United States Public Colleges Ranked by Largest Enrollment

Below is a ranking of the 1538 public colleges in the United States with the largest enrollment of full and part time students. Ivy Tech Community College leads the list with a population of 110,710 students.

Enrollment is a measure of the size of the student body. Larger schools are more likely to offer a wider range of programs and services while smaller schools may have a more intimate and personalized experience.

List of United States Public Colleges Ranked by Largest Enrollment
College	Enrollment
The University of Tennessee Knoxville Knoxville, Tennessee	38,728
University of South Carolina Columbia Columbia, South Carolina	38,532
North Carolina State University at Raleigh Raleigh, North Carolina	38,464
California State University Northridge Northridge, California	38,313
San Jose State University San Jose, California	37,661
University of California Irvine Irvine, California	37,297
Oregon State University Corvallis, Oregon	37,163
University of Utah Salt Lake City, Utah	36,894
Connecticut State Community College New Britain, Connecticut	36,315
The University of Texas at San Antonio San Antonio, Texas	35,770
University of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh Campus Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	35,724
Georgia State University Atlanta, Georgia	34,944
University of Kentucky Lexington, Kentucky	34,709
Auburn University Auburn, Alabama	34,145
Colorado State University Fort Collins Fort Collins, Colorado	34,096
University of Illinois Chicago Chicago, Illinois	33,906
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Edinburg, Texas	33,881
East Los Angeles College Monterey Park, California	33,677

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This list is updated annually based on the latest data from the National Center for Education Statistics.
Last updated: August 2026

Data source: IPEDS 2025 survey for academic year 2024/2025 - National Center for Education Statistics.