Skip Navigation
Digest of Education Statistics
2017 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest


Table 205.30. Percentage distribution of students enrolled in private elementary and secondary schools, by school orientation and selected characteristics: Selected years, fall 2005 through fall 2015
[Standard errors appear in parentheses]
Selected characteristic 2005 2009 2013 2015
Total Catholic Other religious Nonsectarian
Total Parochial Diocesan Private Total Conservative Christian Affiliated1 Unaffiliated1
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
Total 100.0   (†) 100.0   (†) 100.0   (†) 100.0   (†) 100.0   (†) 100.0   (†) 100.0   (†) 100.0   (†) 100.0   (†) 100.0   (†) 100.0   (†) 100.0   (†) 100.0   (†)
                                                                             
School level2                                                                              
Elementary 56.8   (0.34) 53.5   (0.24) 52.8   (0.47) 50.3   (0.80) 66.5   (0.69) 89.7   (0.46) 66.4   (0.79) 26.1   (2.63) 37.9   (1.57) 21.1   (1.46) 42.1   (1.70) 49.1   (2.58) 46.2   (0.85)
Secondary 14.2   (0.34) 14.3   (0.11) 13.7   (0.19) 13.5   (0.20) 25.4   (0.53) 6.8   (0.38) 28.0   (0.66) 52.0   (1.85) 5.5   (0.28) 2.2   (0.18) 9.4   (0.46) 5.6   (0.50) 8.7   (0.26)
Combined 29.1   (0.29) 32.2   (0.21) 33.5   (0.48) 36.2   (0.88) 8.1   (0.17) 3.5   (0.12) 5.6   (0.14) 21.9   (0.78) 56.6   (1.76) 76.6   (1.62) 48.4   (2.06) 45.3   (2.86) 45.1   (0.73)
                                                                               
Student race/ethnicity3                                                                              
White 75.3   (0.10) 72.6   (0.20) 69.6   (0.31) 68.6   (0.34) 65.9   (0.50) 67.1   (1.04) 66.7   (0.51) 62.4   (0.68) 73.1   (0.73) 70.2   (1.32) 76.1   (0.79) 73.7   (1.79) 65.2   (0.21)
Black 9.6   (0.08) 9.2   (0.07) 9.3   (0.27) 9.3   (0.31) 7.8   (0.23) 6.9   (0.65) 7.5   (0.15) 10.0   (0.14) 10.6   (0.74) 10.6   (0.49) 8.2   (0.24) 12.2   (1.81) 9.3   (0.12)
Hispanic 9.2   (0.05) 9.4   (0.09) 10.2   (0.11) 10.4   (0.15) 15.6   (0.30) 16.2   (0.67) 15.2   (0.25) 15.6   (0.49) 6.6   (0.16) 8.1   (0.48) 6.6   (0.27) 5.4   (0.19) 8.0   (0.12)
Asian 4.1   (0.05) 5.1   (0.05) 5.9   (0.05) 6.2   (0.06) 5.2   (0.08) 4.9   (0.12) 5.0   (0.08) 6.3   (0.25) 5.4   (0.10) 6.2   (0.51) 5.4   (0.21) 4.7   (0.41) 9.4   (0.08)
Pacific Islander   (†) 0.6   (0.02) 0.7   (0.01) 0.7   (0.02) 0.6   (0.01) 0.6   (0.02) 0.5   (#) 0.7   (0.02) 0.5   (0.03) 0.5   (0.04) 0.3   (0.01) 0.6   (0.08) 1.4   (0.02)
American Indian/Alaska
       Native
1.8   (0.01) 0.4   (#) 0.5   (0.01) 0.5   (0.01) 0.5   (0.01) 0.5   (0.02) 0.5   (0.01) 0.6   (0.04) 0.4   (0.03) 0.5   (0.04) 0.3   (0.01) 0.4   (0.06) 0.5   (0.01)
Two or more races   (†) 2.7   (0.02) 3.9   (0.03) 4.3   (0.08) 4.3   (0.07) 3.9   (0.12) 4.5   (0.08) 4.4   (0.10) 3.3   (0.15) 3.9   (0.40) 3.1   (0.08) 2.9   (0.15) 6.2   (0.16)
                                                                               
