Iranian Students in the USA: Community, Campuses, and Daily Life
By Muntasir • Published Sep 18, 2026 • Updated Sep 20, 2026
About 12,656 Iranian students studied in the US in 2024/25, most historically at the graduate level in STEM fields, with Persian Student Associations and Nowruz celebrations active on most large campuses.
🎓 Iran ranks 16th among places of origin for international students in the US, per IIE Open Doors 2025.
Iranian students have long skewed heavily toward graduate STEM programs, especially engineering.
Persian Student Associations exist on most large campuses and organize Nowruz, the Persian New Year, each March.
🛂 As of August 2026, a US entry suspension affects new arrivals from Iran, separate from daily life for students already enrolled.
How many Iranian students are in the US, and where they study
US colleges and universities hosted 12,656 students from Iran in the 2024/25 academic year, a 1.8 percent increase from the year before, according to the IIE Open Doors 2025 report . That places Iran 16th among all places of origin, about 1.1 percent of the 1.18 million international students in the country that year.
Iranian students have long concentrated in graduate programs. IIE data from 2015/16 found 78 percent of Iranian students in the US enrolled at the graduate level, with 77 percent in STEM fields, a pattern WENR reporting traces to strong competition for graduate spots inside Iran and a long tradition of Iranian engineering and science talent moving abroad for PhD study. Large public research universities with strong engineering, computer science, and physical science departments tend to host the biggest Iranian graduate communities.
Student associations and cultural life
Persian Student Associations, sometimes called Iranian Student Associations, operate on most campuses with a meaningful Iranian graduate population. These student-run groups organize cultural events, connect new arrivals with people from home, and often run the biggest event of the year: Nowruz, the Persian New Year, held around the March equinox with food, music, and a Haft-Sin table.
Beyond campus groups, larger US cities with established Iranian-American communities, including Los Angeles, the Washington DC area, and parts of the San Francisco Bay Area, give students access to Persian grocery stores, restaurants, and community centers outside the university campus too.
Food, faith, and everyday practicalities
Halal meat and Persian ingredients are easier to find near cities with larger Iranian and broader Middle Eastern communities, and many university towns still carry Persian grocery items through a nearby international market or online. Campus dining halls at most large universities offer some halal or vegetarian options, worth confirming with your school's dining services before you arrive.
Friday prayer and other religious practice are widely accommodated. Most campuses have a Muslim Students Association and a prayer space, separate from the Persian Student Association, since Iranian students on campus come from a range of religious backgrounds and practices.
Money and staying in touch with family
Direct banking between Iran and the United States remains heavily restricted, so most Iranian students rely on family members abroad, remittance services that operate in Iran, or the personal remittance route permitted under US Treasury rules for tuition and living costs. Build in extra time when you expect a transfer, since these routes move slower than a standard domestic bank transfer.
Phone and internet access between Iran and family abroad sometimes faces outages during periods of unrest, so many students and families keep more than one way to reach each other, such as a phone number plus a messaging app that still works when others get restricted.
What the current entry situation means for daily life
The visa suspension in effect since January 2026 targets new visa issuance to Iranian nationals outside the United States. It does not by itself remove a student who already holds valid F-1 status inside the country, though travel outside the US and back carries real risk while the order stays active. Talk to your school's international student office before any trip outside the country, and keep your SEVIS record and visa documents current.