The states where students are most and least likely to leave home for college, ranked

Aug 20, 2026 08:55 PM - 1 hour ago 4

As summer's extremity nears, galore young adults — and their soon-to-be-empty-nester parents — are starting to battalion up suitcases and bargain dorm furniture arsenic they hole to move distant for college.

Whether they're looking for specialized grade programs, school prestige, affordable tuition, broader networking opportunities, aliases a much unique campus experience, galore students will soon beryllium attending assemblage crossed authorities lines from their parents.

Enrollment information from the US Department of Education's Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System measures the number of first-time degree- aliases certificate-seeking undergraduate students domiciled successful each authorities and documents which institutions those students enroll successful — and wherever those institutions are located comparative to the student's imperishable reside astatine the clip of application.

The astir caller release, documenting the autumn of 2024, shows that of the complete 2.93 cardinal first-time students crossed each US states, 562,209, aliases 19.1%, enrolled astatine an out-of-state institution.

Business Insider besides compared out-of-state enrollment rates crossed authorities lines and classed all 50 US states by the stock of resident first-time students who enrolled extracurricular their state. Using IPEDS data, we besides calculated the most communal destination authorities among residents who enrolled retired of state.

While the information and our calculations tin thief show the broader image of student migration successful galore states, they do not seizure the factors that led each student to enroll retired of state, nor do they explicitly bespeak really galore students are physically moving their superior residence, since IPEDS information besides includes online programs that whitethorn beryllium located successful states different than the student's residence.

See wherever your authorities classed and wherever its out-of-state students astir commonly enrolled.

50. California

Aerial position of Stanford University, Palo Alto, Silicon Valley, California, USA

Palo Alto, California yujie chen/Getty Images

Out-of-state rate: 9.9%

Number of resident first-time students: 432,331

Number of students leaving: 43,016

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

49. Utah

Aerial position of Provo City, Utah, Y Mountain, Brigham Young University, and surrounded neighborhoods

Provo City, Utah Brett Taylor/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Out-of-state rate: 10.5%

Number of resident first-time students: 33,175

Number of students leaving: 3,497

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

48. Michigan

Aerial position of the divers architecture of Downtown Ann Arbor, capturing the University of Michigan field successful vibrant autumn hues.

Ann Arbor, Michigan Nicholas Klein/Getty Images

Out-of-state rate: 12.4%

Number of resident first-time students: 82,242

Number of students leaving: 10,185

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

47. Arizona

Tempe, Arizona, USA Drone Skyline Aerial Panorama

Tempe, Arizona. Kruck20/Getty Images

Out-of-state rate: 12.8%

Number of resident first-time students: 59,989

Number of students leaving: 7,695

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

46. Mississippi

 Entrance to the field of the University of Southern Mississippi

Hattiesburg, Mississippi CRobertson/Getty Images

Out-of-state rate: 13.2%

Number of resident first-time students: 24,451

Number of students leaving: 3,222

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

45. Florida

Aerial position of the unversity of Florida campass successful Gainesville Florida photograph taken Feb 2021

Gainesville, Florida 6381380/Getty Images

Out-of-state rate: 13.3%

Number of resident first-time students: 179,229

Number of students leaving: 23,780

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

44. Oklahoma

 Aerial position of University of Tulsa field pinch Chapman Stadium and surrounding residential neighborhoods successful Tulsa Oklahoma

Tulsa, Oklahoma GummyBone/Getty Images

Out-of-state rate: 14.1%

Number of resident first-time students: 35,946

Number of students leaving: 5,082

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

43. Texas

Aerial View of a ample nationalist State University successful Austin, Texas

Austin, Texas Jacob Boomsma/Getty Images

Out-of-state rate: 14.2%

Number of resident first-time students: 294,363

Number of students leaving: 41,772

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

42. Alabama

Aerial View of the Town and University of Auburn, Alabama

Auburn, Alabama Jacob Boomsma/Getty Images

Out-of-state rate: 14.2%

Number of resident first-time students: 40,085

Number of students leaving: 5,701

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

41. Louisiana

Aerial position of Baton Rouge, Louisiana and the Mississippi River

Baton Rouge, Louisiana CrackerClips/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Out-of-state rate: 14.8%

Number of resident first-time students: 41,892

Number of students leaving: 6,186

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

40. Iowa

Aerial panoramic position of Old Capitol and surrounding University of Iowa field buildings.

Iowa City, Iowa GummyBone/Getty Images

Out-of-state rate: 15.4%

Number of resident first-time students: 26,979

Number of students leaving: 4,144

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

39. North Carolina

Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA Downtown Skyline.

Winston-Salem, North Carolina Kruck20/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Out-of-state rate: 15.5%

Number of resident first-time students: 83,293

Number of students leaving: 12,920

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

38. Ohio

Aerial position of Columbus Ohio

Columbus, Ohio espiegle/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Out-of-state rate: 15.8%

Number of resident first-time students: 95,533

Number of students leaving: 15,141

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

37. Indiana

 Aerial position of College Campus dormitories connected the Indiana University campus.

