Northwestern University Student Population

How many students at Northwestern?

For the academic year 2024-2025, Northwestern University has a total enrollment of 23,856 students, including 9,399 undergraduate and 14,457 graduate students.

• Gender Breakdown: 10,696 male students (44.8%) and 13,160 female students (55.2%) are attending .
• Race and Ethnicity Breakdown: The two largest race/ethnicity groups are 7,840 White students (32.9%) and 3,808 Asian students (16%).
• Class Level Breakdown: 9,399 undergraduate students (39.4%) and 14,457 graduate students (60.6%).
• Class Delivery: 781 students are enrolled online exclusively, while 1,509 students take a hybrid mix of online and on-campus courses.

Compared to similar private (not-for-profit) Research University (very high research activity) - which average 19,644 - Northwestern's body is larger.

Explore complete student demographics below, including gender ratio, race and ethnicity, age distribution, and distance learning statistics.

Enrollment by Gender and Class Level

By gender, 10,696 male (44.84%) and 13,160 female (55.16%) students are attending Northwestern University. The number of male students per 100 females students (male-to-female ratio) is 81.28.

By class level, 9,399 (39.40%) are undergraduate students and 14,457 (60.60%) are graduate students. Among undergraduates, 45.26% are male and 54.74% are female, while among graduate students, 44.56% are male and 55.44% are female.

• Enrollment Trends

Student Distribution by Race/Ethnicity

By race/ethnicity, 7,840 White, 1,543 Black, and 3,808 Asian students out of a total of 23,856 are attending at Northwestern University. Comprehensive enrollment statistic data by race/ethnicity is shown in the chart below (academic year 2024-2025 data).

Northwestern University is highly diverse with a diversity index of 84.4% measured by Census Bureau Diversity Index. The institution demonstrates strong racial and ethnic diversity among its student body.

• Total
• Undergraduate
• Graduate

Student Age Distribution

By age, Northwestern has 115 students under 18 years old and 20 students over 65 years old. There are 12,991 students under 25 years old, and 10,202 students over 25 years old out of 23,203 total students.

In undergraduate programs, 114 students are younger than 18 and 4 students are older than 65. Northwestern has 8,878 undergraduate students aged under 25 and 277 students aged 25 and over.

In graduate schools at Northwestern, 1 students are younger than 18 and 16 students are older than 65. It has 4,113 graduate students aged under 25 and 9,925 students aged 25 and over.

*The age distribution is based on 2023-2024 enrollment data.

• Total
• Undergraduate
• Graduate

Online Student Enrollment

Distance learning, also called online education, is very attractive to students, especially those who want to continue education and work in the field. At Northwestern University, 781 students are enrolled exclusively in online courses and 1,509 students are enrolled in some online courses.

252 students who live in Illinois or the jurisdiction in which the school is located are enrolled exclusively in online courses and 529 students live in another State or outside of the United States.

• Online Population
• By Locality

Transfer-in Students (Undergraduate)

Among 9,399 enrolled in undergraduate programs, 277 students have transferred-in from other institutions. The percentage of transfer-in students is 2.95%.276 students have transferred in as full-time status and 1 students transferred in as part-time status.