Iowa State University Student Population

How many students at ISU?

For the academic year 2024-2025, Iowa State University has a total enrollment of 30,380 students, including 25,628 undergraduate and 4,752 graduate students.

• Gender Breakdown: 16,525 male students (54.4%) and 13,855 female students (45.6%) are attending .
• Race and Ethnicity Breakdown: The two largest race/ethnicity groups are 21,122 White students (69.5%) and 1,994 Hispanic students (6.6%).
• Class Level Breakdown: 25,628 undergraduate students (84.4%) and 4,752 graduate students (15.6%).
• Class Delivery: 972 students are enrolled online exclusively, while 17,472 students take a hybrid mix of online and on-campus courses.

Compared to similar public Research University (very high research activity) - which average 34,856 - ISU's body is relatively small.

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, 16,525 male (54.39%) and 13,855 female (45.61%) students are attending Iowa State University. The number of male students per 100 females students (male-to-female ratio) is 119.27.

By class level, 25,628 (84.36%) are undergraduate students and 4,752 (15.64%) are graduate students. Among undergraduates, 55.09% are male and 44.91% are female, while among graduate students, 50.63% are male and 49.37% are female.

• Enrollment Trends

Student Distribution by Race/Ethnicity

By race/ethnicity, 21,122 White, 721 Black, and 1,244 Asian students out of a total of 30,380 are attending at Iowa State University. Comprehensive enrollment statistic data by race/ethnicity is shown in the chart below (academic year 2024-2025 data).

Iowa State University is somewhat diverse with a diversity index of 50.7% measured by Census Bureau Diversity Index. The institution shows moderate representation of multiple racial and ethnic groups.

• Total
• Undergraduate
• Graduate

Student Age Distribution

By age, ISU has 270 students under 18 years old and 10 students over 65 years old. There are 25,932 students under 25 years old, and 4,245 students over 25 years old out of 30,177 total students.

In undergraduate programs, 270 students are younger than 18 and 4 students are older than 65. ISU has 24,462 undergraduate students aged under 25 and 870 students aged 25 and over.

It has 1,470 graduate students aged under 25 and 3,375 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 Iowa State University, 972 students are enrolled exclusively in online courses and 17,472 students are enrolled in some online courses.

560 students who live in Iowa or the jurisdiction in which the school is located are enrolled exclusively in online courses and 412 students live in another State or outside of the United States.

• Online Population
• By Locality

Transfer-in Students (Undergraduate)

Among 25,628 enrolled in undergraduate programs, 1,252 students have transferred-in from other institutions. The percentage of transfer-in students is 4.89%.1,206 students have transferred in as full-time status and 46 students transferred in as part-time status.