Top 20 largest universities by students · Illinois
World, then every country and state with data
Updated · students (students)
Back up to: ↑ 🇺🇸 United States↑ World
Why these 20
Student numbers as recorded in Wikidata (with the source each editor cited there). Open and affiliating universities count every enrolled student, so they top the world list; drill into a country or state for campuses you may visit.
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2
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3
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4
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5
Loyola University Chicago
Catholic research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA
17,007 · 🇺🇸 United States
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6
Northern Illinois University
public university in DeKalb, Illinois, United States
16,769 · 🇺🇸 United States
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- 8 S
- 9 N
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10
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College of Lake County
public community college in Lake County, Illinois, United States
11,854 · 🇺🇸 United States
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11
Southern Illinois University Carbondale
public university in Carbondale, Illinois, USA; flagship of the SIU system
11,366 · 🇺🇸 United States
How it is measured
Wikidata: universities (public, private) with a student count of 10,000 or more; country and state from the location; the world list is the top 20 of the countries below.
References
- Wikidata query: universities by students, Wikidata (CC0). Checked 2026-10-19 20:21 UTC.
Illinois: more top 20s here
Photo: Mathematics lecture at the Helsinki University of Technology by Tungsten, Public domain via Wikimedia Commons. Pictures in rows: Wikimedia Commons, GitHub and the linked pages.