Bloomington, Indiana Wirestock/Getty Images

Out-of-state rate: 16.6%

Number of resident first-time students: 56,069

Number of students leaving: 9,288

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

36. Kentucky

Aerial position of downtown Lexington and the field os the section University of Kentucky

Lexington, Kentucky Ivelin Denev/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Out-of-state rate: 16.8%

Number of resident first-time students: 38,910

Number of students leaving: 6,535

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

35. New Mexico

Univeristy of New Mexico Campus viewed from a drone, showing Central Avenye and University Blvd

Albuquerque, New Mexico Aaron Seltzer/Getty Images

Out-of-state rate: 17.1%

Number of resident first-time students: 17,756

Number of students leaving: 3,028

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

34. South Carolina

Drone Aerial of Main Street successful Downtown Spartanburg, South Carolina, USA.

Spartanburg, South Carolina Kruck20/Getty Images

Out-of-state rate: 17.2%

Number of resident first-time students: 42,179

Number of students leaving: 7,236

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

33. Arkansas

Aerial changeable of downtown Little Rock, Arkansas.

Little Rock, Arkansas. Rdlamkin/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Out-of-state rate: 17.2%

Number of resident first-time students: 22,786

Number of students leaving: 3,921

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

32. Kansas

Aerial View of Wichita State University during Summer Break

Wichita, Kansas Jacob Boomsma/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Out-of-state rate: 17.5%

Number of resident first-time students: 26,488

Number of students leaving: 4,633

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

31. West Virginia

Aerial drone panoramic changeable of the downtown field of WVU successful Morgantown West Virginia showing the stream successful the distance

Morgantown, West Virginia BackyardProduction/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Out-of-state rate: 19.2%

Number of resident first-time students: 12,314

Number of students leaving: 2,359

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

30. Nebraska

Drone position of the UNK Loper Campus successful Kearney

Kearney, Nebraska Aaron Seltzer/Getty Images

Out-of-state rate: 19.6%

Number of resident first-time students: 18,209

Number of students leaving: 3,564

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

29. Tennessee

Nashville, Tennessee, USA. Aerial position of American downtown agency district. High commercialized and residential skyscraper buildings successful modern US city

Nashville, Tennessee Bilanol/Getty Images

Out-of-state rate: 20.0%

Number of resident first-time students: 58,199

Number of students leaving: 11,667

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

28. Georgia

Athens, Georgia, USA astatine dawn.

Athens, Georgia Sean Pavone/Getty Images

Out-of-state rate: 20.1%

Number of resident first-time students: 98,471

Number of students leaving: 19,835

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

27. Wisconsin

Madison skyline and Wisconsin State Capitol. The Wisconsin State Capitol, houses some chambers of the Wisconsin legislature, Supreme Court and the Office of the Governor.

Madison, Wisconsin Ultima_Gaina/Getty Images

Out-of-state rate: 20.3%

Number of resident first-time students: 46,503

Number of students leaving: 9,420

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

26. Oregon

Aerial View of a ample Public University successful Corvallis, Oregon

Corvallis, Oregon Jacob Boomsma/Getty Images

Out-of-state rate: 21.2%

Number of resident first-time students: 30,818

Number of students leaving: 6,526

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

25. Virginia

An aerial position of Virginia Commonwealth University and the Fan District of Richmond, Virginia

Richmond, Virginia Wirestock/Getty Images

Out-of-state rate: 21.4%

Number of resident first-time students: 76,703

Number of students leaving: 16,448

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

24. New York

Washington Square Park and Greenwich Village Cityscape successful New York City.

New York, New York. SeanPavonePhoto/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Out-of-state rate: 21.9%

Number of resident first-time students: 170,412

Number of students leaving: 37,301

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

23. Missouri

Columbia, Missouri, USA downtown metropolis skyline astatine twilight.

Columbia, Missouri Sean Pavone/Getty Images

Out-of-state rate: 22.6%

Number of resident first-time students: 46,624

Number of students leaving: 10,555

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

22. Pennsylvania

Aerial View of the Gettysburg College Campus With Fall Colors successful Gettysburg Pennsylvania

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania Kyle Little/Getty Images

Out-of-state rate: 22.6%

Number of resident first-time students: 100,007

Number of students leaving: 22,644

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

21. Idaho

Skyline of Boise, Idaho and the foothills

Boise, Idaho christiannafzger/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Out-of-state rate: 23.8%

Number of resident first-time students: 15,636

Number of students leaving: 3,716

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

20. Nevada

Aerial position of the University of Reno Nevada

Reno, Nevada OwensImaging/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Out-of-state rate: 24.6%

Number of resident first-time students: 23,982

Number of students leaving: 5,906

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

19. Maine

Portland, Maine, USA downtown metropolis skyline astatine dusk.

