States Where Students Are Most Likely to Leave for College, Ranked

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As summer’s end nears, many young adults — and their soon-to-be-empty-nester parents — are starting to pack up suitcases and buy dorm furniture as they prepare to move away for college.

Whether they’re looking for specialized degree programs, school prestige, affordable tuition, broader networking opportunities, or a more distinctive campus experience, many students will soon be attending college across state lines from their parents.

Enrollment data from the US Department of Education’s Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System measures the number of first-time degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduate students residing in each state and documents which institutions those students enroll in — and where those institutions are located relative to the student’s permanent address at the time of application.

The most recent release, documenting the fall of 2024, shows that of the over 2.93 million first-time students across all US states, 562,209, or 19.1%, enrolled at an out-of-state institution.

Business Insider also compared out-of-state enrollment rates across state lines and ranked all 50 US states by the share of resident first-time students who enrolled outside their state. Using IPEDS data, we also calculated the most common destination state among residents who enrolled out of state.

While the data and our calculations can help show the broader picture of student migration in many states, they do not capture the factors that led each student to enroll out of state, nor do they explicitly reflect how many students are physically moving their primary residence, since IPEDS data also includes online programs that may be located in states other than the student’s residence.

See where your state ranked and where its out-of-state students most commonly enrolled.

50. California

Palo Alto, California

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Aerial view of Stanford University, Palo Alto, Silicon Valley, California, USA — Palo Alto, California

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Out-of-state rate: 9.9%

Number of resident first-time students: 432,331

Number of students leaving: 43,016

Top destination: Arizona, with 5,537 students (12.9% of students going out-of-state)

49. Utah

Provo City, Utah

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Out-of-state rate: 10.5%

Number of resident first-time students: 33,175

Number of students leaving: 3,497

Top destination: Idaho, with 1,038 students (29.7% of students going out-of-state)

48. Michigan

Ann Arbor, Michigan

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Out-of-state rate: 12.4%

Number of resident first-time students: 82,242

Number of students leaving: 10,185

Top destination: Ohio, with 2,276 students (22.3% of students going out-of-state)

47. Arizona

Out-of-state rate: 12.8%

Number of resident first-time students: 59,989

Number of students leaving: 7,695

Top destination: California, with 933 students (12.1% of students going out-of-state)

46. Mississippi

Hattiesburg, Mississippi

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Out-of-state rate: 13.2%

Number of resident first-time students: 24,451

Number of students leaving: 3,222

Top destination: Alabama, with 614 students (19.1% of students going out-of-state)

45. Florida

Gainesville, Florida

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Out-of-state rate: 13.3%

Number of resident first-time students: 179,229

Number of students leaving: 23,780

Top destination: Georgia, with 2,220 students (9.3% of students going out-of-state)

44. Oklahoma

Out-of-state rate: 14.1%

Number of resident first-time students: 35,946

Number of students leaving: 5,082

Top destination: Kansas, with 1,008 students (19.8% of students going out-of-state)

43. Texas

Austin, Texas

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Out-of-state rate: 14.2%

Number of resident first-time students: 294,363

Number of students leaving: 41,772

Top destination: Oklahoma, with 4,796 students (11.5% of students going out-of-state)

42. Alabama

Auburn, Alabama

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Out-of-state rate: 14.2%

Number of resident first-time students: 40,085

Number of students leaving: 5,701

Top destination: Mississippi, with 935 students (16.4% of students going out-of-state)

41. Louisiana

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

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Out-of-state rate: 14.8%

Number of resident first-time students: 41,892

Number of students leaving: 6,186

Top destination: Mississippi, with 1,090 students (17.6% of students going out-of-state)

40. Iowa

Out-of-state rate: 15.4%

Number of resident first-time students: 26,979

Number of students leaving: 4,144

Top destination: South Dakota, with 529 students (12.8% of students going out-of-state)

39. North Carolina

Winston-Salem, North Carolina

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Out-of-state rate: 15.5%

Number of resident first-time students: 83,293

Number of students leaving: 12,920

Top destination: Virginia, with 1,953 students (15.1% of students going out-of-state)

38. Ohio

Columbus, Ohio

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Out-of-state rate: 15.8%

Number of resident first-time students: 95,533

Number of students leaving: 15,141

Top destination: Indiana, with 1,769 students (11.7% of students going out-of-state)

