Number of colleges by state statistics

• California has 658 colleges – the most of any state in the country
• California has more colleges than 19 states combined
• New York has the second most colleges with 418
• However, a huge part of this is simply the large population of the state
• In California, there is one college for every 59,574 residents – the 13th most residents per college in the USA
• In New York, there are 47,368 for every college – 34th most residents to colleges
• On the other end of the scale, Alaska has the fewest colleges of any state in the country with only 9 colleges
• This is one college for every 81,411 residents – the second worst ratio in the country behind only Nevada
• Nevada has 38 colleges in total – one for every 81,579 residents of the state
• West Virginia has the most colleges per resident with one college for every 26,471 people
• Washington DC has the second most with one college for every 29,130 residents

States with the most college students enrolled

• There are more than 2.5 million students enrolled in higher education in the state of California
• That is more than the combined student population of the bottom 23 states
• It is also more than the total population of 16 individual states
• In Alaska, there are only 20,929 students enrolled in college
• This is less than the of number of students at a number of individual colleges

• When looking at the number of students as a percentage of the population then things change significantly
• The most populous states such as California (13th), New York (22nd), and Texas (31st) no longer dominate the top of the list
• Washington DC has the highest number of students as a percentage of the population with 14.85%
• This is closely followed by New Hampshire at 14.18% – where Southern New Hampshire University has more than 100,000 students enrolled
• Alaska has the lowest percentage of students in their population as well as the lowest raw number of students of any state
• They are then followed by Nevada, New Jersey, and Washington State 

State	No. of colleges	Public	Private	Student population	Colleges per capita	Students as a % of population
Alabama	84	43	41	292,113	59,524	5.84%
Alaska	9	5	4	20,929	81,411	2.86%
Arizona	106	32	74	635,517	68,868	8.71%
Arkansas	86	35	51	147,073	34,884	4.90%
California	658	171	487	2,544,194	59,574	6.49%
Colorado	90	33	57	348,692	64,444	6.01%
Connecticut	72	25	47	187,458	50,000	5.21%
DC	23	1	22	99,462	29,130	14.85%
Delaware	17	6	11	56,318	58,824	5.63%
Florida	385	94	291	1,029,907	56,623	4.72%
Georgia	162	65	97	543,766	66,667	5.03%
Hawaii	23	10	13	60,273	60,870	4.31%
Idaho	35	9	26	127,747	54,286	6.72%
Illinois	239	63	176	679,482	53,138	5.35%
Indiana	132	39	93	438,920	51,515	6.45%
Iowa	76	19	57	204,570	42,105	6.39%
Kansas	78	36	42	193,665	37,179	6.68%
Kentucky	84	24	60	262,338	53,571	5.83%
Louisiana	106	28	78	238,035	43,396	5.17%
Maine	36	15	21	69,566	38,889	4.97%
Maryland	78	29	49	335,799	79,487	5.42%
Massachusetts	146	42	104	477,482	47,945	6.82%
Michigan	170	48	104	483,002	59,412	4.78%
Minnesota	105	48	57	377,954	54,286	6.63%
Mississippi	53	26	27	159,007	54,717	5.48%
Missouri	147	43	104	335,902	42,177	5.42%
Montana	30	19	11	47,085	36,667	4.28%
Nebraska	38	15	23	133,870	52,632	6.69%
Nevada	38	7	31	115,566	81,579	3.73%
New Hampshire	34	13	21	198,501	41,176	14.18%
New Jersey	151	38	113	386,440	61,589	4.16%
New Mexico	42	27	15	106,105	50,000	5.05%
New York	418	107	311	1,130,989	47,368	5.71%
North Carolina	171	75	96	577,998	61,988	5.45%
North Dakota	26	14	12	51,263	29,804	6.62%
Ohio	285	108	177	652,792	41,404	5.53%
Oklahoma	99	62	37	195,209	40,404	4.88%
Oregon	72	26	46	196,397	58,333	4.68%
Pennsylvania	307	70	237	550,082	42,345	4.23%
Rhode Island	22	3	19	74,694	50,000	6.79%
South Carolina	92	33	59	231,452	56,522	4.45%
South Dakota	28	12	16	51,606	31,979	5.76%
Tennessee	149	48	101	322,542	46,980	4.61%
Texas	410	106	304	1,567,878	71,951	5.31%
Utah	63	17	46	395,777	52,381	11.99%
Vermont	18	6	12	39,942	35,867	6.19%
Virginia	151	44	107	543,374	56,954	6.32%
Washington	103	46	57	321,688	74,757	4.18%
West Virginia	68	38	30	132,128	26,471	7.34%
Wisconsin	92	32	60	316,535	64,130	5.37%
Wyoming	10	8	2	30,447	57,880	5.26%