What state has the most colleges and universities per capita?

Answer 1

This is an interesting question and would depend on how you define college and universities. Do you mean only institution which offer Bachelors Degrees? Do online colleges count into the total?

To answer your question I'm going to assume you meant brick and mortar schools that offer bachelor degrees and higher.

#1 Vermont has a population of 621,270 with 17 schools or 1 university for every 36,545.3 people in the state.

The other states rounding out the top five are:

#2 South Dakota with 804,194 residents and 14 schools or 1 university for every 57,442.4 people in the state.

#3 North Dakota with 641,481 residents and 11 schools or 1 university for every 58,316.5 people in the state.

#4 Maine with 1,316,456 residents and 19 schools or 1 university for every 69,287.2 people in the state.

#5 Nebraska with 1,783,432 residents and 24 schools or 1 university for every 74,309.7 people in the state.

The five states with the FEWEST colleges and universities per capita are:

#46 California with a population of 36,756,666 and 163 schools has a ratio of 225,501.0 people per school.

#47 Arizona with a population of 6,500,180 and 26 schools has a ratio of 250,006.9 people per school.

#48 Texas with a population of 24,326,974 and 92 schools has a ratio of 264,423.6 people per school.

#49 New Jersey with a population of 19,490,297 and 37 schools has a ratio of 526,764.8 people per school.

#50 Wyoming with 532,668 residents has just 1 school.

However, these figures do not indicate how educated a state might be. These numbers do not take into consideration student enrollment. For example University of Texas at Austin has an enrollment of over 38,000, more than the enrollment of all eleven schools in North Dakota together which is just more than 34,000.

Out of state students should also be considered as well as where college graduates reside upon graduation.