Enrollment Trends at SMC

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.

• Trends Table
• By Gender Chart
• Downloadable Chart

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

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).

• 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	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