Enrollment Trends at Merced

Student Population Changes

The average student population over the last 11 years is 10,867 where 12,472 students are attending the school for the academic year 2024-2025.

Total enrollment fluctuated between 2016 and 2025, with 7 year-over-year increases and 2 decreases. It peaked at 12,472 students in 2025 and was lowest at 9,282 in 2022. Overall, enrollment rose from 10,389 to 12,472 students, a net gain of 2,083 (20.1%).

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

• Trends Table
• By Gender Chart
• Downloadable Chart

Year	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	10,389	4,372	6,017
2016-17	10,750 361	4,531 159	6,219 202
2017-18	10,912 162	4,551 20	6,361 142
2018-19	10,995 83	4,487 -64	6,508 147
2019-20	11,173 178	4,525 38	6,648 140
2020-21	10,645 -528	3,956 -569	6,689 41
2021-22	9,282 -1,363	3,603 -353	5,679 -1,010
2022-23	10,214 932	4,036 433	6,178 499
2023-24	11,835 1,621	4,831 795	7,004 826
2024-25	12,472 637	5,139 308	7,333 329
Average	10,867	4,403	6,464

Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity Changes

The percentage of white students is 16.47% and the percentage of black students is 3.79% at Merced College. 7.11% of enrolled students is Asian. Hispanic students comprise 65.97% of the student body.

Over the past 10 years, the racial composition has shifted. The percentage of white students decreased from 21.94% to 16.47%. Asian enrollment declined from 9.60% to 7.11%. Black student enrollment increased from 3.46% to 3.79%. Hispanic student representation expanded from 59.73% to 65.97%.

The overall racial diversity, measured by the Census Bureau Diversity Index, is 0.5301 which indicates that somewhat diverse. This decreased from 0.5839 a decade ago, suggesting that racial diversity has declined.

The following table and chart illustrate the student population trends by race/ethnicity at Merced College over the past 11 years (2015-2025).

• Trends Table
• Interactive Chart
• Downloadable Chart

Year	American Indian or Native American	Asian	Black	Hispanic	Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander	White	Two or More Races
	2015-16	43	997	359	6,205	37	2,279	300
2016-17	40	1,034	356	6,507	43	2,312	314
2017-18	53	1,011	333	6,701	43	2,266	333
2018-19	44	937	288	6,032	38	2,023	315
2019-20	48	849	317	6,349	36	1,804	254
2020-21	50	888	316	6,306	22	1,902	321
2021-22	46	743	295	5,769	24	1,703	294
2022-23	49	788	353	6,654	25	1,759	344
2023-24	55	884	416	7,791	31	2,015	430
2024-25	43	887	473	8,228	27	2,054	409
Average	47	902	351	6,654	33	2,012	331