School enrollment                                                                              
Less than 50 4.5   (0.10) 5.4   (0.39) 5.4   (0.47) 5.5   (0.39) 0.4   (0.05) 0.5 ! (0.21) 0.2   (0.01) 0.8   (0.10) 7.9   (0.95) 3.8   (0.31) 4.2   (1.21) 13.6   (1.94) 9.0   (0.56)
50 to 149 16.7   (0.17) 17.3   (0.18) 17.1   (0.23) 16.8   (0.40) 7.3   (0.58) 7.9   (1.18) 7.6   (0.85) 5.4   (0.42) 19.8   (0.85) 16.3   (1.31) 15.4   (0.66) 25.6   (1.48) 26.0   (0.56)
150 to 299 26.6   (0.18) 25.9   (0.17) 25.5   (0.29) 25.1   (0.49) 29.5   (0.50) 37.8   (1.47) 28.3   (0.71) 17.7   (2.53) 23.1   (1.01) 22.9   (1.65) 26.8   (2.79) 20.9   (1.11) 21.9   (0.81)
300 to 499 21.1   (0.20) 21.0   (0.19) 20.4   (0.21) 19.5   (0.49) 27.7   (0.90) 29.1   (1.01) 29.1   (1.54) 21.7   (1.54) 15.8   (0.86) 19.2   (2.05) 18.0   (0.72) 11.4   (0.62) 13.6   (0.46)
500 to 749 15.0   (0.31) 14.0   (0.09) 14.5   (0.24) 15.8   (0.97) 18.8   (1.01) 19.2   (3.19) 17.8   (0.42) 20.4   (0.73) 16.4   (2.26) 23.2   (5.15) 13.8   (0.55) 12.5   (3.28) 10.3   (0.24)
750 or more 16.1   (0.24) 16.3   (0.12) 17.0   (0.54) 17.3   (0.29) 16.3   (0.34) 5.4   (0.18) 17.0   (0.40) 34.0   (1.21) 17.0   (0.56) 14.5   (1.22) 21.7   (0.87) 16.0   (0.80) 19.3   (0.46)
                                                                               
Region                                                                              
Northeast 23.5   (0.19) 23.9   (0.26) 22.3   (0.25) 22.9   (0.59) 23.2   (0.51) 22.7   (0.86) 20.0   (0.47) 31.7   (1.15) 20.9   (1.40) 12.7 ! (4.49) 25.2   (1.03) 25.1   (1.43) 25.5   (0.88)
Midwest 23.6   (0.30) 23.6   (0.38) 24.6   (0.64) 24.5   (0.77) 36.5   (1.28) 41.0   (1.94) 36.8   (1.49) 27.9   (2.28) 21.0   (1.35) 21.8   (3.96) 17.5   (0.76) 22.6   (2.29) 12.3   (0.48)
South 32.5   (0.33) 33.6   (0.29) 34.1   (0.33) 34.2   (0.73) 23.3   (0.52) 21.0   (0.94) 26.0   (0.61) 21.2   (0.77) 42.0   (1.50) 42.1   (3.05) 42.8   (2.28) 41.5   (2.66) 37.6   (1.13)
West 20.3   (0.36) 19.0   (0.17) 19.1   (0.32) 18.5   (0.33) 16.9   (0.50) 15.3   (0.87) 17.2   (0.41) 19.1   (1.53) 16.0   (0.52) 23.5   (1.80) 14.5   (0.58) 10.9   (0.56) 24.7   (0.70)
                                                                               
School locale                                                                              
City 41.3   (0.26) 41.0   (0.31) 42.5   (0.50) 43.0   (0.77) 47.0   (1.03) 42.4   (1.48) 48.6   (1.21) 51.2   (1.83) 38.8   (1.44) 28.6   (2.12) 42.7   (1.71) 44.8   (2.59) 43.8   (0.91)
Suburban 40.0   (0.35) 39.0   (0.34) 41.0   (0.44) 40.2   (0.82) 41.4   (1.11) 45.5   (1.79) 39.4   (0.93) 38.9   (2.00) 37.7   (1.60) 44.8   (3.63) 40.0   (1.62) 30.3   (1.50) 42.3   (0.70)
Town 7.2   (0.13) 7.1   (0.17) 6.3   (0.33) 6.2   (0.56) 7.1   (0.18) 8.6   (0.42) 8.0   (0.19) 2.4   (0.09) 7.4   (1.40) 11.6 ! (4.00) 4.5   (0.18) 5.8   (0.45) 2.8   (0.07)
Rural 11.5   (0.37) 12.9   (0.42) 10.1   (0.47) 10.7   (0.57) 4.5   (0.34) 3.5   (0.20) 4.0   (0.09) 7.5   (1.66) 16.1   (1.31) 15.0   (1.12) 12.7   (3.46) 19.2   (2.01) 11.0   (0.46)
—Not available.
†Not applicable.
#Rounds to zero.
!Interpret data with caution. The coefficient of variation (CV) for this estimate is between 30 and 50 percent.
1 Affiliated schools belong to associations of schools with a specific religious orientation other than Catholic or conservative Christian. Unaffiliated schools have a religious orientation or purpose but are not classified as Catholic, conservative Christian, or affiliated.
2 Elementary schools have grade 6 or lower and no grade higher than 8. Secondary schools have no grade lower than 7. Combined schools include those that have grades lower than 7 and higher than 8, as well as those that do not classify students by grade level.
3 Race/ethnicity was not collected for prekindergarten students (846,900 out of 5,750,520 students in 2015). Percentage distribution is based on the students for whom race/ethnicity was reported.
NOTE: Includes enrollment in prekindergarten through grade 12 in schools that offer kindergarten or higher grade. Prior to 2009, data on students of Two or more races and separate data for Pacific Islanders were not collected. Race categories exclude persons of Hispanic ethnicity. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Private School Universe Survey (PSS), 2005-06 through 2015-16. (This table was prepared May 2017.)

2017 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest