This graphic illustrates the racial and ethnic composition of students enrolled in degree-granting postsecondary institutions in fall 2022 and how those distributions vary across institutional sectors. Overall, White students comprised 52.3% of enrollment, followed by Hispanic (21.5%), Black (13.2%), Asian (7.8%), and students of other racial and ethnic backgrounds (5.3%).
Since 2016, the share of White students in higher education has declined by 2.7 percentage points. Over the same period, the shares of Hispanic, Black, and Asian students increased modestly by 0.4, 0.6, and 1.0 percentage points, respectively.
Enrollment patterns are generally similar across institutional sectors, although notable differences exist. Two-year public institutions enrolled the highest proportion of Hispanic students (28.5%), while private for-profit institutions enrolled the highest proportion of Black students (27.8%). Four-year nonprofit institutions had the largest share of White students (59.4%), whereas two-year public institutions had the smallest (46.6%).
These are the latest data currently available from the US Department of Education as of this publication date.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), Fall Enrollment component, Spring 2023 (provisional data). This table was prepared January 2024. Chart created by EPI 8/19/2026.