What is the Average Retention Rate?
The retention rate is the percentage of first-time students who attend and continue their study in next year at colleges. The low retention rate means that more students transfer out to or stop/pause the program at a school. In general, high ranked colleges or special purpose colleges' retention rate is higher than others.
The average retention rate of U.S. colleges is 73.39% for full-time students and 57.09% for part-time students. 1,719,551 out of 2,208,048 full-time first-year students continued their study in next year at U.S. colleges. In public colleges, the retention rate is 69% and private schools' rate is 75% By school levels, the retention rate at four-years colleges is 75% and community colleges' rate is 67%.
The next schools are the top 5 U.S. colleges that have the highest retention rate. Rio Hondo College has the highest retention rate of 100% among U.S. colleges. Arizona State University Digital Immersion and Ozarks Technical Community College also have higher rate of 100% and 100% respectively. For the ranking, we exclude community colleges and four-colleges with less than 1,000 first-time students.
- Rio Hondo College Retention Rate: 100%
- Arizona State University Digital Immersion Retention Rate: 100% (full-time), 55% (part-time)
- Ozarks Technical Community College Retention Rate: 100%
- Trine University-Regional/Non-Traditional Campuses Retention Rate: 100%
- Shasta College Retention Rate: 100% (full-time), 100% (part-time)
The following table summarizes the average retention rate in United States by school type and level.
| Total | Public | Private (not-for-profit) | Private (for-profit) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 73.32% | 69.19% | 75.16% | 75.71% |
| 4 Years Colleges | 74.53% | 74.60% | 75.50% | 67.79% |
| Community Colleges | 67.32% | 63.79% | 70.49% | 72.70% |
| Trade Schools | 77.53% | 74.16% | 75.93% | 78.17% |
The following table summarizes the retention rate and number of students by attending status for U.S. collegesNumbers in parentheses in each column indicate the number of students in the corresponding category.
| Retention Rate | First-time Students | Enrolled in Next Year | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full-time | 73.39% | 2,208,048 | 1,719,551 |
| Part-time | 57.09% | 382,927 | 179,913 |
Colleges By State
The following table summarizes the Colleges by state and school type. You can sort the table by a column by touching/clicking the column name.
| State | Total | Public | Private |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 67.26% | 66.59% | 68.27% |
| Alaska | 70.70% | 82.60% | 64.33% |
| Arizona | 72.09% | 66.47% | 64.17% |
| Arkansas | 68.29% | 62.71% | 62.33% |
| California | 78.49% | 72.77% | 80.20% |
| Colorado | 70.25% | 71.88% | 78.67% |
| Connecticut | 77.04% | 80.64% | 81.53% |
| Delaware | 78.36% | 87.33% | 66.50% |
| District of Columbia | 76.81% | 68.00% | 82.38% |
| Florida | 71.94% | 70.45% | 69.52% |
| Georgia | 66.16% | 65.74% | 71.71% |
| Hawaii | 71.76% | 67.22% | 69.80% |
| Idaho | 70.93% | 72.13% | 74.20% |
| Illinois | 72.55% | 68.15% | 73.54% |
| Indiana | 74.18% | 69.25% | 76.77% |
| Iowa | 73.15% | 67.47% | 72.78% |
| Kansas | 68.44% | 66.97% | 62.27% |
| Kentucky | 68.72% | 70.29% | 70.08% |
| Louisiana | 70.43% | 63.71% | 70.94% |
| Maine | 71.21% | 65.64% | 80.09% |
| Maryland | 71.22% | 68.32% | 79.12% |
| Massachusetts | 75.89% | 69.21% | 80.15% |
| Michigan | 69.82% | 70.37% | 74.82% |
| Minnesota | 72.35% | 67.00% | 77.11% |
| Mississippi | 72.19% | 67.78% | 72.75% |
| Missouri | 72.28% | 71.05% | 71.18% |
| Montana | 65.85% | 62.75% | 68.20% |
| Nebraska | 75.47% | 67.29% | 76.57% |
| Nevada | 80.44% | 74.25% | - |
| New Hampshire | 77.15% | 68.58% | 80.33% |
| New Jersey | 76.54% | 70.49% | 78.02% |
| New Mexico | 65.34% | 57.85% | 68.50% |
| New York | 76.66% | 68.48% | 81.35% |
| North Carolina | 70.95% | 70.08% | 73.02% |
| North Dakota | 74.05% | 70.08% | 78.50% |
| Ohio | 71.84% | 70.80% | 73.45% |
| Oklahoma | 69.31% | 66.23% | 72.38% |
| Oregon | 75.65% | 64.77% | 84.00% |
| Pennsylvania | 75.57% | 71.77% | 76.71% |
| Rhode Island | 81.25% | 72.00% | 83.27% |
| South Carolina | 72.10% | 64.06% | 66.87% |
| South Dakota | 77.00% | 78.00% | 75.75% |
| Tennessee | 71.31% | 70.70% | 70.24% |
| Texas | 72.41% | 66.53% | 68.62% |
| Utah | 81.61% | 78.33% | 67.20% |
| Vermont | 79.42% | 68.67% | 80.86% |
| Virginia | 73.20% | 71.57% | 76.46% |
| Washington | 77.15% | 75.56% | 76.20% |
| West Virginia | 69.88% | 68.78% | 70.38% |
| Wisconsin | 74.97% | 73.59% | 70.08% |
| Wyoming | 70.38% | 67.33% | - |
| Federated States of Micronesia | 40.00% | 40.00% | - |
| Guam | 88.50% | 77.00% | 100.00% |
| Northern Marianas | 73.00% | 73.00% | - |
| Palau | 72.00% | 72.00% | - |
| Puerto Rico | 73.96% | 71.72% | 76.61% |
| Virgin Islands | 69.00% | 69.00% | - |