How Many D1 Lacrosse Teams Are There? Full Breakdown

There are roughly 75 NCAA Division I men’s lacrosse programs and more than 120 Division I women’s programs. Both counts creep upward most years as schools add the sport, so treat these as current-season figures rather than fixed numbers — the NCAA membership list is the place to confirm the exact total on any given day. Across all three divisions, there are around 400 men’s and more than 500 women’s NCAA lacrosse teams.

That scarcity at the top is the whole story of college lacrosse recruiting. Here is the full breakdown, why the women’s numbers dwarf the men’s, and what “going D1” actually involves.

How many D1 lacrosse teams are there?

On the men’s side, NCAA Division I lacrosse has sat in the mid-70s for the last few seasons — a small, concentrated group of programs clustered heavily in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic. The women’s game is far larger at the D1 level, with well over 120 programs and growing, reflecting how quickly girls’ lacrosse has expanded across the country.

The reason the two differ so much is history and growth curve. Women’s lacrosse added college programs rapidly over the past two decades, aided by Title IX incentives for schools to sponsor women’s sports, while men’s D1 lacrosse has grown more slowly and remains geographically tight.

Full breakdown by division

Here is the approximate picture across all three NCAA divisions. These figures reflect recent seasons; because the NCAA adds programs most years, read them as ballpark counts, not exact tallies:

Division	Men’s teams	Women’s teams
Division I	~75	~125
Division II	~78	~110
Division III	~245	~290
NCAA total	~400	~525

Two takeaways stand out. First, Division III is by far the biggest home for college lacrosse on both the men’s and women’s sides — most college players compete at D3. Second, women’s lacrosse has more NCAA teams than men’s at every single division, and Division III women’s lacrosse is the single largest lacrosse division in the country.

Is it hard to go D1 in lacrosse?

Yes, and the math explains why. With only about 75 men’s D1 programs, each carrying a modest roster, the number of new D1 spots each year is small — a few hundred at most across the whole country. The competition for them is fierce, and recruiting now happens early, with many commitments forming in the first years of high school.

The upside: the far larger D2 and D3 pools mean there is a college level for most committed players. Dropping down a division is not failure; D3 lacrosse is highly competitive and, for many, a better fit academically and athletically than chasing a scarce D1 seat.

Do D1 lacrosse players get paid?

Not in the sense of a salary. What has changed is name, image and likeness (NIL): since 2021, college athletes, including lacrosse players, can earn money from endorsements, camps, social media and their own brand. For the sport’s biggest names, that is real income, but it is a world apart from the pay in professional leagues — the kind of money we track in our highest-paid lacrosse players guide comes from the pro game, not college.

On scholarships, lacrosse is an equivalency sport, meaning each program has a limited pot of scholarship money divided across the whole roster rather than a set number of full rides. Most D1 lacrosse players are on partial scholarships and pay some of their own way. D3 programs, by NCAA rule, offer no athletic scholarships at all, relying on academic aid instead.

Where players go after college

A D1 place is not the finish line, and for the great majority of players college is the end of the competitive road. The small number who go professional now have real options: the PLL and NLL on the men’s side, and the growing women’s professional lacrosse league scene on the women’s. Those leagues draw from the same D1 programs discussed here, and the pipeline from top college rosters to the pros is tighter and clearer than it was a decade ago.

Getting recruited: the honest version

If your goal is D1, start early, get real film, and be honest about level. Play in front of college coaches at recruiting events, target programs that fit your ability and academics, and cast a wide net that includes D2 and D3 — the depth of talent at those levels is the part recruits underrate most. The best players in any recruiting class, the ones profiled in features like our greatest lacrosse players history, were outliers; for everyone else, finding the right program beats forcing the highest division. Build your list from the current NCAA sponsorship data, not last decade’s, because the map of who plays D1 keeps changing.