Fast Facts: Enrollment trends (65)

Enrollment trends

Question:
What are the enrollment trends in public and private elementary and secondary schools?

Response:

Total enrollment in elementary and secondary schools was 53.4 million in fall 2000, then 54.8 million in fall 2011, and 55.5 million in fall 2021.
Total enrollment for public elementary and secondary schools was 47.2 million students in fall 2000, then 49.5 million students in fall 2011, and 49.4 million students in fall 2021.
Total enrollment for private elementary and secondary schools was 6.2 million students in fall 2000, then 5.3 million students in fall 2011, and projected to be 6.1 million students in fall 2021.

Enrollment in elementary and secondary institutions by level of institution: Selected years, fall 1985 through fall 2021
Year	Elementary and secondary, total	Public elementary and secondary schools			Private elementary and secondary schools
Year	Elementary and secondary, total	Total	Prekindergarten through grade 8¹	Grades 9 through 12¹	Total	Prekindergarten through grade 8	Grades 9 through 12
Fall 1985	44,979	39,422	27,034	12,388	5,557	4,195	1,362
Fall 1990	46,864	41,217	29,876	11,341	5,648²	4,512²	1,136²
Fall 1995	50,759	44,840	32,338	12,502	5,918	4,756	1,163
Fall 2000	53,373	47,204	33,686	13,517	6,169²	4,906²	1,264²
Fall 2005	55,187	49,113	34,204	14,909	6,073	4,724	1,349
Fall 2010	54,867	49,484	34,625	14,860	5,382²	4,084²	1,299²
Fall 2011	54,790	49,522	34,773	14,749	5,268	3,977	1,291
Fall 2012	55,104	49,771	35,018	14,753	5,333²	4,031²	1,302²
Fall 2013	55,440	50,045	35,251	14,794	5,396	4,084	1,312
Fall 2014	55,888	50,313	35,370	14,943	5,575²	4,202²	1,373²
Fall 2015	56,189	50,438	35,388	15,050	5,751	4,304	1,446
Fall 2016	56,369	50,615	35,477	15,138	5,754²	4,293²	1,460²
Fall 2017	56,406	50,686	35,496	15,190	5,720	4,252	1,468
Fall 2018	56,304	50,694	35,498	15,196	5,610²	4,167²	1,443²
Fall 2019	56,282	50,796	35,551	15,246	5,486	4,066	1,420
Fall 2020	55,377	49,375	34,061	15,314	6,002³	4,496³	1,506³
Fall 2021	55,493	49,433	33,998	15,436	6,060³	4,544³	1,516³

¹ Includes ungraded students as well as students whose grade was not specified. These students were prorated into either the prekindergarten through grade 8 level or the grades 9 through 12 level based on the known grade-level distribution of a state.
² Estimated based on data appearing in Projections of Education Statistics.
³ Projected data.

NOTE: Data in this table represent the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Elementary and secondary enrollment includes students in local public school systems and in most private schools (religiously affiliated and nonsectarian), but generally excludes homeschooled children and students in subcollegiate departments of colleges and in federal schools. Excludes preprimary students in private schools that do not offer kindergarten or higher grades. Projections in this table were calculated after the onset of the coronavirus pandemic and take into account the expected impacts of the pandemic. Some data have been revised from previously published figures. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.

SOURCE: National Center for Education Statistics. (2023). Table 105.30. Enrollment in elementary, secondary, and degree-granting postsecondary institutions, by level and control of institution: Selected years, 1869-70 through fall 2031 [Data table]. In Digest of education statistics. U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences. Retrieved October 3, 2023, from https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d22/tables/dt22_105.30.asp.

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