States with the Largest Private School Enrollment
Approximately 6.3 million students or 11.5 percent of the elementary, middle, and secondary school students in the United States attend one of 27,223 private schools.
According to the U. S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), California has the highest private school enrollment with 619,067 students enrolled in private schools and Wyoming has the lowest with 2,221 private school students. Other states with high levels of private school student enrollment include New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Florida and Ohio, each having more than 250,000 private school students.
| State | Students Enrolled in Private Schools |
| California | 619,067 |
| New York | 475,942 |
| Pennsylvania | 339,484 |
| Illinois | 299,871 |
| Florida | 290,872 |
| Ohio | 254,494 |
| Texas | 227,645 |
| New Jersey | 198,631 |
| Michigan | 179,579 |
| Maryland | 144,131 |
| Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics | |
NCES reports that one in four schools in the United States is a private school and 43 percent of all private schools are located in central cities and 40 percent are in urban fringe areas or large towns. About 18 percent of the private schools are found in rural areas.
Private School Enrollment by Affiliation and Grade Level Composition
Eighty-four percent of all private schools are affiliated with a religious organization while 15.7 percent are nonsectarian or independent schools.
NCES reports that during the ten year period beginning in 1990, total enrollment in private elementary and secondary schools increased by 14 percent. Notable increases in enrollment have been realized by conservative Christian schools, which experienced the largest enrollment increase among all types of private schools with a 46 percent enrollment increase. Other private school groups that experienced noteworthy increases were the Episcopal schools with a 37 percent increase and nonsectarian-independent schools with a 26 percent increase.
| Percentage Distribution of Private School Students | ||||
| Affiliation | Total Enrollment | Enrollment in Elementary Schools | Enrollment in Secondary Schools | Enrollment in Combined Schools |
| Catholic | 48.6% | 64.1% | 75.3% | 5.8% |
| Nonsectarian – Independent | 15.7% | 9.4% | 10.8% | 29.8% |
| Unspecified Christian | 10.3% | 5.7% | 3.1% | 22.8% |
| Baptist | 6.1% | 2.6% | 0.6% | 15.6% |
| Lutheran | 4.4% | 6.9% | 2.4% | 0.4% |
| Jewish | 3.3% | 2.9% | 2.9% | 4.2% |
| Episcopal | 2.2% | 1.5% | 1.2% | 4.0% |
| Seventh-Day Adventists | 1.2% | 1.0% | 1.1% | 1.7% |
| Islamic | 0.4% | 0.3% | 0.0% | 0.7% |
| Friends | 0.3% | 0.2% | 0.0% | 0.8% |
| Various religious affiliations (28 different denominations) | 7.5% | 5.4% | 2.6% | 14.2% |
| Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics | ||||
School Size
The average private school has 193 students. Among all private schools, 80 percent have student enrollment levels of fewer than 300 students.
| Average School Enrollment | Percentage Distribution of Schools by Size | ||||
Fewer than 50 Students | 50-99 Students | 100-149 Students | 150-299 Students | 300 or More Students | ||
All Private Schools | 193 | 26.1 | 16.4 | 12.1 | 25.8 | 19.6 |
Type of Private School | ||||||
Catholic | 315 | 1.1 | 7.4 | 10.3 | 42.7 | 38.4 |
Other Religious | 141 | 36.8 | 19.9 | 11.0 | 20.6 | 11.7 |
Nonsectarian- | 144 | 36.4 | 20.8 | 17.1 | 14.3 | 11.4 |
| Note: Percentages may not total 100.0 due to rounding Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics | ||||||
October 2005