AACRAO recently added the 2023 Demographics page to the website as part of our Annual Demographics Data update. AACRAO's membership has changed remarkably in the more than 110 years of the Association’s history. For instance, there were fewer than 25 members of AACRAO at the time of the very first Annual Meeting in 1910, which was held in Detroit. That same year, only 10 colleges in the entire U.S. had enrollments greater than 5,000 students. In 2023, AACRAO has expanded to include over 10,000 individual members from over 40 countries, with almost 30% of member institutions boasting an enrollment of more than 5,000 students - that’s over 650 schools.
While much of the new 2023 Demographics data is consistent with previous years, some highlights reflect the ever-evolving landscape of higher education.
Distribution of Institutions by Size
AACRAO’s member institutions are broken down into six categories based on their total enrollment. In 2023, the largest category, consisting of schools with a total enrollment of greater than 20,000 students, had more than 150 member institutions. Meanwhile, our smallest category, consisting of schools with under 1,000 students, had over 600 member institutions. In fact, there are more member institutions in the smallest two size categories than there are in the four largest categories combined. That being said, the distribution based on institutional size is much more even when one looks at individual members rather than member institutions.
Distribution of Institutions by State/Country
Looking at where member institutions are located within the U.S. in 2023, it’s clear that the vast majority are in the following three states: California, with 170 member institutions; New York, with 157; and Texas, with 129. Illinois and Pennsylvania also have a notably high concentration of AACRAO member institutions, with each state containing 115. Looking abroad, Canada continues to have the highest number of member institutions from any country outside the U.S., with 79 schools. This accounts for roughly 60% of the 124 international member institutions.
Areas in Which Members Work
Before 1949, AACRAO was known simply as AACR. In 1949, the name was expanded to include Admissions Officers to account for their increased importance on campuses when it comes to responsibilities such as recruiting, evaluating, and admitting students. In fact, the area of responsibility that most individual members reported working in was Records and Registration at just under 50%. The category with the second highest reported area of work was Admissions at roughly 25%. Regarding the number of areas of responsibility that each member is assigned, slightly less than half are assigned more than one as part of their position, which is in line with trends from previous years. It’s important to note that individuals may select multiple options when filling out this portion of their demographic information.
Distribution of Members by Gender
Regarding the breakdown of AACRAO’s individual members by gender, it’s clear that women make up the majority of the association. However, this wasn’t always the case; in 1972, only 25% of AACRAO members were women. Fast forward to 2023 and women account for over 50% of all members. This is the lowest margin in recent years, but this does not mean fewer members of AACRAO are women. Rather, the percentage of individual members not reporting their gender is the highest it has been in recent history at over 27%.
Check out the full 2023 Demographics update which contains additional data including data on institutional members by control, institutional members by class, individual member ethnicity, and institutional members outside the United States.
The Annual Demographics Data is only possible thanks to members voluntarily providing their personal information. In addition to providing an annual snapshot of the association’s membership, this information also allows AACRAO to better understand its members and, therefore, better support them with resources such as Transcript and Connect, online learning, webinars, and much more.
We know that our association is only as strong as its members. AACRAO member demographics let us know more about you, your major roles and responsibilities, and what we as an association should be doing to strengthen your profession. Please consider filling out your demographic information, which can be done by logging in to the
AACRAO Community and then simply scrolling down to the second header labeled “Personal Demographics.” From there, all you have to do is click on the blue “Change” button to start making edits.