37. Indiana

Bloomington, Indiana

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Out-of-state rate: 16.6%

Number of resident first-time students: 56,069

Number of students leaving: 9,288

Top destination: Ohio, with 1,851 students (19.9% of students going out-of-state)

36. Kentucky

Lexington, Kentucky

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Out-of-state rate: 16.8%

Number of resident first-time students: 38,910

Number of students leaving: 6,535

Top destination: Ohio, with 1,411 students (21.6% of students going out-of-state)

35. New Mexico

Albuquerque, New Mexico

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Out-of-state rate: 17.1%

Number of resident first-time students: 17,756

Number of students leaving: 3,028

Top destination: Texas, with 586 students (19.4% of students going out-of-state)

34. South Carolina

Spartanburg, South Carolina

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Out-of-state rate: 17.2%

Number of resident first-time students: 42,179

Number of students leaving: 7,236

Top destination: North Carolina, with 1,671 students (23.1% of students going out-of-state)

33. Arkansas

Little Rock, Arkansas.

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Number of resident first-time students: 22,786

Number of students leaving: 3,921

Top destination: Missouri, with 475 students (12.1% of students going out-of-state)

32. Kansas

Wichita, Kansas

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Out-of-state rate: 17.5%

Number of resident first-time students: 26,488

Number of students leaving: 4,633

Top destination: Missouri, with 1,286 students (27.8% of students going out-of-state)

31. West Virginia

Morgantown, West Virginia

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Out-of-state rate: 19.2%

Number of resident first-time students: 12,314

Number of students leaving: 2,359

Top destination: Ohio, with 529 students (22.4% of students going out-of-state)

30. Nebraska

Kearney, Nebraska

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Out-of-state rate: 19.6%

Number of resident first-time students: 18,209

Number of students leaving: 3,564

Top destination: Iowa, with 680 students (19.1% of students going out-of-state)

29. Tennessee

Nashville, Tennessee

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Out-of-state rate: 20.0%

Number of resident first-time students: 58,199

Number of students leaving: 11,667

Top destination: Alabama, with 1,591 students (13.6% of students going out-of-state)

28. Georgia

Athens, Georgia

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Out-of-state rate: 20.1%

Number of resident first-time students: 98,471

Number of students leaving: 19,835

Top destination: Alabama, with 3,475 students (17.5% of students going out-of-state)

27. Wisconsin

Madison, Wisconsin

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Out-of-state rate: 20.3%

Number of resident first-time students: 46,503

Number of students leaving: 9,420

Top destination: Minnesota, with 2,781 students (29.5% of students going out-of-state)

26. Oregon

Corvallis, Oregon

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Out-of-state rate: 21.2%

Number of resident first-time students: 30,818

Number of students leaving: 6,526

Top destination: Washington, with 1,101 students (16.9% of students going out-of-state)

25. Virginia

Richmond, Virginia

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Out-of-state rate: 21.4%

Number of resident first-time students: 76,703

Number of students leaving: 16,448

Top destination: North Carolina, with 1,627 students (9.9% of students going out-of-state)

24. New York

New York, New York.

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Out-of-state rate: 21.9%

Number of resident first-time students: 170,412

Number of students leaving: 37,301

Top destination: Pennsylvania, with 5,091 students (13.6% of students going out-of-state)

23. Missouri

Columbia, Missouri

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Out-of-state rate: 22.6%

Number of resident first-time students: 46,624

Number of students leaving: 10,555

Top destination: Kansas, with 2,186 students (20.7% of students going out-of-state)

22. Pennsylvania

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

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Out-of-state rate: 22.6%

Number of resident first-time students: 100,007

Number of students leaving: 22,644

Top destination: New York, with 2,642 students (11.7% of students going out-of-state)

21. Idaho

Boise, Idaho

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Out-of-state rate: 23.8%

Number of resident first-time students: 15,636

Number of students leaving: 3,716

Top destination: Utah, with 1,106 students (29.8% of students going out-of-state)

20. Nevada

Reno, Nevada

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Out-of-state rate: 24.6%

Number of resident first-time students: 23,982

Number of students leaving: 5,906

Top destination: California, with 964 students (16.3% of students going out-of-state)

19. Maine

Portland, Maine

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Out-of-state rate: 25.0%

Number of resident first-time students: 11,004

Number of students leaving: 2,750

Top destination: Massachusetts, with 658 students (23.9% of students going out-of-state)

