Enrollment Trends at SMC

The student population at Santa Monica College is 23,453 (all undergraduate). The number of students has decreased by 7,162 (23.39%) over the past decade.

Gender Breakdown: In 2025, there were 82 male students for every 100 female students, down from 89 in 2015.
8,360 students enrolled in online degree program exclusively and the number of online students has increased by 200.29% since 2015.

School Home 2024 Student Population

Student Population Changes

The average student population over the last 11 years is 26,585 where 23,453 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 30,828 students in 2017 and was lowest at 22,375 in 2023. Overall, enrollment dropped from 30,615 to 23,453 students, a net loss of 7,162 (23.4%).

The following table and chart illustrate the changes in student population by gender at Santa Monica College since 2015.

Year	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	30,615	14,451	16,164
2016-17	30,828 213	14,463 12	16,365 201
2017-18	29,760 -1,068	13,865 -598	15,895 -470
2018-19	28,800 -960	13,258 -607	15,542 -353
2019-20	27,497 -1,303	12,550 -708	14,947 -595
2020-21	25,948 -1,549	11,153 -1,397	14,795 -152
2021-22	23,408 -2,540	10,082 -1,071	13,326 -1,469
2022-23	22,375 -1,033	9,905 -177	12,470 -856
2023-24	23,164 789	10,381 476	12,783 313
2024-25	23,453 289	10,537 156	12,916 133
Average	26,585	12,065	14,520

Santa Monica College Enrollment Trends Chart

Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity Changes

The percentage of white students is 26.95% and the percentage of black students is 9.26% at Santa Monica College. 8.05% of enrolled students is Asian. Hispanic students comprise 40.33% of the student body.

Over the past 10 years, the racial composition has shifted. The percentage of white students increased from 26.02% to 26.95%. Asian enrollment declined from 9.80% to 8.05%. Black student enrollment increased from 9.19% to 9.26%. Hispanic student representation expanded from 38.73% to 40.33%.

The overall racial diversity, measured by the Census Bureau Diversity Index, is 0.7468 which indicates that quite diverse. This decreased from 0.7627 a decade ago, suggesting that racial diversity has declined.

The following table and chart illustrate the student population trends by race/ethnicity at Santa Monica College 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	52	3,001	2,813	11,858	75	7,966	1,185
2016-17	48	2,873	2,780	12,227	70	7,999	1,247
2017-18	54	2,688	2,661	11,945	72	7,554	1,316
2018-19	47	2,597	2,517	11,579	50	7,468	1,384
2019-20	50	2,387	2,304	11,266	54	6,460	1,225
2020-21	38	2,299	2,063	10,810	47	6,769	1,265
2021-22	35	2,156	1,968	9,761	40	6,174	1,223
2022-23	28	1,993	1,980	9,314	29	5,723	1,203
2023-24	31	1,972	2,092	9,447	23	6,067	1,271
2024-25	27	1,887	2,171	9,459	27	6,321	1,243
Average	41	2,385	2,335	10,767	49	6,850	1,256

Santa Monica College Enrollment by Race Trends Chart

Distance Learning (Online Courses) Enrollment Changes

8,360 students are enrolled in online degree programs exclusively for the academic year 2024-2025, which is 36% of total students. The number of online students has increased 200.29% since 2015. The following table and chart illustrate the changes in the online student population by enrolled type at Santa Monica College from 2015 to 2025.

Year	Total Enrollment	Online Completely	Enrolled in Some Online Courses	Not Enrolled in Online Courses
2015-16	30,615	2,784	4,715	23,116
2016-17	30,828	2,908	5,188	22,732
2017-18	29,760	3,250	5,729	20,781
2018-19	28,800	3,415	6,176	19,209
2019-20	27,497	3,639	6,800	17,058
2020-21	25,948	3,570	8,230	14,148
2021-22	23,408	6,187	10,257	6,964
2022-23	22,375	10,229	7,876	4,270
2023-24	23,164	8,870	9,015	5,279
2024-25	23,453	8,360	9,306	5,787
Average	26,585	5,321	7,329	13,934

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Enrollment Trends at SMC

Student Population Changes

Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity Changes

Distance Learning (Online Courses) Enrollment Changes

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