National ranking · Clery-reported enrollment 2024

The 50 Largest Universities in the U.S.

Ranked by total students each institution reports in the U.S. Department of Education's OPE Campus Safety and Security Survey, with its on-campus incident rate alongside it. IPEDS supplies institutional location and sector. Reported enrollment includes online and distance students, which is why this differs from a list of the biggest physical campuses.

210,208
Largest institution
43,889
#50 cutoff
32
Institutions over 50,000
695
Median US institution

Western Governors University is the largest U.S. university in this Clery-reported enrollment ranking

According to U.S. Department of Education OPE Campus Safety Survey filings, Western Governors University reports 210,208 total students among institutions disclosing enrollment, placing first of the 50 largest campuses listed here. The list uses that reported enrollment figure, which includes online and distance students, joined to IPEDS location and sector. Read the on-campus incident rate beside each row before treating size as a safety proxy.

Data source U.S. Department of Education, OPE Campus Safety and Security Survey

Students at #1
210,208
#50 cutoff
43,889
Of all US students in top 50
16.1%
Public institutions on list
39/50

The list in one line

These 50 institutions enrol 3,215,302 students between them, which is 16.1% of all 19,943,548 students across the 5,575 US institutions reporting an enrollment, while the median American institution has just 695.

210,208
students at Western Governors University, the largest
302x
the largest vs the median institution
16.1%
of all US students, in 50 institutions
39/50
are public institutions

Enrollment is total students reported in the OPE campus-safety disclosure, including online and distance learners. The incident rate is on-campus Clery Act incidents per 1,000 reported students, so a large online institution's rate is diluted by students who never attend a campus. Compare rates within similar institution types, not across them.

The bar to make this top-50 list is 43,889 students. Here is where that cutoff sits among all 5,575 institutions reporting enrollment:

The bar to make this top-50 list

Clery-reported enrollment · every US institution with a positive count · 2024

43,889 Top 1% higher than 99% of 5,575 reporting institutions

Show national distribution 0–9,000: 4,976 reporting institutions (89%). Below this entry. 9,000–18,000: 357 reporting institutions (6%). Below this entry. 18,000–27,000: 111 reporting institutions (2%). Below this entry. 27,000–36,000: 56 reporting institutions (1%). Below this entry. 36,000–45,000: 29 reporting institutions (1%). This entry sits in this band. 45,000–54,000: 23 reporting institutions (0%). Above this entry. 54,000–63,000: 11 reporting institutions (0%). Above this entry. 63,000–72,000: 3 reporting institutions (0%). Above this entry. 72,000–81,000: 3 reporting institutions (0%). Above this entry. 81,000–90,000: 0 reporting institutions (0%). Above this entry. 90,000–99,000: 0 reporting institutions (0%). Above this entry. 99,000–108,000: 6 reporting institutions (0%). Above this entry. #50 cutoff 0 108,000 every reporting institution, bucketed by value

Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more reporting institutions. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.

Source U.S. Department of Education, OPE Campus Safety and Security Survey · 2024

What this ranking actually shows

Ranking by total enrollment puts online and multi-campus institutions at the top, because their student bodies are not limited by physical capacity. 5 of these 50 are private for-profit institutions and 39 are public. A list of the biggest physical campuses would look different, and neither list is more correct, because they answer different questions.

The concentration is the finding worth carrying away: the median US institution reporting an enrollment has 695 students, so American higher education is mostly small institutions with a very long tail, not a sector of mega-campuses.

The incident-rate column is included because campus size changes how a raw incident count should be read, not because a bigger university is more or less safe. All 50 of the 50 institutions here have a reported Clery rate. A rate reflects reporting practice as much as underlying risk, and at institutions where most students study online it is diluted by students who never set foot on a campus. See our methodology.

