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 by Kevin Jack, Deputy Director
“Colleges and universities are among America’s most competitive international exporters.”
Catherine Rampell, Washington Post, April 16, 2025
Having a “trade surplus” is about more than selling goods overseas. In fact, while the U.S. ran a trade deficit in goods of more than $1.2 trillion in 2024, we simultaneously had a trade surplus of $293 billion in services. Post-secondary education is a major U.S. export that contributes to a large and growing trade surplus in educational services.
Foreign students who attend American colleges and universities provide a major economic boost both across the country and in the local communities where they study. In this article, we take a look at foreign students to highlight their impact on national, state and regional economies.
International Students by the Numbers
According to the Institute for International Education (IIE), international students comprise just 6% of the students enrolled at our nation’s nearly 4,000 colleges and universities. Yet, in the 2023-24 academic year, the U.S. played host to an all-time high of more than 1.1 million international college and university students.
The U.S. is by far the single largest host nation in the world. Rounding out the list of top five nations were Canada (842,800), the United Kingdom (758,900), Australia (437,500) and France (412,100).
Per the IIE, the number of overseas students attending U.S. colleges and universities increased by 6.6% between the 2022-23 and 2023-24 academic years. Growth rates over the long term are even more impressive: enrollment has more than doubled since 2001. Except for the 2019-20 and 2020-21 academic years — which suffered from the COVID-19 pandemic — the U.S. has not experienced a decline in foreign enrollment since 2005-06.
The top five countries, which collectively accounted for about 63% of all foreign nationals with student visas in the U.S., were:
- India: 331,600
- China: 277,400
- South Korea: 43,150
- Canada: 29,000
- Taiwan: 23,600
India’s 331,600 students represented an increase of 23.3% over 2022-23 levels. Indian citizens represented 29.4% of all foreign students in the U.S. By contrast, second place China represented 24.6% of the total foreign students in the U.S., and the number of Chinese studying in the U.S. actually fell, by 4.2%, in 2023-24.
More than 502,000 of the 1.1 million foreign students in the U.S. were pursuing a graduate degree, and 342,900 were undergraduates (296,800 studying for a bachelor’s degree and 46,100 for an associate’s degree). There were also more than 38,700 non-degree candidates and 242,800 students enrolled in the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program. OPT allows F-1 student visa holders to work in the U.S. in a field related to their studies. They can enroll in the program before or after graduation to gain practical work experience.
Long-term Trade Surplus
International post-secondary students are a potent economic force for most host countries. In the U.S., this group contributes to a significant trade surplus for our nation. As various sources confirm, international students in general pay more for education in the U.S. than do Americans studying abroad. This represents a “net export” of educational services.
A Brookings Institution analysis of trade data found that the U.S. sold $56.3 billion (measured in inflation-adjusted 2024 dollars) in educational services to international students (“education exports”) in 2024. In contrast, Americans studying abroad only spent $12.8 billion (“education imports”). This gave the U.S. a trade surplus of $43.5 billion in educational services in 2024.
The U.S. economy has run a trade surplus in educational services every year from 1999 through 2024. Over this 25-year period, our nation’s trade surplus in this area — measured in inflation-adjusted 2024 dollars — increased by more than three and a half times 1999’s level of $12.2 billion.
States with the Most Foreign Students
Spending by international students has a sizeable impact on the U.S. economy. An analysis from NAFSA (formerly the National Association of Foreign Student Advisers) estimated that spending by international students in the U.S. contributed $43.8 billion to the American economy and supported 378,200 jobs, during the 2023-2024 academic year. Per NAFSA, for every three international students, one U.S. job is created and supported.
Students spend their money on higher education, accommodations, dining, retail, transportation, telecommunications and health insurance. International students have been described as a financial win-win for many colleges, since they typically pay full tuition and require little to no financial aid.