Portland, Maine Sean Pavone/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Out-of-state rate: 25.0%

Number of resident first-time students: 11,004

Number of students leaving: 2,750

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

18. Washington

 Aerial panoramic position of Seattle University of Washington District Neighborhood, Mt Rainer, and Lake Washington

Seattle, Washington SEASTOCK/Getty Images

Out-of-state rate: 25.1%

Number of resident first-time students: 59,429

Number of students leaving: 14,894

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

17. South Dakota

Aerial position of Rapid City, South Dakota. Rapid City is the region spot of Pennington County successful South Dakota and the 2nd astir populous metropolis successful the state.

Rapid City, South Dakota Ultima_Gaina/Getty Images

Out-of-state rate: 25.2%

Number of resident first-time students: 7,298

Number of students leaving: 1,840

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

16. North Dakota

Aerial View of a ample Public University successful Grand Forks, North Dakota

Grand Forks, North Dakota Jacob Boomsma/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Out-of-state rate: 25.9%

Number of resident first-time students: 6,156

Number of students leaving: 1,596

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

15. Colorado

Aerial View of a Large Public University successful Boulder, Colorado

Boulder, Colorado Jacob Boomsma/Getty Images

Out-of-state rate: 27.6%

Number of resident first-time students: 49,104

Number of students leaving: 13,561

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

14. Montana

Aerial View of Downtown Bozeman, Montana successful Summer

Bozeman, Montana Jacob Boomsma/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Out-of-state rate: 27.9%

Number of resident first-time students: 7,316

Number of students leaving: 2,042

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

13. Wyoming

A drone changeable of Laramie Wyoming neighborhood's cityscape adjacent University of Wyoming pinch farmland and sunlight

Laramie. Wyoming Wirestock/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Out-of-state rate: 28.4%

Number of resident first-time students: 4,688

Number of students leaving: 1,333

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

12. Minnesota

Aerial View of Downtown St. Cloud, Minnesota during Summer

St. Cloud, Minnesota Jacob Boomsma/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Out-of-state rate: 30.5%

Number of resident first-time students: 53,053

Number of students leaving: 16,172

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

11. Illinois

Aerial View of a ample University successful the Chicago Neighborhood of Hyde Park

Chicago, Illinois Jacob Boomsma/Getty Images

Out-of-state rate: 31.3%

Number of resident first-time students: 111,509

Number of students leaving: 34,903

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

10. Rhode Island

An aerial position of downtown Providence, Rhode Island RI, USA

Providence, Rhode Island Wirestock/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Out-of-state rate: 32.1%

Number of resident first-time students: 9,213

Number of students leaving: 2,954

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

9. Massachusetts

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) grounds aerial view. Research institute successful Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Cambridge, Massachusetts tupungato/Getty Images

Out-of-state rate: 33.5%

Number of resident first-time students: 63,392

Number of students leaving: 21,260

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

8. Maryland

The Naval Academy Dome and the Maryland Statehouse buildings show up centered successful the Annapolis Skyline

Annapolis, Maryland ChrisBoswell/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Out-of-state rate: 33.9%

Number of resident first-time students: 54,599

Number of students leaving: 18,506

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

7. Delaware

Newark, DE, USA September 21, DuPont Hall connected the field of the University of Delaware successful Newark houses the schools building and civilian engineering department

Newark, Delaware Kirkikis/Getty Images

Out-of-state rate: 34.4%

Number of resident first-time students: 9,209

Number of students leaving: 3,166

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

6. New Jersey

A drone position of aureate sunrise complete Princeton New Jersey. Cityscape pinch celebrated landmarks, university, residential buildings and roads.

Princeton, New Jersey Wirestock/Getty Images

Out-of-state rate: 35.6%

Number of resident first-time students: 95,646

Number of students leaving: 34,070

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

5. Connecticut

New Haven metropolis downtown skyline cityscape of Connecticut, USA successful autumn

New Haven, Connecticut f11photo/Getty Images

Out-of-state rate: 38.4%

Number of resident first-time students: 35,699

Number of students leaving: 13,699

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

4. Hawaii

Aerial position of Landmark Mid Pacific institute, University of Hawaii, and situation vicinity successful Manoa successful Honolulu, Hawaii.

Honolulu, Hawaii Eric Broder Van Dyke/Getty Images

Out-of-state rate: 38.9%

Number of resident first-time students: 10,296

Number of students leaving: 4,000

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

3. Alaska

Aerial View of the State University Campus successful Fairbanks, Alaska

Fairbanks, Alaska Jacob Boomsma/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Out-of-state rate: 42.2%

Number of resident first-time students: 4,303

Number of students leaving: 1,817

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

2. New Hampshire

Greenville, NH from the air

Greenville, New Hampshire BackyardProduction/Getty Images

Out-of-state rate: 46.2%

Number of resident first-time students: 10,094

Number of students leaving: 4,663

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

1. Vermont

Panoramic aerial position of the municipality of Stowe successful Vermont successful the fall

Stowe, Vermont BackyardProduction/Getty Images

Out-of-state rate: 53.3%

Number of resident first-time students: 3,865

Number of students leaving: 2,060

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

More