Largest Illinois Colleges and Universities

Largest Illinois Colleges with Most Enrollment

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has the most students of 59,238 for the academic year 2024-2025 in Illinois. University of Illinois Chicago is ranked second with 33,906 students and Northwestern University follows them with 23,856 students.

Colleges whose programs are focused on certificate, associate, and/or special subjects such as arts and music are excluded from the ranking. The following table compares the schools that have most students by gender.

You may want to check colleges having the smallest enrollment in Illinois.

Largest Illinois Colleges with Most Enrollment
	Name	Total # of Students	Female	Male
1	University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Public, four-yearsChampaign, IL	59,238	27,413	31,825
2	University of Illinois Chicago Public, four-yearsChicago, IL	33,906	18,912	14,994
3	Northwestern University Private (not-for-profit), four-yearsEvanston, IL	23,856	13,160	10,696
4	Illinois State University Public, four-yearsNormal, IL	21,546	12,548	8,998
5	DePaul University Private (not-for-profit), four-yearsChicago, IL	21,210	11,746	9,464
6	University of Chicago Private (not-for-profit), four-yearsChicago, IL	18,566	8,479	10,087
7	Loyola University Chicago Private (not-for-profit), four-yearsChicago, IL	17,384	11,967	5,417
8	Northern Illinois University Public, four-yearsDekalb, IL	15,414	8,454	6,960
9	Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville Public, four-yearsEdwardsville, IL	11,893	6,880	5,013
10	Southern Illinois University-Carbondale Public, four-yearsCarbondale, IL	11,790	6,249	5,541
11	National Louis University Private (not-for-profit), four-yearsChicago, IL	8,915	6,954	1,961
12	Illinois Institute of Technology Private (not-for-profit), four-yearsChicago, IL	8,834	3,361	5,473
13	Eastern Illinois University Public, four-yearsCharleston, IL	8,505	4,881	3,624
14	Lewis University Private (not-for-profit), four-yearsRomeoville, IL	7,011	3,630	3,381
15	Western Illinois University Public, four-yearsMacomb, IL	6,332	3,763	2,569
16	Aurora University Private (not-for-profit), four-yearsAurora, IL	5,923	4,252	1,671
17	Northeastern Illinois University Public, four-yearsChicago, IL	5,734	3,421	2,313
18	Columbia College Chicago Private (not-for-profit), four-yearsChicago, IL	5,570	3,366	2,204
19	Bradley University Private (not-for-profit), four-yearsPeoria, IL	4,777	2,614	2,163
20	Concordia University-Chicago Private (not-for-profit), four-yearsRiver Forest, IL	4,770	3,007	1,763

Largest Student Population in Illinois

Largest Illinois Colleges with Most Enrollment

Compare More Schools

Check More Illinois Colleges In Different Perspective