New York State is a leading destination for foreign students in the U.S. NAFSA figures indicate New York hosted 135,810 foreign students in 2023-24, representing a 7.1% increase over the prior year. New York ranked #2 among the 50 states, just behind California (140,860). Rounding out the top five states were Texas (89,550), Massachusetts (82,310) and Illinois (62,300).
Top Universities for Foreign Students
New York City is home to two institutions of higher learning that are among the five most popular with foreign students in the U.S — New York University (NYU) and Columbia University. In 2023-24, NYU ranked #1 in the nation with 27,250 foreign students and Columbia was #3 with 20,320. The top five was rounded out by #2 Northeastern (21,020), #4 Arizona State (18,430) and #5 University of Southern California (17,470).
Economic Impact in NYS and Regions
NAFSA estimates that spending by the 135,000+ foreign students attending colleges and universities in New York State contributed $6.3 billion to the Empire State’s economy. This spending supported 51,720 jobs — about equal to the number of nonfarm jobs in the Ithaca metro area.
Not surprisingly, New York City is home to the most institutions in the Empire State with the largest economic impact from spending by foreign students. This list includes:
- #1 New York University ($1.4 billion)
- #2 Columbia University ($903.1 million)
- #4 New School ($312.4 million)
- #8 Pace University-NYC Campus ($182 million)
- #9 School of Visual Arts ($181.2 million)
Post-secondary institutions in New York City had a total economic impact of just under $4 billion and 33,000 jobs due to spending by foreign students — about 64% of the total statewide impact of foreign students in both cases.
Four schools in Upstate (including the Capital, Central New York, Finger Lakes, Mohawk Valley, North Country, Southern Tier and Western New York regions) also made the top 10 statewide list in terms of largest economic impact. This list includes:
- #3 Cornell University ($393.2 million)
- #5 Syracuse University ($293.4 million)
- #6 University of Rochester ($269.0 million)
- #7 SUNY University at Buffalo ($223.0 million)
Spending by foreign students in Upstate had a total economic impact of over $1.8 billion and supported just under 16,000 jobs there.
In the two Downstate suburban regions — Hudson Valley and Long Island — total foreign student spending amounted to just over $412 million, which supported just under 2,800 jobs. Long Island-based #10 SUNY Stony Brook University, with $155.1 million in foreign student spending, was the only Downstate suburban school to make the top 10 statewide list.
Foreign Students and Innovation
The economic benefits conferred by foreign students living in the U.S. extend well beyond their local spending impact. They also represent a powerful engine of innovation, which helps to drive productivity gains in this nation.
Foreign students are especially critical to our science and technology workforce. An article published in Forbes in 2018 described how international students were “founding America’s great startups,” and quoted a venture capitalist who compared U.S. universities to Ellis Island. A 2019 article in Chemical and Engineering Newswent so far as to say that “science in the U.S. is built on immigrants.”
Academic research points to a strong, positive linkage between the number of foreign students and overall innovation. In the 1920s, Congress reduced the number of visas for foreigners by more than 80%, resulting in fewer scientists studying in the U.S. and thus fewer inventions. A 2023 paper published in American Economic Journal: Applied Economics estimates that the resulting long-term economic damage to the U.S. lasted well into the 1960s.
Concluding Thoughts
American colleges and universities are among the best in the world. According to 2025 rankings compiled by the United Kingdom-based Times Higher Education magazine, seven of the top 10 universities are American, as are 13 of the top 20. No other country comes close.
As a result, American institutions of higher learning have become magnets for students from around the world. As demonstrated by the trade figures compiled by the Brookings Institution and the economic impact figures from NAFSA, spending by foreign students has a significant, positive impact at the national, state, and regional levels. We don’t yet know if recent federal restrictions on international student visas will threaten this economic “goose that lays the golden egg.”
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"Western New York's pattern of slow, but steady job growth is a long-term regional asset."
by Timothy Glass, Labor Market Analyst, Western New York region
Like most of the state, the economy of Western New York (WNY) was hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Since then, the region has entered a period of slow, consistent growth that illustrates the old adage “slow and steady wins the race."