The full top 50

6
Liberty University Lynchburg, VA · Private nonprofit
Enrollment
104,327
Incidents /1k
1.42
10
Dallas College Dallas, TX · Public
Enrollment
69,749
Incidents /1k
0.60
18
New York University New York, NY · Private nonprofit
Enrollment
56,832
Incidents /1k
1.39
34
Walden University Minneapolis, MN · Private for-profit
Enrollment
49,441
Incidents /1k
0.00
38
Capella University Minneapolis, MN · Private for-profit
Enrollment
47,761
Incidents /1k
0.00
39
Valencia College Orlando, FL · Public
Enrollment
47,425
Incidents /1k
0.38
# Institution EnrollmentIncidents /1k
1 Western Governors University Salt Lake City, UT · Private nonprofit 210,208 100% of the leader · rank #1 0.00
2 Southern New Hampshire University Manchester, NH · Private nonprofit 189,531 90% of the leader · rank #2 0.11
3 Grand Canyon University Phoenix, AZ · Private for-profit 113,257 54% of the leader · rank #3 3.73
4 University of Phoenix-Arizona Phoenix, AZ · Private for-profit 111,248 53% of the leader · rank #4 0.00
5 Ivy Tech Community College Indianapolis, IN · Public 110,710 53% of the leader · rank #5 0.12
6 Liberty University Lynchburg, VA · Private nonprofit 104,327 50% of the leader · rank #6 1.42
7 Arizona State University Campus Immersion Tempe, AZ · Public 79,818 38% of the leader · rank #7 5.21
8 Texas A&M University-College Station College Station, TX · Public 78,321 37% of the leader · rank #8 12.28
9 Lone Star College System The Woodlands, TX · Public 73,077 35% of the leader · rank #9 0.16
10 Dallas College Dallas, TX · Public 69,749 33% of the leader · rank #10 0.60
11 University of Central Florida Orlando, FL · Public 69,713 33% of the leader · rank #11 2.41
12 University of Maryland Global Campus Adelphi, MD · Public 63,012 30% of the leader · rank #12 5.68
13 Ohio State University-Main Campus Columbus, OH · Public 61,443 29% of the leader · rank #13 5.91
14 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Champaign, IL · Public 59,238 28% of the leader · rank #14 4.19
15 Miami Dade College Miami, FL · Public 58,941 28% of the leader · rank #15 0.34
16 Purdue University-Main Campus West Lafayette, IN · Public 58,658 28% of the leader · rank #16 3.51
17 University of Washington-Seattle Campus Seattle, WA · Public 56,997 27% of the leader · rank #17 5.51
18 New York University New York, NY · Private nonprofit 56,832 27% of the leader · rank #18 1.39
19 University of Minnesota-Twin Cities Minneapolis, MN · Public 56,666 27% of the leader · rank #19 3.46
20 Northern Virginia Community College Annandale, VA · Public 56,457 27% of the leader · rank #20 0.43
21 University of Arizona Tucson, AZ · Public 56,365 27% of the leader · rank #21 3.51
22 University of Florida Gainesville, FL · Public 56,311 27% of the leader · rank #22 8.42
23 Florida International University Miami, FL · Public 54,723 26% of the leader · rank #23 2.27
24 The University of Texas at Austin Austin, TX · Public 53,864 26% of the leader · rank #24 1.95
25 Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus Atlanta, GA · Public 53,363 25% of the leader · rank #25 2.85
26 Houston Community College Houston, TX · Public 53,253 25% of the leader · rank #26 0.32
27 University of Michigan-Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI · Public 52,855 25% of the leader · rank #27 3.75
28 Rutgers University-New Brunswick New Brunswick, NJ · Public 52,269 25% of the leader · rank #28 2.24
29 Michigan State University East Lansing, MI · Public 52,089 25% of the leader · rank #29 5.32
30 University of Wisconsin-Madison Madison, WI · Public 51,044 24% of the leader · rank #30 3.80
31 Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus University Park, PA · Public 50,737 24% of the leader · rank #31 4.22
32 American Public University System Charles Town, WV · Private for-profit 50,715 24% of the leader · rank #32 0.00
33 University of South Florida Tampa, FL · Public 49,622 24% of the leader · rank #33 4.63
34 Walden University Minneapolis, MN · Private for-profit 49,441 24% of the leader · rank #34 0.00
35 Indiana University-Bloomington Bloomington, IN · Public 48,424 23% of the leader · rank #35 6.53
36 University of Houston Houston, TX · Public 47,980 23% of the leader · rank #36 5.54
37 Kennesaw State University Kennesaw, GA · Public 47,764 23% of the leader · rank #37 1.61
38 Capella University Minneapolis, MN · Private for-profit 47,761 23% of the leader · rank #38 0.00
39 Valencia College Orlando, FL · Public 47,425 23% of the leader · rank #39 0.38
40 University of California-Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA · Public 47,335 23% of the leader · rank #40 9.38
41 University of North Texas Denton, TX · Public 46,864 22% of the leader · rank #41 3.61
42 Utah Valley University Orem, UT · Public 46,807 22% of the leader · rank #42 0.77
43 University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA · Private nonprofit 46,566 22% of the leader · rank #43 9.64
44 University of California-Berkeley Berkeley, CA · Public 45,882 22% of the leader · rank #44 14.19
45 Brigham Young University-Idaho Rexburg, ID · Private nonprofit 45,585 22% of the leader · rank #45 0.15
46 University of Cincinnati-Main Campus Cincinnati, OH · Public 45,026 21% of the leader · rank #46 3.73
47 The University of Texas at Arlington Arlington, TX · Public 44,956 21% of the leader · rank #47 2.34
48 University of California-San Diego La Jolla, CA · Public 44,256 21% of the leader · rank #48 13.49
49 Tarrant County College District Fort Worth, TX · Public 43,928 21% of the leader · rank #49 1.68
50 Florida State University Tallahassee, FL · Public 43,889 21% of the leader · rank #50 3.51

The largest universities in each state

A national top 50 is dominated by a handful of very large institutions, so it answers almost nothing about most states. These 51 state rankings list every institution in the state that reports an enrolment, biggest first.

Only public universities

This national list mixes public, private nonprofit, and for-profit institutions. For the public-sector comparison alone, see the 50 largest public universities by enrollment, scoped to institutions IPEDS classifies as public and four-year-or-above.

Enrollment is the total each institution reports in its OPE campus-safety disclosure. Incident rate is total reported on-campus Clery Act incidents divided by enrollment, per 1,000 students; lower means fewer reported incidents per student, and is not by itself a measure of individual safety. Institution locations follow the IPEDS directory rather than the address an institution files its Clery report from.

Source: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Postsecondary Education Campus Safety and Security Survey (enrollment and Clery disclosures), joined to the IPEDS institutional directory (location and classification)

Every figure on PlainCampus is rendered directly from federal Clery Act source data, no number is typed in by an editor. Every figure on this page is computed at request time from the federal source tables; no ranking position or count is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.

PlainCampus is for informational purposes only and does not constitute safety, security, legal, or enrollment advice; the data describes reported on-campus activity, it is not a complete picture of safety at any campus and cannot predict any individual student's experience. See our appropriate use guidance.

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