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Preprimary, Elementary, and Secondary Education

Private School Enrollment

Last Updated: May 2024
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In the fall of 2021, some 4.7 million kindergarten through grade 12 students (9 percent of combined public and private school students) were enrolled in private schools.
Private schools are educational institutions that are not primarily supported by public funds.1 In this indicator, private schools are grouped into the following categories by school orientation: Catholic, other religious, and nonsectarian (not religiously affiliated).2 Catholic schools include parochial, diocesan, and private3 Catholic schools. The other religious category includes conservative Christian schools, schools that are affiliated with other denominations, and religious schools that are not affiliated with any specific denomination.

Select a subgroup characteristic from the drop-down menu below to view relevant text and figures.

All available findings Control of institution Locale Race/ethnicity Socioeconomic status (SES) State/jurisdiction Time series
Figure 1. Number of kindergarten through grade 12 students enrolled in private schools, by school orientation: Fall 2011 through fall 2021
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NOTE: Figures are plotted based on unrounded data.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Private School Universe Survey (PSS), 2011–12 through 2021–22. See Digest of Education Statistics 2023, table 205.20.

The latest year for which private school enrollment data are available is fall 2021, when 4.7 million kindergarten through grade 12 (K–12) students were enrolled in private schools. Private K–12 enrollment was 5 percent higher in fall 2021 than in fall 2011 (4.5 million), but there was no measurable trend in enrollment for the period. More recently, private K–12 enrollment was 4.7 million students in both fall 2019 (the year before the coronavirus pandemic) and fall 2021. In comparison, the number of K–12 students who were enrolled in public schools was 2 percent lower in fall 2021 than in fall 2019 (48.0 vs. 49.2 million). Despite these different enrollment patterns during the pandemic, private school students made up 9 percent of combined public and private enrollment in fall 2021 and in fall 2019, as they had in each year throughout the preceding decade. [Time series ] [Control of institution]
Enrollment in private schools by school orientation in fall 2021 differed from fall 2011 as follows:
  • enrollment in Catholic schools was lower in fall 2021 (1.7 million students) than in fall 2011 (1.9 million students), although there was no measurable trend for the period;
  • enrollment in other religious schools in fall 2021 (2.0 million) was higher than in fall 2011 (1.7 million), although there was no measurable trend for the period; and
  • enrollment in nonsectarian schools increased from 0.9 million in fall 2011 to 1.1 million in fall 2021.
[Time series ]
Figure 2. Percentage of kindergarten through grade 12 students enrolled in private schools, by state: Fall 2021
Figure 2. Percentage of kindergarten through grade 12 students enrolled in private schools, by state: Fall 2021

NOTE: Figures are plotted based on unrounded data.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Private School Universe Survey (PSS), 2021–22; Common Core of Data (CCD), “State Nonfiscal Survey of Public Elementary/Secondary Education,” 2021–22. See Digest of Education Statistics 2022, table 203.40; and Digest of Education Statistics 2023, table 205.80.

Across the 50 states and the District of Columbia, the percentage of K–12 students enrolled in private schools ranged from 2 percent in Wyoming and Utah to 20 percent in the District of Columbia. [State/jurisdiction]
Private School Enrollment by Student Characteristics
Figure 3. Percentage of kindergarten through grade 12 students enrolled in private schools, by race/ethnicity: Fall 2021
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NOTE: Race categories exclude persons of Hispanic ethnicity. To calculate the percentages, enrollment data for students not reported by race/ethnicity were prorated based on the known racial/ethnic composition of their peers. Figures are plotted based on unrounded data.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Private School Universe Survey (PSS), 2021–22; Common Core of Data (CCD), “State Nonfiscal Survey of Public Elementary/Secondary Education,” 2021–22. See Digest of Education Statistics 2022, table 203.65; and Digest of Education Statistics 2023, tables 205.20 and 205.30.

The percentage of K–12 students who were enrolled in private schools varied by race/ethnicity. In fall 2021, the percentages of Pacific Islander students (13 percent), White students (12 percent), students of Two or more races (11 percent), and Asian students (10 percent) who were enrolled in private schools were higher than the national average (9 percent).4 In comparison, the percentages of American Indian/Alaska Native students (6 percent), Black students (6 percent), and Hispanic students (4 percent) who were enrolled in private schools were lower than the national average. [Race/ethnicity ]
Figure 4. Percentage distribution of students enrolled in kindergarten through grade 12, by school control and orientation and students’ race/ethnicity: Fall 2021
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A confidence interval is a range of values that describes the uncertainty surrounding an estimate. Throughout the Condition of Education, confidence intervals are calculated as the estimate +/- the margin of error, based on a 95 percent level of confidence. This means that there is 95 percent certainty that the range includes the true or actual value of the statistic.
Confidence Interval
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† Not applicable.

