New Hampshire ranking · Clery-reported enrollment 2024

The Largest Universities in New Hampshire

Every New Hampshire college and university that reports an enrolment to the U.S. Department of Education, ranked biggest first. Total enrolment counts online and distance students, so an institution with a large virtual programme can outrank a bigger physical campus.

189,531
Largest in New Hampshire
29
Institutions reporting
972
Median New Hampshire institution
#28
of 51 states by enrolment

Southern New Hampshire University is the largest institution in New Hampshire with 189,531 students

According to U.S. Department of Education campus-safety enrollment filings for 2024, Southern New Hampshire University leads New Hampshire at 189,531 students, and the five largest hold 90.3% of state enrollment. This list covers all 29 reporting institutions. Totals include online learners, so a large virtual programme can outrank a bigger physical campus.

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

Largest in New Hampshire
189,531
Institutions reporting
29
State students in top 5
90.3%
Median New Hampshire institution
972

New Hampshire in one line

Southern New Hampshire University is the largest institution in New Hampshire with 189,531 students, about 195x the 972 of the median institution in the state. 90.3% of every student in the state is enrolled at just these five institutions, so New Hampshire's higher education is concentrated at the top.

189,531
students at Southern New Hampshire University
90.3%
of state students, in the top 5
240,372
students enrolled across New Hampshire
50
the #29 cutoff

Enrollment is total students reported in the OPE campus-safety disclosure for 2024, including online and distance learners. IPEDS supplies institution location and sector. The incident column is reported on-campus Clery Act incidents per 1,000 enrolled students.

Size joined to safety

Among the 10 mid-to-large campuses on this New Hampshire size list, 4 report below the 1.58 national median incident rate per 1,000, 1 also rank in the national safest-50, and the list averages 6.2 against that 1.58 median (Southern New Hampshire University itself reports 0.11).

10
mid-to-large campuses on this list
4
below 1.58 national median /1k
1
also in national safest-50
0.11
Southern New Hampshire University rate /1k

Incident rates are on-campus Clery Criminal Offenses and VAWA reports per 1,000 enrolled students for campuses with enrollment ≥ 2,000 and a national safety rank. A lower rate is not a personal safety verdict, reporting culture and online enrollment dilute raw counts. See /rankings/safest-campuses for the size-fair national list.

What this ranking shows about New Hampshire

New Hampshire ranks 28th by total enrolment among the states and DC, roughly mid-table nationally. The 29 institutions reporting enrolment here split 12 public to 17 private, so neither sector defines the top of this list on its own.

Ranking by total enrolment puts institutions with large online programmes above institutions with larger physical campuses, because a virtual student body is not limited by classrooms or housing. A list of the biggest campuses by students physically present would order differently, and neither list is more correct, because they answer different questions. Enrolment here is the total headcount an institution reported to the federal OPE reporting cohort, which counts undergraduate and graduate students together and makes no distinction between full-time and part-time study. A university with a very large part-time or continuing-education population can therefore outrank one with more students on campus on any given weekday.

The incident-rate column is here because institution size changes how a raw incident count should be read, not because a larger university is more or less safe. Two institutions with the same number of reported incidents are not comparable if one enrols five times as many students, so the column expresses incidents per thousand enrolled. A rate still reflects reporting practice as much as underlying risk: an institution that encourages reporting and investigates thoroughly can record more incidents than one that does neither, and that is the opposite of what a naive reading suggests. Institutions where most students study online show diluted rates, because the denominator counts students who never set foot on a campus. Read the column as context for the size ranking, never as a safety verdict, and see our methodology for how both figures are assembled. For the same institutions ranked by cost rather than size, see the cheapest colleges rankings, or browse every institution we hold a record for.

Comparing states? See the 50 largest universities in the US, or this state's campus safety profile.

All 29 ranked institutions in New Hampshire

3
Dartmouth College Hanover, NH · Private nonprofit
Enrollment
6,938
Incidents /1k
25.37
7
Rivier University Nashua, NH · Private nonprofit
Enrollment
2,777
Incidents /1k
0.72
# Institution EnrollmentIncidents /1k
1 Southern New Hampshire University Manchester, NH · Private nonprofit 189,531 100% of the leader · rank #1 0.11
2 University of New Hampshire-Main Campus Durham, NH · Public 13,554 7% of the leader · rank #2 8.71
3 Dartmouth College Hanover, NH · Private nonprofit 6,938 4% of the leader · rank #3 25.37
4 Plymouth State University Plymouth, NH · Public 3,707 4% of the leader · rank #4 7.28
5 New England College Henniker, NH · Private nonprofit 3,275 4% of the leader · rank #5 0.61
6 Keene State College Keene, NH · Public 2,848 4% of the leader · rank #6 7.02
7 Rivier University Nashua, NH · Private nonprofit 2,777 4% of the leader · rank #7 0.72
8 NHTI-Concord's Community College Concord, NH · Public 2,657 4% of the leader · rank #8 6.02
9 Saint Anselm College Manchester, NH · Private nonprofit 2,111 4% of the leader · rank #9 6.16
10 Manchester Community College Manchester, NH · Public 2,081 4% of the leader · rank #10 0.00
11 Franklin Pierce University Rindge, NH · Private nonprofit 1,654 4% of the leader · rank #11 0.00
12 Great Bay Community College Portsmouth, NH · Public 1,462 4% of the leader · rank #12 0.68
13 Nashua Community College Nashua, NH · Public 1,342 4% of the leader · rank #13 0.00
14 Antioch University-New England Keene, NH · Private nonprofit 992 4% of the leader · rank #14 0.00
15 Colby-Sawyer College New London, NH · Private nonprofit 972 4% of the leader · rank #15 0.00
16 Lakes Region Community College Laconia, NH · Public 735 4% of the leader · rank #16 0.00
17 University of New Hampshire-Franklin Pierce School of Law Concord, NH · Public 718 4% of the leader · rank #17 0.00
18 River Valley Community College Claremont, NH · Public 677 4% of the leader · rank #18 0.00
19 University of New Hampshire at Manchester Manchester, NH · Public 663 4% of the leader · rank #19 3.02
20 White Mountains Community College Berlin, NH · Public 577 4% of the leader · rank #20 0.00
21 Empire Beauty School-Hooksett Hooksett, NH · Private for-profit 306 4% of the leader · rank #21 0.00
22 Empire Beauty School-Somersworth Somersworth, NH · Private for-profit 184 4% of the leader · rank #22 0.00
23 Harmony Health Care Institute Merrimack, NH · Private for-profit 153 4% of the leader · rank #23 0.00
24 Thomas More College of Liberal Arts Merrimack, NH · Private nonprofit 97 4% of the leader · rank #24 0.00
25 St Joseph School of Nursing Nashua, NH · Private nonprofit 95 4% of the leader · rank #25 0.00
26 Empire Beauty School-Laconia Laconia, NH · Private for-profit 92 4% of the leader · rank #26 0.00
27 Paul Mitchell the School-Portsmouth Portsmouth, NH · Private for-profit 73 4% of the leader · rank #27 0.00
28 Upper Valley Educators Institute Lebanon, NH · Private nonprofit 51 4% of the leader · rank #28 0.00
29 Keene Beauty Academy Keene, NH · Private for-profit 50 4% of the leader · rank #29 0.00

What to do with this

Size is a starting filter for New Hampshire, not a verdict on any institution.

Institutions below the reporting floor, or without enrolment in the Campus Safety and Security Survey cohort for 2024, do not appear on this list. IPEDS supplies classification and location.

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. Data current as of 2026-10-26.

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.