The number of international students in the U.S. increased substantially from 2022 to 2023, according to a new Boundless report on international student trends.
In 2023, there were 1,503,649 active F-1 and M-1 students living in the U.S., a 10% increase from the previous year, and a clear sign that international student enrollment is bouncing back to pre-pandemic levels. The COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted international student numbers for several years, but 2023 brought the largest number of enrollments since 2019.
Reasons for the surge include:
- Recruitment Efforts: U.S. institutions are intensifying their efforts to attract international students to counteract a drop in domestic enrollments.
- Global Capacity: While countries such as Canada and the U.K. are nearing their limits for hosting international students, the U.S. still has ample capacity, with international students making up only 6% of total higher education enrollment.
- Increase in student visa issuances: The U.S. government issued 446,000 student visas in 2023, an 8.5% increase from 2022 and the most student visas issued in a single year since 2016.
Other notable trends include where international students originate from and the areas of the U.S. they choose to settle in for their studies. International students took part in a variety of degrees and programs across the country, with all four regions in the U.S. experiencing an increase in international student enrollment in 2023. Overall, California was home to more international students than any other state.
Optional Practical Training (OPT), a program that allows international students on F-1 visas to work temporarily in their field of study, continues to be a draw for students and employers alike. In 2023, 160,627 international students took advantage of OPT — a 37% increase from the previous year.
Of those participating in OPT, 122,101 were in STEM-related fields, with the majority of students coming from India (39%) and China (23.7%).
To learn more about how international student trends have changed over time, check out Boundless’ data report.