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Which U.S. states and universities gained or lost the most Chinese students in the past decade?
Executive summary
Chinese student enrollment in the U.S. has fallen substantially from its late-2010s peak — Open Doors-based tallies show roughly 277,000–278,000 Chinese students in 2023–24 and reporting in 2025 says numbers dropped to about 266,000–277,000 depending on the dataset [1] [2] [3]. Available sources do not provide a clean, single-ranked list of which U.S. states or individual universities gained or lost the most Chinese students over the past decade; reporting instead offers national totals, state snapshots (not consistently year‑over‑year), and institution-level anecdotes [1] [4] [5].
1. National trend: a rise then a clear decline
Through the 2010s Chinese students were the largest international cohort in the U.S.; their numbers rose dramatically (for example, undergraduate enrollments rose sharply through the 2000s and 2010s) before reversing after 2019. Open Doors / IIE counted about 277,398 Chinese students in 2023–24, a modest decline in that year but part of a larger downward trajectory; other outlets in 2025 report totals near 265,900–277,000 and note multi‑year drops including undergraduate enrollments down roughly 47% from recent peaks in some series [1] [2] [3]. Sources agree the decline is meaningful but differ on exact counts because of release dates and methodology [1] [3].
2. Why the shifts happened — competing explanations
Journalists and analysts point to a mix of push and pull factors: COVID‑era travel disruptions and visa delays initially stalled flows; then strained U.S.–China ties, visa policy uncertainty, security rhetoric, economic anxiety in China, and reports of discrimination all discouraged applicants or complicated entry [3] [6] [7]. Policy moves in 2025 — including announced visa restrictions that were later partially rolled back — added immediate uncertainty for students and universities [6] [7]. Different sources emphasize different drivers: some stress diplomacy and visas [7] [6], others highlight Chinese families diversifying destinations to the U.K., Canada and Australia [3] [8].
3. States: big destinations but no authoritative “most gained/lost” ranking
Open Doors and IIE reporting identifies California, New York and Texas as states that historically host the most international students, and in 2024 these states continued to welcome the most overall international students [1]. But available sources do not publish a consistent decade-long, state-by-state gain/loss ranking for Chinese students specifically. Some state-level snapshots exist — for example, California’s large Chinese cohort and campus counts at UC and private institutions — yet these are episodic rather than longitudinal rankings that would identify the biggest winners and losers over ten years [1] [9]. Therefore: a precise state-by-state decade ranking is not found in current reporting (not found in current reporting).
4. Universities: well-known hubs see the biggest absolute numbers, but growth/loss varies
Institution-level pieces and analyses note legacy “brand” schools (NYU, UC campuses, USC, Illinois, etc.) have large Chinese student populations and tend to be the largest single‑institution hosts [5] [9]. InGeniusPrep shows visibility and active outreach help certain Top‑30 universities maintain higher Chinese enrollments [5]. But the dataset needed to say “these universities gained or lost the most Chinese students between 2015 and 2025” — year-by-year F‑1 counts per institution across a decade — is not provided in the linked reporting. Available reporting gives anecdotes and snapshots, not a clean decade-long institutional leaderboard (not found in current reporting).
5. Data gaps, methodology and reasons to be cautious
Organizations use different cutoffs and data sources (Open Doors/IIE, DHS/SEVIS snapshots, media compilations), producing diverging totals and trends in short windows [1] [10]. Some outlets reference DHS adjustments or different academic-year definitions, so cross‑source comparisons without harmonization can misstate gains or losses [10] [1]. Several articles flag undercounting issues or timing of releases that change the apparent slope of trends [10] [1].
6. What researchers and universities are watching next
Reporting shows institutions and states are monitoring visa policy, diplomatic signals, and competitor destination growth (U.K., Australia, Canada) — all of which can quickly reshape flows [3] [8]. Open Doors and IIE remain the primary public sources for national and institutional tallies, so any future authoritative ranking of states or universities by decade-long gains/losses would most likely come from them or a study that merges SEVIS/Open Doors data with institution reports [1] [5].
Conclusion: The broad arc is clear — a strong rise through the 2010s followed by a sharp multi‑year decline in the early 2020s — but current sources do not supply the specific, decade‑long, state‑by‑state or university‑by‑university gain/loss ranking you asked for. For that precise leaderboard, one would need detailed, harmonized Open Doors/SEVIS institutional data across the decade; those granular, longitudinal tables are not present in the linked reporting (not found in current reporting).