18. Washington

Seattle, Washington

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Out-of-state rate: 25.1%

Number of resident first-time students: 59,429

Number of students leaving: 14,894

Top destination: California, with 2,344 students (15.7% of students going out-of-state)

17. South Dakota

Rapid City, South Dakota

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Out-of-state rate: 25.2%

Number of resident first-time students: 7,298

Number of students leaving: 1,840

Top destination: Minnesota, with 319 students (17.3% of students going out-of-state)

16. North Dakota

Grand Forks, North Dakota

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Out-of-state rate: 25.9%

Number of resident first-time students: 6,156

Number of students leaving: 1,596

Top destination: Minnesota, with 785 students (49.2% of students going out-of-state)

15. Colorado

Boulder, Colorado

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Out-of-state rate: 27.6%

Number of resident first-time students: 49,104

Number of students leaving: 13,561

Top destination: Arizona, with 1,613 students (11.9% of students going out-of-state)

14. Montana

Bozeman, Montana

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Out-of-state rate: 27.9%

Number of resident first-time students: 7,316

Number of students leaving: 2,042

Top destination: North Dakota, with 211 students (10.3% of students going out-of-state)

13. Wyoming

Laramie. Wyoming

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Out-of-state rate: 28.4%

Number of resident first-time students: 4,688

Number of students leaving: 1,333

Top destination: Utah, with 229 students (17.2% of students going out-of-state)

12. Minnesota

St. Cloud, Minnesota

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Out-of-state rate: 30.5%

Number of resident first-time students: 53,053

Number of students leaving: 16,172

Top destination: Wisconsin, with 3,494 students (21.6% of students going out-of-state)

11. Illinois

Chicago, Illinois

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Out-of-state rate: 31.3%

Number of resident first-time students: 111,509

Number of students leaving: 34,903

Top destination: Wisconsin, with 4,183 students (12% of students going out-of-state)

10. Rhode Island

Providence, Rhode Island

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Out-of-state rate: 32.1%

Number of resident first-time students: 9,213

Number of students leaving: 2,954

Top destination: Massachusetts, with 962 students (32.6% of students going out-of-state)

9. Massachusetts

Cambridge, Massachusetts

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Out-of-state rate: 33.5%

Number of resident first-time students: 63,392

Number of students leaving: 21,260

Top destination: Rhode Island, with 2,716 students (12.8% of students going out-of-state)

8. Maryland

Annapolis, Maryland

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Out-of-state rate: 33.9%

Number of resident first-time students: 54,599

Number of students leaving: 18,506

Top destination: Pennsylvania, with 3,228 students (17.4% of students going out-of-state)

7. Delaware

Out-of-state rate: 34.4%

Number of resident first-time students: 9,209

Number of students leaving: 3,166

Top destination: Pennsylvania, with 1,043 students (32.9% of students going out-of-state)

6. New Jersey

Princeton, New Jersey

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Out-of-state rate: 35.6%

Number of resident first-time students: 95,646

Number of students leaving: 34,070

Top destination: Pennsylvania, with 7,672 students (22.5% of students going out-of-state)

5. Connecticut

New Haven, Connecticut

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Out-of-state rate: 38.4%

Number of resident first-time students: 35,699

Number of students leaving: 13,699

Top destination: Massachusetts, with 2,738 students (20% of students going out-of-state)

4. Hawaii

Honolulu, Hawaii

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Out-of-state rate: 38.9%

Number of resident first-time students: 10,296

Number of students leaving: 4,000

Top destination: California, with 862 students (21.6% of students going out-of-state)

3. Alaska

Fairbanks, Alaska

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Out-of-state rate: 42.2%

Number of resident first-time students: 4,303

Number of students leaving: 1,817

Top destination: Arizona, with 222 students (12.2% of students going out-of-state)

2. New Hampshire

Greenville, New Hampshire

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Out-of-state rate: 46.2%

Number of resident first-time students: 10,094

Number of students leaving: 4,663

Top destination: Massachusetts, with 1,419 students (30.4% of students going out-of-state)

1. Vermont

Stowe, Vermont

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Out-of-state rate: 53.3%

Number of resident first-time students: 3,865

Number of students leaving: 2,060

Top destination: New York, with 406 students (19.7% of students going out-of-state)