The University of California, Davis reported its most diverse entering class for fall 2025, with record numbers of Latinx and African American new undergraduates. The announcement came as the University of California released systemwide enrollment statistics on January 8.
Total enrollment at UC Davis, which includes undergraduate, graduate, and professional students as well as veterinary and medical residents and interns, was 40,617. This represents a decrease of 622 students, or about 1.5%, compared to fall 2024.
The university welcomed 9,466 new undergraduates in fall 2025. Of these, 6,805 enrolled as first-year students directly from high school, while 2,639 entered as transfer students and 22 sought a second undergraduate degree.
Among new U.S. domestic undergraduates at UC Davis this year were a record-setting 428 African American students and 2,564 Hispanic/Latino(a) students.
The incoming undergraduate class is geographically diverse. Students come from 54 of California’s 58 counties, from across the United States including U.S. territories (45 states represented), and from abroad (54 countries). Approximately 84.6% are California residents; another 4.7% are U.S. domestic students from outside California; international students make up the remaining 10.7%.
Demographic data for the incoming class show that among the university’s domestic first-year cohort of 5,860: African Americans comprise 4.6%, American Indians account for 0.6%, Hispanic/Latino(a) make up 31.7%, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islanders represent 0.3%, Asian Americans account for the largest share at 39.4%, Whites comprise 20.5%, and another group (unknown) accounts for the remaining percentage.
Among domestic transfer students (2,538 in total): African Americans make up 5.9%; American Indians represent about one percent; Hispanic/Latino(a) constitute just over a quarter at 27.3%; Pacific Islanders are at about one third of a percent; Asian Americans account for more than a third at nearly thirty-six percent; Whites represent twenty-eight percent; and unknowns fill out the rest.
Socioeconomic indicators also highlight diversity in the entering class: forty-point-three percent would be first-generation college graduates in their families; thirty-one-point-three percent are considered low income; and thirty-eight-point-one percent receive federal Pell Grants.
Robert Penman, executive director of Undergraduate Admissions at UC Davis said: “The average grade point average, or GPA, for first-year students was 4.03, and the median was 4.07. More than 75% of first-year students had a weighted GPA above 3.91.”
Penman added: “The average transfer GPA was 3.57, and the median was 3.59. More than 75% of newly enrolled transfer students had a GPA above 3.35.”
For fall admission in this cycle UC Davis received a record number of applications—120,131—and extended offers to another record high: fifty-five thousand seven hundred thirty-nine applicants.
Some UC Davis students study at locations beyond its main campus—including Sacramento facilities—and across California or farther afield as part of their academic programs [source]. For planning purposes related to its Long Range Development Plan (LRDP), which sets capacity limits on campus population averages over three academic quarters (currently estimated around thirty-six thousand for academic year twenty-twenty-five/twenty-six), these figures are tracked closely by administrators.
UC Davis began in nineteen-oh-eight as an agricultural extension program [source][source] but has since grown into a major public research university with strengths in agriculture [source], veterinary medicine [source], engineering [source], biological sciences [source], sustainability [source], and other fields recognized nationally [source]. The institution maintains facilities such as Bodega Marine Laboratory [source] to support coastal research efforts.
With educational initiatives reaching globally on topics like climate change and food security [source], UC Davis continues to focus on serving societal needs through research, education and public service missions [source].