2026 Most Enrolled Students in Illinois Rankings
Among Illinois colleges, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has the largest number of students (59,238) and University of Illinois Chicago has the second largest number of students (33,906) based on academic year 2023-2024 college enrollment data.
The following table ranks and compares the Most Enrolled Students in Illinois having the largest student population. For the ranking, we only include 4-year colleges and exclude colleges which the percentage of online students is more than 50% of total enrollment. You can view the largest online colleges at colleges with most online students rankings.
Most Enrolled Students in Illinois
| Rank | College Name | Total Population | Men | Women | Undergraduate | Graduate | Online Enrollment | Tuition & Fees | Acceptance Rate | Students to Faculty Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Champaign, IL | 59,238 | 31,825 | 27,413 | 37,140 | 22,098 | 9,212 | $40,096 | 42.4% | 20 to 1 |
| 2 | University of Illinois Chicago Chicago, IL | 33,906 | 14,994 | 18,912 | 22,495 | 11,411 | 4,153 | $32,009 | 77.4% | 17 to 1 |
| 3 | Northwestern University Evanston, IL | 23,856 | 10,696 | 13,160 | 9,399 | 14,457 | 781 | $68,322 | 7.7% | 6 to 1 |
| 4 | Illinois State University Normal, IL | 21,546 | 8,998 | 12,548 | 19,107 | 2,439 | 1,302 | $26,058 | 88.2% | 19 to 1 |
| 5 | DePaul University Chicago, IL | 21,210 | 9,464 | 11,746 | 14,188 | 7,022 | 2,424 | $45,405 | 75.9% | 17 to 1 |
| 6 | University of Chicago Chicago, IL | 18,566 | 10,087 | 8,479 | 7,598 | 10,968 | 102 | $69,324 | 4.5% | 5 to 1 |
| 7 | Loyola University Chicago Chicago, IL | 17,384 | 5,417 | 11,967 | 12,538 | 4,846 | 1,393 | $53,710 | 81.6% | 13 to 1 |
| 8 | Northern Illinois University Dekalb, IL | 15,414 | 6,960 | 8,454 | 11,348 | 4,066 | 2,197 | $13,060 | 69.8% | 15 to 1 |
| 9 | Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Edwardsville, IL | 11,893 | 5,013 | 6,880 | 8,945 | 2,948 | 1,999 | $12,092 | 97.5% | 15 to 1 |
| 10 | Southern Illinois University-Carbondale Carbondale, IL | 11,790 | 5,541 | 6,249 | 8,553 | 3,237 | 2,272 | $13,334 | 86.9% | 11 to 1 |
Qualified Illinois Colleges in Core Admission Stats