Pandemic in Review
Data from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) — a program that collects detailed employment and wage data from employers covered by the state's Unemployment Insurance program — show that the region’s private sector job count declined from an annual average of 526,480 in 2019 to 470,240 in 2020. This drop of more than 56,000 jobs translated into an over-the-year decline of 10.7%. This rate of decline was slightly better than the 11.2% statewide decline over the same period.
Between 2019 and 2020, almost all WNY industry sectors experienced widespread employment losses due to the pandemic. Three sectors in particular — leisure and hospitality (-20,180), trade, transportation and utilities (-8,420) and education and health services (-8,120) — accounted for almost two-thirds (65.3%) of overall job losses in the region over this period.
The pandemic’s impact on WNY is also reflected in the region’s labor force statistics. According to data from the Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) program, Western New York’s unemployment rate more than doubled — from 4.2% to 9.0% — between 2019 and 2020. In addition, the number of unemployed residents in the region rose from 28,600 to 60,400 over this period.
Recovery in WNY
Since bottoming out in 2020, WNY’s labor market has added private sector jobs in every subsequent year, per the QCEW. Western New York’s economy added just under 39,800 private sector jobs between 2020 and 2024, an increase of 8.5%.
From 2020 to 2024, the greatest private job gains in WNY were clustered in three industry sectors: leisure and hospitality (+14,770), trade, transportation and utilities (+8,270) and professional and business services (+6,680). These sectors were responsible for about three quarters of total private sector job gains in the region. Other sectors adding jobs were education and health services (+4,700), manufacturing (+4,010), construction (+2,260) and other services (+830). Sectors losing jobs in 2020-24 included financial activities (-2,490) and information (-550).
With the economic recovery underway in Western New York, the region’s labor force statistics have greatly improved. For example, LAUS data indicate that the region’s unemployment rate dropped significantly in the post-COVID era — from 9.0% in 2020 to 3.9% in 2024. The number of unemployed residents of Western New York also dropped by more than half over this period — from 60,400 to 26,100.
Regional Analysis
Per the QCEW, WNY’s total private sector employment count stood at 526,480 in 2019, the highest annual total since 2000 (532,490). Western New York was buffeted by the Great Recession, which eliminated more than 15,000 private sector jobs between 2007 and 2009. From 2009 to 2019, however, Western New York’s private sector job count increased by almost 28,000.
The COVID-19 recession, which at the national level lasted from February 2020 to April 2020, wiped out the region’s job gains added between 2009 and 2019. Among the state’s 10 labor market regions. WNY suffered the fourth-largest percentage loss in private sector jobs (-10.7%) among labor market regions.
From 2020 to 2024, Western New York experienced the fifth-best percentage recovery (+8.5%) in terms of private sector job gains among the state’s 10 labor market regions in NYS.
Conclusion
Although the region’s total private sector job count remains below 2019 levels, Western New York’s history of steady job growth suggests that the region will eventually completely recover from the COVID-19 shock. Certain long-term demographic trends, like the ongoing retirement of Baby Boomers and fewer younger people entering the labor force, suggest the biggest labor market challenge facing the region will be labor shortages. It’s still too early to say how all of this will play out, but it’s clear that Western New York’s pattern of slow, but steady job growth is a long-term regional asset.
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 In May 2025, New York State’s seasonally adjusted private sector job count increased over the month by 7,500, or 0.1%, to 8,471,200. In addition, the state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell from 4.2% to 4.0 in May 2025, while New York’s seasonally adjusted labor force participation rate held steady at 61.0%.
