Average College Acceptance Rate by State (2026)
Updated June 2026 · CollegeCalcAI
Quick answer: Across 1094 schools, average acceptance rates vary widely by state. States with more open-admission public universities tend to have higher average acceptance rates, while states with clusters of elite private schools sit lower. The table below shows the average for each state.
This table shows the average undergraduate acceptance rate for every U.S. state, based on 1094 colleges in our database. It also lists how many schools are in each state and the most selective school there. To see your personal odds at any specific school, use the free CollegeCalcAI calculator.
Calculate your chances free →| State | Schools | Avg. acceptance rate | Most selective school |
|---|---|---|---|
| ME | 4 | 32% | Bowdoin College (9%) |
| MA | 36 | 48% | Harvard University (3%) |
| DC | 6 | 50% | Georgetown University (12%) |
| CT | 13 | 53% | Yale University (5%) |
| CA | 61 | 53% | California Institute of Technology (3%) |
| MD | 17 | 54% | Johns Hopkins University (7%) |
| VT | 4 | 55% | Middlebury College (15%) |
| FL | 37 | 56% | University of Miami (19%) |
| NY | 59 | 59% | Columbia University (4%) |
| RI | 7 | 59% | Brown University (5%) |
| NC | 38 | 60% | Duke University (6%) |
| VA | 28 | 61% | Washington and Lee University (17%) |
| PA | 62 | 61% | University of Pennsylvania (6%) |
| NJ | 20 | 62% | Princeton University (4%) |
| GA | 35 | 64% | Emory University (13%) |
| IL | 37 | 65% | University of Chicago (5%) |
| SC | 32 | 65% | Clemson University (43%) |
| CO | 16 | 66% | U.S. Air Force Academy (11%) |
| DE | 4 | 66% | Delaware State University (60%) |
| AL | 22 | 67% | Tuskegee University (33%) |
| LA | 19 | 67% | Tulane University (11%) |
| TX | 53 | 67% | Rice University (8%) |
| MO | 35 | 68% | Washington University in St. Louis (11%) |
| MN | 23 | 68% | Carleton College (16%) |
| TN | 33 | 68% | Vanderbilt University (6%) |
| OH | 45 | 68% | Denison University (26%) |
| IA | 21 | 68% | Grinnell College (12%) |
| NH | 7 | 69% | Dartmouth College (6%) |
| AR | 18 | 70% | Philander Smith University (50%) |
| MI | 32 | 70% | University of Michigan (18%) |
| IN | 40 | 71% | University of Notre Dame (12%) |
| MS | 14 | 71% | Jackson State University (48%) |
| WI | 23 | 71% | University of Wisconsin (49%) |
| OK | 22 | 71% | Oklahoma Wesleyan University (48%) |
| NE | 14 | 72% | Creighton University (60%) |
| NM | 7 | 72% | New Mexico State University (55%) |
| KS | 25 | 72% | Central Christian College (50%) |
| WA | 15 | 73% | Whitman College (44%) |
| HI | 4 | 74% | Chaminade University (68%) |
| KY | 23 | 74% | Kentucky State University (55%) |
| AZ | 8 | 75% | Arizona Christian University (65%) |
| SD | 10 | 76% | Augustana University (62%) |
| WV | 15 | 76% | Bethany College (WV) (65%) |
| OR | 15 | 76% | Lewis & Clark College (63%) |
| MT | 9 | 78% | Providence University (MT) (65%) |
| ND | 8 | 80% | Mary University (68%) |
| ID | 6 | 80% | College of Idaho (55%) |
| UT | 7 | 82% | Brigham Young University (59%) |
Source: U.S. Department of Education (IPEDS), NCES, and publicly reported Common Data Sets. Averages cover schools in the CollegeCalcAI database and are unweighted by enrollment.