# Rounds to zero.

NOTE: To estimate the margin of error, the standard error is scaled based on the desired level of confidence in the estimate. Throughout the Condition of Education, margins of error are produced based on a 95 percent level of confidence. Margin of error is calculated as 1.96*standard error. Race categories exclude persons of Hispanic ethnicity. Percentage distribution is based on the students for whom race/ethnicity was reported. Figures are plotted based on unrounded data. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding in the data labels.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Private School Universe Survey (PSS), 2021–22; Common Core of Data (CCD), “State Nonfiscal Survey of Public Elementary/Secondary Education,” 2021–22. See Digest of Education Statistics 2022, table 203.65; and Digest of Education Statistics 2023, 205.30.

Among the 4.7 million K–12 students who were enrolled in private schools in fall 2021,
  • 65 percent were White;
  • 12 percent were Hispanic;
  • 9 percent were Black;
  • 6 percent each were Asian and of Two or more races; and
  • 1 percent each were American Indian/Alaska Native and Pacific Islander.
The percentage of students who were White was highest at other religious schools (72 percent), the percentage of students who were Hispanic was highest at Catholic schools (18 percent), and the percentages of students who were Asian, Black, and of Two or more races were highest at nonsectarian schools (11, 10, and 9 percent, respectively). [Race/ethnicity ]
Compared to public school students, higher percentages of private school students overall were
  • White (65 vs. 45 percent);
  • Asian (6 vs. 5 percent); and
  • of Two or more races (6 vs. 5 percent).
In contrast, lower percentages of private school students than of public school students were
  • Hispanic (12 vs. 28 percent); and
  • Black (9 vs. 15 percent).
American Indian/Alaska Native and Pacific Islander students each constituted 1 percent or less of enrollment in both private and public schools in fall 2021. [Race/ethnicity ] [Control of institution]
Private school students also differed from public school students in other demographic characteristics. In 2021, the poverty rate for private school students was 11 percent, compared with 17 percent for public school students.5 Higher percentages of private school students than of public school students were enrolled in schools in cities (43 vs. 30 percent) and in suburban areas (40 vs. 39 percent). In contrast, lower percentages of private school students than of public school students were enrolled in schools in rural areas (11 vs. 20 percent) and in towns (6 vs. 11 percent). [Locale ] [Socioeconomic status (SES) ] [Control of institution]

1 For the purposes of this indicator, private schools exclude organizations or institutions that provide support for homeschooling. Unless otherwise noted, this indicator includes kindergarten through grade 12 enrollment in the United States, defined as including the 50 states and the District of Columbia.

2 For general technical notes related to data analysis, data interpretation, rounding, and other considerations, please refer to the Reader’s Guide.

3 Refers to Catholic schools with a private governance structure.

4 To calculate the percentages, enrollment data for students not reported by race/ethnicity were prorated based on the known racial/ethnic composition of their peers.

5 Findings in this paragraph include prekindergarten students. Poverty data for private school students are from the American Community Survey (ACS) and include homeschooled students. Data on enrollment by geographic locale (city, suburban, town, rural) are from the Private School Universe Survey and include prekindergarten students enrolled in schools offering kindergarten or higher grades (742,200 students).

Supplemental Information

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Table 205.10 (Digest 2023): Private elementary and secondary school enrollment and private enrollment as a percentage of total enrollment in public and private schools, by region and grade level: Selected years, fall 1995 through fall 2021;
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Table 205.20 (Digest 2023): Enrollment and percentage distribution of students enrolled in private elementary and secondary schools, by school orientation and grade level: Selected years, fall 2009 through fall 2021;
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Table 205.30 (Digest 2023): Percentage distribution of students enrolled in private elementary and secondary schools, by school orientation and selected characteristics: Selected years, fall 2009 through fall 2021;
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Table 205.80 (Digest 2023): Private elementary and secondary schools, enrollment, teachers, and high school graduates, by state: Selected years, 2009 through 2021;
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Table 102.70 (Digest 2022): Number and percentage of students in prekindergarten through grade 12 living in poverty, by control of school: 2000 through 2021;
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Table 203.20 (Digest 2022): Enrollment in public elementary and secondary schools, by region, state, and jurisdiction: Selected years, fall 1990 through fall 2031;
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Table 203.40 (Digest 2022): Enrollment in public elementary and secondary schools, by level, grade, and state or jurisdiction: Fall 2021;
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Table 203.65 (Digest 2022): Enrollment in public elementary and secondary schools, by level, grade, and race/ethnicity: Selected years, fall 1999 through fall 2021;
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Table 203.72 (Digest 2022): Public elementary and secondary school enrollment, by locale and state: Fall 2021
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Catholic school Combined/other school Elementary school Enrollment Nonsectarian school Other religious school Prekindergarten Private school Racial/ethnic group Secondary/high school
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Suggested Citation

National Center for Education Statistics. (2024). Private School Enrollment. Condition of Education. U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences. Retrieved [date], from https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/cgc.
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