How many international students attend school in the US?
Refreshed monthly
About 1.2 million students as of September 2026, down 7.7% from September of the prior year. This number reflects those who hold F-1 or M-1 student visas and maintain active student status.
1.2M
total students (September 2026)
-7.7%
total students (September 2026 vs. September 2025)
The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) database tracks international student enrollment. Prospective international students first apply to school; upon acceptance, the school registers them with SEVIS, after which they apply for their visa.
Is international student enrollment increasing or decreasing?
Since enrollment varies by month (e.g., it tends to go down in summer), it is important to compare data from the same month to identify any year-over-year changes. Compared to September of the prior year, the number of active international students in September 2026 has decreased.
International student enrollment is down 7.7% from one year ago.
Active international students, September 2026 vs. September 2025
Where do international students come from?
Of the 196 countries recognized by the State Department, citizens of 190 are enrolled at US educational institutions as of September 2026. 554,700 students — or 46.2% of all international students — come from one of two countries: India and China (Hong Kong and Macau are recorded separately by the source).
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The ten places with the most active students in the US account for 67.6% of all international student enrollment. These are:
- India (335,698 students)
- China (219,016)
- South Korea (41,589)
- Brazil (40,194)
- Canada (37,713)
- Nepal (33,948)
- Vietnam (33,110)
- Bangladesh (26,953)
- Taiwan (21,774)
- Nigeria (21,633)
335,700 students from India are enrolled in US schools, more than the enrollment from 178 other countries combined.
Active international students by citizenship, September 2026
The only countries not represented are Cook Islands, Holy See, Marshall Islands, Naoero, and North Korea.
In addition, 29,600 students come from 26 territories, dependencies, or other areas of special sovereignty that are not recognized as countries by the State Department; 21,800 of these are from Taiwan.
What countries are seeing the biggest changes in enrollment compared to last year?
Among places of origin with more than 500 active students in US schools in September 2026, the five that increased enrollment the most are:
- Lithuania (+10.6% from September 2025 to 523 students in September 2026)
- Brazil (+9.3% to 40,194)
- Kazakhstan (+9.1% to 4,668)
- Rwanda (+4.8% to 1,816)
- Czechia (+4.3% to 1,126)
And the five with the biggest decreases are:
- Burma (-28.5% from September 2025 to 3,009 students in September 2026)
- Oman (-25.3% to 774)
- Saudi Arabia (-18.9% to 9,846)
- Kuwait (-17.0% to 3,496)
- Lebanon (-15.8% to 1,342)
Enrollment from 85 countries decreased in September 2026 compared to September 2025.
Among countries with 500 or more active students
How have the top countries of origin for international students changed over time?
To see how enrollment changes over the longer term, it's necessary to use a slightly different metric produced by SEVIS. Rather than counting active students, it counts active SEVIS records and has been produced annually since 2017.
The top five countries of origin for international students in 2024 were:
- India (422,335 active SEVIS records, +70.9% from 2017)
- China (329,541, -31.2%)
- South Korea (61,277, -35.7%)
- Canada (46,536, +17.8%)
- Brazil (44,721, +31.9%)
In 2024, India was the top country of origin, up 70.9% from 2017, the earliest data available.
Top 5 countries from 2024, most active SEVIS records
India — the top country of origin for international students in the US in 2024 — took over the top spot from China in 2023. Prior to that, China was the top country of origin, dating back to at least 2017. Since 2017, students from India have increased 70.9% while students from China have decreased 31.2%.
Among places of origin with more than 500 active SEVIS records in 2024, the five that increased enrollment the most since 2017 were:
- Kyrgyzstan (+603.0% from 2017 to 2,812 active SEVIS records in 2024)
- Ghana (+266.6% to 14,937)
- Burma (+194.4% to 6,277)
- Bangladesh (+183.0% to 27,204)
- Armenia (+154.1% to 925)
And the five that decreased most:
- Qatar (-73.4% from 2017 to 514 active SEVIS records in 2024)
- Saudi Arabia (-72.3% to 19,963)
- Libya (-69.6% to 534)
- Venezuela (-67.9% to 4,907)
- Kuwait (-51.7% to 6,508)
What do international students study?
People studying in the US on student visas are enrolled in many kinds of institutions, both public and private. SEVIS data includes primary school students, PhD candidates and everyone in between, including students in technical, vocational, or professional programs. However, studying at accredited institutions is the most common reason for coming to the US for school, with 91.6% of international students that were active in September 2026 pursuing either undergraduate or graduate degrees.
40.7% of all foreign students in the US are pursuing master's degrees.
As of September 2026
SEVIS publishes a list of the top 100 majors for international students each year. Using the Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) framework produced by the National Center for Education Statistics (within the Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences) that is used by ICE to produce this list, these majors were regrouped into the broadest possible categories. Bearing in mind that one student may have multiple majors, here are the most common:
The top course of study for international students in 2024 was computer and information sciences and support services
| Course of study | Students | |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Computer and Information Sciences and Support Services | 336,203 |
| 2. | Business, Management, Marketing, and Related Support Services | 248,964 |
| 3. | Engineering | 209,835 |
| 4. | Other | 140,141 |
| 5. | Intensive English | 109,710 |
| 6. | Social Sciences | 75,999 |
| 7. | Biological and Physical Sciences | 67,545 |
| 8. | Mathematics and Statistics | 55,323 |
| 9. | Health Professions and Related Programs | 30,023 |
| 10. | Visual and Performing Arts | 25,167 |
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Methodology
USAFacts standardizes data, in areas such as time and demographics, to make it easier to understand and compare.
Page sources
USAFacts endeavors to share the most up-to-date information available. We sourced the data on this page directly from government agencies; however, the intervals at which agencies publish updated data vary.