19	33,735	31,849	18,339	13,510	1,886	1,106	780
2019-20	34,596	32,606	18,757	13,849	1,990	1,130	860
2020-21	35,706	33,575	19,353	14,222	2,131	1,195	936
2021-22	37,806	35,878	20,788	15,090	1,928	1,065	863
2022-23	38,593	36,484	21,065	15,419	2,109	1,145	964
2023-24	39,864	37,678	21,838	15,840	2,186	1,105	1,081
2024-25	44,819	41,904	24,978	16,926	2,915	1,450	1,465
Average	35,892	35,892	19,633	14,191	35,892	1,164	904

Purdue University-Main Campus Undergraduate Enrollment Trends Chart

Graduate Enrollment Changes

The average number of Graduate students over the last 11 years is 11,583 where 13,839 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 Purdue University-Main Campus since 2015.

Year	Total	Full-time			Part-time
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	9,912	6,348	3,648	2,700	3,564	2,128	1,436
2016-17	10,408	6,575	3,727	2,848	3,833	2,176	1,657
2017-18	10,567	6,442	3,588	2,854	4,125	2,289	1,836
2018-19	10,739	6,546	3,662	2,884	4,193	2,298	1,895
2019-20	10,904	6,604	3,745	2,859	4,300	2,345	1,955
2020-21	10,949	6,085	3,440	2,645	4,864	2,726	2,138
2021-22	12,538	6,854	3,942	2,912	5,684	3,262	2,422
2022-23	12,935	6,869	3,909	2,960	6,066	3,671	2,395
2023-24	13,041	6,801	3,841	2,960	6,240	3,875	2,365
2024-25	13,839	7,231	4,137	3,094	6,608	4,291	2,317
Average	11,583	11,583	3,764	2,872	11,583	2,906	2,042

Purdue University-Main Campus Graduate Enrollment Trends Chart

Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity Changes

The percentage of white students is 50.27%. The percentage was 59.76% 10 years ago and Purdue still has a high percentage of white students. 13.28% of enrolled students is Asian and 2.77% is black students. Hispanic students comprise 6.94% of the student body.

Over the past 10 years, the racial composition has shifted. The percentage of white students decreased from 59.76% to 50.27%. Asian enrollment grew from 5.77% to 13.28%. Black student enrollment decreased from 2.99% to 2.77%. Hispanic student representation expanded from 4.13% to 6.94%.

The overall racial diversity, measured by the Census Bureau Diversity Index, is 0.7224 which indicates that quite diverse. This increased from 0.6365 a decade ago, suggesting that racial diversity has improved.

The following table and chart illustrate the student population trends by race/ethnicity at Purdue University-Main Campus 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	58	2,337	1,212	1,671	41	24,188	824
2016-17	66	2,611	1,254	1,806	43	24,485	905
2017-18	66	2,870	1,293	2,029	31	25,212	1,083
2018-19	59	3,417	1,312	2,189	30	26,266	1,342
2019-20	56	3,747	1,283	2,393	26	26,585	1,469
2020-21	59	4,365	1,300	2,709	30	27,571	1,708
2021-22	70	5,202	1,362	3,020	31	28,982	1,888
2022-23	63	5,754	1,364	3,252	23	28,700	2,040
2023-24	58	6,498	1,449	3,638	22	28,537	2,336
2024-25	69	7,789	1,627	4,071	27	29,486	2,445
Average	62	4,459	1,346	2,678	30	27,001	1,604

Purdue University-Main Campus Enrollment by Race Trends Chart

Distance Learning (Online Courses) Enrollment Changes

4,902 students are enrolled in online degree programs exclusively for the academic year 2024-2025, which is 8% of total students. The number of online students has increased 159.23% since 2015. The following table and chart illustrate the changes in the online student population by enrolled type at Purdue University-Main Campus from 2015 to 2025.

Year	Total Enrollment	Online Completely	Enrolled in Some Online Courses	Not Enrolled in Online Courses
2015-16	40,472	1,891	4,455	34,126
2016-17	41,513	2,108	4,977	34,428
2017-18	42,699	2,494	5,347	34,858
2018-19	44,474	2,597	6,641	35,236
2019-20	45,500	2,731	7,398	35,371
2020-21	46,655	8,309	29,965	8,381
2021-22	50,344	4,423	19,239	26,682
2022-23	51,528	4,437	13,394	33,697
2023-24	52,905	4,469	14,526	33,910
2024-25	58,658	4,902	16,751	37,005
Average	47,475	3,836	12,269	31,369

Most Searched Indiana Colleges (last 30 days)

Undergraduate

Purdue University-Main Campus Public, 4-year | West Lafayette
University of Notre Dame Private, 4-year | Notre Dame
Indiana University-Bloomington Public, 4-year | Bloomington
Purdue University Global Public, 4-year | West Lafayette
Ball State University Public, 4-year | Muncie
Ivy Tech Community College Public, 2-4 year | Indianapolis
Taylor University Private, 4-year | Upland
Indiana State University Public, 4-year | Terre Haute
Saint Mary's College Private, 4-year | Notre Dame
Indiana University-Indianapolis Public, 4-year | Indianapolis

compare schools

Graduate

Purdue University Global Public, 4-year | West Lafayette
Indiana Wesleyan University-Marion Private, 4-year | Marion
Indiana State University Public, 4-year | Terre Haute
Purdue University Fort Wayne Public, 4-year | Fort Wayne
American College of Education Private, 4-year | Indianapolis
Purdue University-Main Campus Public, 4-year | West Lafayette
Marian University Private, 4-year | Indianapolis
Ball State University Public, 4-year | Muncie
University of Notre Dame Private, 4-year | Notre Dame
Butler University Private, 4-year | Indianapolis

compare schools

Online Schools

Purdue University Global Public, 4-year | West Lafayette
Indiana University-East Public, 4-year | Richmond
American College of Education Private, 4-year | Indianapolis
Veritas Baptist College Private, 4-year | Lawrenceburg
University of Notre Dame Private, 4-year | Notre Dame
Trine University Private, 4-year | Angola
Ball State University Public, 4-year | Muncie
DePauw University Private, 4-year | Greencastle
Indiana University-Bloomington Public, 4-year | Bloomington
Butler University Private, 4-year | Indianapolis

compare schools

Trade Schools

Tricoci University of Beauty Culture-Indianapolis Private, Less than 2-year | Indianapolis
Tricoci University of Beauty Culture-Lafayette Private, Less than 2-year | Lafayette
Purdue University Global Public, 4-year | West Lafayette
Textures Institute of Cosmetology Private, Less than 2-year | Indianapolis
Rogers Academy of Hair Design Private, Less than 2-year | Evansville
Lincoln College of Technology-Indianapolis Private, 2-4 year | Indianapolis
Indiana Wellness College Private, Less than 2-year | Carmel
Tricoci University of Beauty Culture-Highland Private, Less than 2-year | Highland
Aveda Fredric's Institute-Indianapolis Private, Less than 2-year | Carmel
Ross Medical Education Center-Evansville Private, Less than 2-year | Evansville

compare schools

Enrollment Trends at Purdue

Student Population Changes

Undergraduate Enrollment Changes

Graduate Enrollment Changes

Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity Changes

Distance Learning (Online Courses) Enrollment Changes

Ratings & Review

Robert G. Watts ---- Bob (Alum)

I studied engineering at Tulane, MIT, and Purdue. Phd in 1965. Purdue isn. the best in the World