Table 1. Number and percentage distribution of private schools, students, and full-time equivalent (FTE) teachers, by selected school characteristics: United States, 2017

Private School Universe Survey (PSS)

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Table 1. Number and percentage distribution of private schools, students, and full-time equivalent (FTE) teachers, by selected school characteristics: United States, 2017–18


Selected school characteristic	Schools		Students		FTE teachers
Selected school characteristic	Number	Percent	Number	Percent	Number	Percent
Total	32,461	100.0	4,898,154	100.0	482,325	100.0

Private school typology	7,047	21.7	1,961,673	40	152,901	31.7
Catholic	2,422	7.5	581,554	11.9	43,337	9.0
Parochial	3,477	10.7	960,310	19.6	73,477	15.2
Diocesan	1,148	3.5	419,809	8.6	36,087	7.5
Private

Other religious	14,501	44.7	1,857,777	37.9	182,863	37.9
Conservative Christian	3,782	11.7	598,533	12.2	57,053	11.8
Other affiliated	2,982	9.2	557,791	11.4	57,418	11.9
Unaffiliated	7,737	23.8	701,452	14.3	68,391	14.2

Nonsectarian	10,913	33.6	1,078,704	22.0	146,561	30.4
Regular	4,250	13.1	705,713	14.4	86,947	18.0
Special emphasis	4,889	15.1	261,878	5.3	38,690	8.0
Special education	1,774	5.5	111,113	2.3	20,924	4.3

School level
Elementary	20,090	61.9	2,169,867	44.3	200,121	41.5
Secondary	2,845	8.8	808,599	16.5	73,686	15.3
Combined	9,526	29.3	1,919,688	39.2	208,518	43.2

Program emphasis
Regular elementary/secondary	22,088	68.0	4,345,691	88.7	402,661	83.5
Montessori	3,053	9.4	120,465	2.5	19,411	4.0
Special program emphasis	1,042	3.2	164,694	3.4	19,586	4.1
Special education	1,979	6.1	121,630	2.5	22,723	4.7
Vocational/technical	22	0.1	2,923	0.1	295	0.1
Alternative	2,245	6.9	106,881	2.2	12,638	2.6
Early childhood	2,031	6.3	35,870	0.7	5,011	1.0

Size (number of students)
Less than 50	13,969	43.0	298,837	6.1	50,317	10.4
50-149	8,172	25.2	749,855	15.3	91,223	18.9
150-299	5,727	17.6	1,205,630	24.6	111,103	23.0
300-499	2,594	8.0	995,974	20.3	87,524	18.1
500-749	1,154	3.6	699,184	14.3	62,199	12.9
750 or more	845	2.6	948,675	19.4	79,958	16.6

Region
Northeast	7,007	21.6	1,076,392	22.0	116,611	24.2
Midwest	7,937	24.5	1,195,470	24.4	103,303	21.4
South	11,156	34.4	1,705,923	34.8	175,268	36.3
West	6,360	19.6	920,370	18.8	87,143	18.1

Urbanicity type
City	10,531	32.4	2,153,089	44.0	206,881	42.9
Suburban	12,152	37.4	1,906,478	38.9	185,396	38.4
Town	2,754	8.5	311,956	6.4	31,405	6.5
Rural	7,024	21.6	526,631	10.8	58,642	12.2
NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding or missing values in cells with too few sample cases. These estimates include private schools that provide instruction for one or more of grades kindergarten through twelve (or comparable ungraded levels).
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Private School Universe Survey (PSS), 2017–18.

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