Enrollment Trends at Salem State

The student population at Salem State University is 6,230 (4,867 undergraduate and 1,363 graduate students) . The number of students has decreased by 2,985 (32.39%) over the past decade.

Class Level: The percentage of undergraduate students at Salem State is 78.12% which is decreased by 2,632 over last 10 years. The graduate student population decreased by 353 and it has been decreasing.
Gender Breakdown: In 2025, there were 50 male students for every 100 female students, down from 58 in 2015.
836 students enrolled in online degree program exclusively and the number of online students has increased by 543.08% since 2015.

School Home 2024 Student Population

Student Population Changes

The average student population over the last 11 years is 7,634 where 6,230 students are attending the school for the academic year 2024-2025.

Total enrollment decreased every year from 2016 to 2025, falling from 9,215 to 6,230 students, a loss of 2,985 (32.4%).

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

Year	Total	Undergraduate			Graduate
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	9,215	7,499	2,949	4,550	1,716	424	1,292
2016-17	9,001 -214	7,346 -153	2,821 -128	4,525 -25	1,655 -61	406 -18	1,249 -43
2017-18	8,702 -299	7,110 -236	2,719 -102	4,391 -134	1,592 -63	372 -34	1,220 -29
2018-19	8,338 -364	6,811 -299	2,570 -149	4,241 -150	1,527 -65	354 -18	1,173 -47
2019-20	7,706 -632	6,273 -538	2,355 -215	3,918 -323	1,433 -94	292 -62	1,141 -32
2020-21	7,242 -464	5,716 -557	2,026 -329	3,690 -228	1,526 93	319 27	1,207 66
2021-22	7,131 -111	5,555 -161	1,919 -107	3,636 -54	1,576 50	343 24	1,233 26
2022-23	6,539 -592	5,078 -477	1,746 -173	3,332 -304	1,461 -115	304 -39	1,157 -76
2023-24	6,239 -300	4,853 -225	1,752 6	3,101 -231	1,386 -75	310 6	1,076 -81
2024-25	6,230 -9	4,867 14	1,753 1	3,114 13	1,363 -23	333 23	1,030 -46
Average	7,634	6,111	2,261	3,850	1,524	346	1,178

Salem State University Enrollment Trends Chart

Undergraduate Enrollment Changes

The average number of Undergraduate students over the last 11 years is 6,111 where 4,867 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 Salem State University since 2015.

Year	Total	Full-time			Part-time
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	7,499	5,919	2,331	3,588	1,580	618	962
2016-17	7,346	5,864	2,260	3,604	1,482	561	921
2017-18	7,110	5,792	2,209	3,583	1,318	510	808
2018-19	6,811	5,434	2,028	3,406	1,377	542	835
2019-20	6,273	4,997	1,863	3,134	1,276	492	784
2020-21	5,716	4,444	1,528	2,916	1,272	498	774
2021-22	5,555	4,234	1,421	2,813	1,321	498	823
2022-23	5,078	3,924	1,325	2,599	1,154	421	733
2023-24	4,853	3,754	1,344	2,410	1,099	408	691
2024-25	4,867	3,758	1,385	2,373	1,109	368	741
Average	6,111	6,111	1,769	3,043	6,111	492	807

Salem State University Undergraduate Enrollment Trends Chart

Graduate Enrollment Changes

The average number of Graduate students over the last 11 years is 1,524 where 1,363 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 Salem State University since 2015.

Year	Total	Full-time			Part-time
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	1,716	452	101	351	1,264	323	941
2016-17	1,655	489	100	389	1,166	306	860
2017-18	1,592	541	125	416	1,051	247	804
2018-19	1,527	548	112	436	979	242	737
2019-20	1,433	582	108	474	851	184	667
2020-21	1,526	633	106	527	893	213	680
2021-22	1,576	644	139	505	932	204	728
2022-23	1,461	561	89	472	900	215	685
2023-24	1,386	507	100	407	879	210	669
2024-25	1,363	513	116	397	850	217	633
Average	1,524	1,524	110	437	1,524	236	740

Salem State University Graduate Enrollment Trends Chart

Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity Changes

The percentage of white students is 54.61%. The percentage was 68.29% 10 years ago and Salem State still has a high percentage of white students. 3.24% of enrolled students is Asian and 7.87% is black students. Hispanic students comprise 23.15% of the student body.

Over the past 10 years, the racial composition has shifted. The percentage of white students decreased from 68.29% to 54.61%. Asian enrollment grew from 3.02% to 3.24%. Black student enrollment increased from 7.70% to 7.87%. Hispanic student representation expanded from 11.23% to 23.15%.

The overall racial diversity, measured by the Census Bureau Diversity Index, is 0.6399 which indicates that moderately diverse. This increased from 0.5137 a decade ago, suggesting that racial diversity has improved.

The following table and chart illustrate the student population trends by race/ethnicity at Salem 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	20	278	710	1,035	3	6,293	210
2016-17	17	292	784	1,165	1	5,947	216
2017-18	11	271	774	1,242	0	5,666	221
2018-19	12	243	739	1,336	4	5,293	222
2019-20	10	236	636	1,343	4	4,809	220
2020-21	9	247	588	1,327	5	4,450	213
2021-22	9	247	590	1,354	6	4,332	218
2022-23	20	212	535	1,333	3	3,833	209
2023-24	12	214	488	1,363	1	3,564	200
2024-25	5	202	490	1,442	0	3,402	211
Average	13	244	633	1,294	3	4,759	214

Salem State University Enrollment by Race Trends Chart

Distance Learning (Online Courses) Enrollment Changes

836 students are enrolled in online degree programs exclusively for the academic year 2024-2025, which is 13% of total students. The number of online students has increased 543.08% since 2015. The following table and chart illustrate the changes in the online student population by enrolled type at Salem State University from 2015 to 2025.

Year	Total Enrollment	Online Completely	Enrolled in Some Online Courses	Not Enrolled in Online Courses
2015-16	9,215	130	1,658	7,427
2016-17	9,001	237	1,792	6,972
2017-18	8,702	273	2,229	6,200
2018-19	8,338	305	1,924	6,109
2019-20	7,706	271	2,208	5,227
2020-21	7,242	4,903	2,220	119
2021-22	7,131	1,251	3,979	1,901
2022-23	6,539	851	3,006	2,682
2023-24	6,239	844	2,724	2,671
2024-25	6,230	836	2,702	2,692
Average	7,634	990	2,444	4,200

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Enrollment Trends at Salem State

Student Population Changes

Undergraduate Enrollment Changes

Graduate Enrollment Changes

Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity Changes

Distance Learning (Online Courses) Enrollment Changes

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