Private schools are a small part of the total U.S. K-12 school market, but with the expansion of private school choice programs in many states, the sector is on track to grow in enrollment and value to education companies.
How Many Private Schools are There?
The most recent federal data available, from 2021, found 29,730 K-12 private schools in the U.S. In the 2019-20 school year, over 61 percent of private schools were prekindergarten, elementary, and middle schools, compared with 71 percent of public schools.
How Many Students Attend Private Schools?
U.S. private schools enrolled 5.47 million students in 2021, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. That’s 10 percent of all K-12 students.
In recent decades, the share of students in private schools has decreased. From 1995 to 2001, between 11.4 and 11.7 percent of all students attended private schools. That fell, starting in the early 2000s, and in recent years the percentage has flattened out at around 10 percent on average. Federal data lag several years behind year-to-year changes in enrollment.
In recent years, school choice programs have expanded in many states, potentially leading to a significant increase in the percentage of students served by private schools that aren’t yet reflected in federal estimates.
Which Regions Have the Highest Private School Enrollment?
Private schools enroll the largest share of students in the northeast (13 percent) and the lowest in the west (8.3 percent), according to 2021 federal data.
What’s the Average Size of Private Schools (Compared to Public)?
Private schools are generally smaller than public schools, with over 44 percent of them enrolling fewer than 300 students, according to 2021 data. More than 60 percent of public schools enroll more than 500 students.
Are Most Private Schools Religious?
Almost 75 percent of private schools in the U.S. are religious, and about half of those religious schools were Catholic in the 2020-21 school year, the most recent year with federal data available.
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However, since 2009, Catholic school enrollment has decreased from 39.4 percent to 33.2 percent of all private school enrollment. Nonsectarian (non-religious) schools now enroll 25.5 percent of private school students, up from 22.8 percent in 2009.
What’s the Average Tuition of Private Schools?
Average U.S. private school tuition was $12,790 in the 2020-21 school year, according to federal data.
Tuition varies widely between schools of different religious backgrounds. Catholic schools charged the least tuition, on average, at $9,720 per year in 2020-21, compared with nonsectarian schools, which charge $19,590, and other religious schools, which charge $10,910.
By comparison, in public schools in fiscal year 2021, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that average per-pupil spending was $14,347.
About half of Catholic schools are administered by a diocese rather than an individual parish, and the diocese may hold more centralized purchasing power (more akin to a school district) than with individual, independent private schools.
Which States Have Universal Private School Choice?
Some states have programs, open to all families, that allow families to use public funds for private school tuition or, in some cases, other education-related expenses.
Students in these private school choice programs represent a small fraction of the nation’s total K-12 enrollment, almost 2 percent in the 2023-24 school year, but the numbers signing up for new state programs have sometimes exceeded projections.
And, in recent years the number of private school choice programs have grown rapidly. In 2023, lawmakers in 42 states introduced bills to establish or dramatically expand school choice programs.
What Are the Different Types of Private School Choice?
Private school choice programs differ widely in how much funding they provide, how they’re set up, where the funding comes from, and how the money can be used. Some states have several different kinds of programs.
See this glossary from Education Week to learn more:
How Much Money Do Private School Choice Programs Give Per Student?
The money available per student in states’ different private school choice programs varies widely. Oklahoma has the most generous tax-credit scholarship program, offering up to $7,500 to families whose children attend private school. Most tax-credit scholarship programs give between $1,500 to $2,500 per student. Education savings accounts, however, tend to offer families similar amounts of money to the per-pupil amount the state spends on a public school student.
How Many Students Are Using Private School Choice Programs?
According to EdChoice, a nonprofit that advocates for private school choice, Florida has the most students on education savings accounts — 136,000. Indiana has over 69,000 students in their voucher program, the country’s largest. The largest tax-credit scholarship program is in Pennsylvania, where over 54,000 students are in the program.
What Kinds of Expenses can Families Pay for With Education Savings Accounts?
The different things parents can pay for using education savings accounts vary state to state, but many states allow expenses for private school tuition, therapies like speech-language or behavioral therapy, fees for tests, tutoring, textbooks, computer hardware, and uniforms.
Arizona, which created the first ESA program in 2011, also allows other expenses for materials like books, educational discs, backpacks, furniture like desks and chairs, and tickets for educational outings, like to museums and plays. A few states allow expenses like summer and after-school programs and workforce credentials.
What Services Do Private Schools Need?
According to EdWeek Market Brief reporting in 2023, the biggest needs for private schools are teacher recruitment, financial planning, and students’ social-emotional learning.
Myra McGovern, vice president of media for the National Association of Independent Schools, said in EdWeek Market Brief reporting in 2023 that companies should think about private schools like small colleges, and that they should try to get to know the school’s philosophy before trying to sell to them to find the right angle.
What About Private Schools Internationally?
ISC Research, which collects data on international schools, defines international private schools as those that teach wholly or partly in English to at least some students in countries where English is not an official language, or schools that offer a curriculum that’s not the host country’s national curriculum in countries where English is an official language.
International private schools have also grown in recent years and now enroll an estimated 7 million students globally, in almost 14,500 schools, according to ISC Research.
The countries with the most international schools are:
Asia has 57 percent of all international private schools, enrolling 4.7 million students.
Much of the growth in international private schools is in medium-fee schools, which appeal to families from a broader range of incomes. Medium-fee schools grew 17 percent from 2018 to 2023, compared with the market’s overall enrollment growth of 10 percent.
The most popular curriculum in international private schools is the Cambridge curriculum, with 35.4 percent market share, followed by the U.K. and IB curricula, which both have 28.1 percent of the market, and a U.S. curriculum at 19.1 percent. But many schools offer more than one curriculum.