Enrollment Trends at Palomar

Student Population Changes

The average student population over the last 11 years is 21,377 where 19,550 students are attending the school for the academic year 2024-2025.

Total enrollment fluctuated between 2016 and 2025, with 5 year-over-year increases and 4 decreases. It peaked at 23,923 students in 2017 and was lowest at 17,566 in 2022. Overall, enrollment dropped from 23,482 to 19,550 students, a net loss of 3,932 (16.7%).

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

• Trends Table
• By Gender Chart
• Downloadable Chart

Year	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	23,482	12,712	10,770
2016-17	23,923 441	13,087 375	10,836 66
2017-18	23,848 -75	12,832 -255	11,016 180
2018-19	23,917 69	12,603 -229	11,314 298
2019-20	23,874 -43	12,515 -88	11,359 45
2020-21	21,141 -2,733	10,416 -2,099	10,725 -634
2021-22	17,566 -3,575	8,950 -1,466	8,616 -2,109
2022-23	17,655 89	9,384 434	8,271 -345
2023-24	18,815 1,160	10,205 821	8,610 339
2024-25	19,550 735	10,538 333	9,012 402
Average	21,377	11,324	10,053

Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity Changes

The percentage of white students is 31.62% and the percentage of black students is 2.93% at Palomar College. 6.56% of enrolled students is Asian. Hispanic students comprise 49.76% of the student body.

Over the past 10 years, the racial composition has shifted. The percentage of white students decreased from 40.08% to 31.62%. Asian enrollment grew from 6.27% to 6.56%. Black student enrollment decreased from 3.20% to 2.93%. Hispanic student representation expanded from 40.58% to 49.76%.

The overall racial diversity, measured by the Census Bureau Diversity Index, is 0.6432 which indicates that moderately diverse. This decreased from 0.6675 a decade ago, suggesting that racial diversity has declined.

The following table and chart illustrate the student population trends by race/ethnicity at Palomar 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	158	1,473	751	9,530	114	9,411	1,085
2016-17	183	1,458	740	10,002	120	9,261	1,121
2017-18	168	1,422	755	10,332	116	8,960	1,182
2018-19	187	1,502	742	10,687	116	8,665	1,248
2019-20	149	1,502	703	11,142	91	8,057	1,272
2020-21	144	1,398	597	9,693	77	7,380	1,277
2021-22	113	1,131	487	8,198	75	6,057	1,117
2022-23	102	1,119	478	8,531	68	5,943	1,108
2023-24	100	1,151	557	9,267	83	6,158	1,139
2024-25	117	1,282	573	9,728	79	6,181	1,239
Average	142	1,344	638	9,711	94	7,607	1,179