Capital
Over the past year, the private sector job count in the Capital Region rose by 2,100, or 0.5%, to 440,800 in May 2025. Job gains occurred in the following sectors:
- professional and business services (+1,600)
- leisure and hospitality (+900)
- natural resources, mining and construction (+600)
- trade, transportation and utilities (+500)
Over-the-year job losses occurred in the following sectors:
- financial activities (-600)
- manufacturing (-600)
- information (-400)
Central NY
The number of private sector jobs in the Syracuse metro area increased over the past year by 6,100, or 2.4%, to 260,800 in May 2025. The largest job gains occurred in these sectors:
- education and health services (+2,100)
- professional and business services (+1,600)
- leisure and hospitality (+1,200)
- trade, transportation and utilities (+1,200)
- natural resources, mining and construction (+700)
Job losses were largest in the following sector:
Finger Lakes
From May 2024 to May 2025, the number of private sector jobs in the Rochester metro area rose by 1,400, or 0.3%, to 442,300. Job gains occurred in the following sectors:
- professional and business services (+1,300)
- natural resources, mining and construction (+1,000)
- education and health services (+700)
Over-the-year job losses occurred in the following sectors:
- trade, transportation and utilities (-600)
- information (-300)
- manufacturing (-300)
- financial activities (-200)
- other services (-200)
Hudson Valley
Over the past year, the number of private sector jobs in the Hudson Valley grew by 4,900, or 0.6%, to 837,400 in May 2025. The largest job gains occurred in the following sectors:
- education and health services (+4,400)
- leisure and hospitality (+1,400)
- financial activities (+600)
- manufacturing (+600)
- professional and business services (+600)
Job losses occurred in the following sectors:
- natural resources, mining and construction (-1,900)
- information (-800)
- other services (-200)
Long Island
From May 2024 to May 2025, private sector jobs on Long Island increased by 3,700, or 0.3%, to 1,174,800. Employment gains occurred in the following sectors:
- education and health services (+11,900)
- professional and business services (+2,200)
The greatest over-the-year job losses occurred in the following sectors:
- natural resources, mining and construction (-4,300)
- financial activities (-1,600)
- information (-1,200)
- leisure and hospitality (-1,200)
- trade, transportation and utilities (-1,200)
Mohawk Valley
For the 12-month period ending May 2025, the number of private sector jobs in the Mohawk Valley region increased by 600, or 0.4%, to 142,300. The following sectors experienced over-the-year employment gains:
- education and health services (+500)
- trade, transportation and utilities (+500)
- leisure and hospitality (+400)
Over-the-year job losses were centered in the following sectors:
- manufacturing (-300)
- other services (-300)
- professional and business services (-200)
New York City
In May 2025, New York City’s private sector job count rose over the past year by 57,100, or 1.4%, to 4,248,300. Job gains occurred in the following sectors:
- education and health services (+63,800)
- information (+3,200)
- trade, transportation and utilities (+600)
Employment losses were greatest in the following sectors:
- natural resources, mining and construction (-4,100)
- professional and business services (-2,900)
- financial activities (-1,400)
- leisure and hospitality (-1,100)
- manufacturing (-800)
North Country
The number of private sector jobs in the North Country region fell over the past year by 1,200, or 1.1%, to 106,900 in May 2025. Job losses were greatest in the following sectors:
- manufacturing (-400)
- trade, transportation and utilities (-400)
- education and health services (-200)
- other services (-200)
Southern Tier
For the 12-month period ending May 2025, the number of private sector jobs in the Southern Tier region decreased by 400, or 0.2%, to 209,400. Employment gains occurred in the following sectors:
- education and health services (+700)
- natural resources, mining and construction (+400)
- leisure and hospitality (+200)
Job losses were largest in the following sectors:
- manufacturing (-1,100)
- financial activities (-300)
Western NY
Over the past 12 months, the number of private sector jobs in the Buffalo-Cheektowaga metro area rose by 900, or 0.2%, to 471,400 in May 2025. The largest over-the-year employment gains occurred in the following sectors:
- education and health services (+3,300)
- trade, transportation and utilities (+400)
These sectors experienced the greatest over-the-year employment losses:
- manufacturing (-1,100)
- leisure and hospitality (-800)
- natural resources, mining and construction (-500)
- financial activities (-300)
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