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Reference · Data · Updated 2026-09-12

School Branding & Enrollment Statistics 2026

51 statistics, each traced to the body that produced it, with a date and a link. How enrollment is moving, how fast charters, private schools, homeschooling, and choice programs are growing, what parents look for, how they research schools, and how hard it is to hire.

17 source organizations Primary sources only Free to cite, CC BY 4.0 Download CSV

Key takeaways

The 14 numbers most people come here for

  1. 49.5 million 49,516,000 students were enrolled in US public schools in fall 2023, down 0.2% from fall 2022 and 2.5% from fall 2019. NCES Digest of Education Statistics, Table 203.10, 2023
  2. 46.9 million NCES projects public school enrollment to fall 5% from 49.6 million in fall 2022 to 46.9 million in fall 2031, with preK-8 down 5% and grades 9-12 down 6%. NCES Condition of Education, Public School Enrollment, 2024
  3. 8,010 8,010 public charter schools operated in 2023-24, 8.1% of the 99,297 public schools in the US. NCES Common Core of Data, 2023-24 Summary Table 3, 2023-24
  4. +15% Charter schools added more than 500,000 students (+15%) between 2019-20 and 2024-25, reaching nearly 4 million students in more than 8,100 schools, while district schools lost nearly 2 million students (-4.4%). National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, 2025 Enrollment Brief, 2025
  5. 30,553 30,553 private elementary and secondary schools enrolled 5,096,365 students with 517,780 full-time-equivalent teachers in 2023-24; 17,598 are elementary or middle, 3,677 secondary, and 9,279 combined. NCES Private School Universe Survey, 2023-24 First Look, 2023-24
  6. $32,251 Average day tuition at the 1,331 NAIS member independent schools was $32,251 in 2024-25, with median grade 9 tuition of $37,135; the schools enrolled 631,672 students with a median of 364 per school. National Association of Independent Schools, Facts at a Glance, 2024-25
  7. 1.77 million Approximately 1,765,000 students, 3.4% of K-12 students, were homeschooled in 2022-23, and 5.2% received instruction at home including full-time virtual school, in a survey of 19,562 students. NCES, Parent and Family Involvement in Education: 2023, 2024
  8. 1.5 million More than 1.5 million students take part in 75 private school choice programs across 34 states, Washington DC, and Puerto Rico. EdChoice, The 2026 ABCs of School Choice, 2026
  9. 77% 77% of students have parents who rated the quality of teachers, principals, and staff "very important" in choosing a school, followed by safety (74%) and curriculum focus or unique academic programs (57%). NCES, Parent and Family Involvement in Education: 2023 (n = 19,562), 2024
  10. #1 safety A safe environment is the number one reason private, charter, and homeschool parents give for choosing a school in 2026, ahead of academic quality, while public district parents rank location first. EdChoice, 2026 Schooling in America Survey (N = 2,466 parents), 2026
  11. 75% 75% of US parents, about 46 million, considered (23%), searched for (31%), or enrolled in (21%) a new school in 2025, and 62% expect to search in 2026. National School Choice Awareness Foundation (n = 3,960), 2026
  12. 41% 41% of parents who researched schools in 2025 used school websites, 43% visited in person, 37% used general online searches, 36% talked to administrators, 35% asked other parents, and 31% attended open houses or tours. National School Choice Awareness Foundation (n = 3,960), 2026
  13. 66% 66% of K-12 parents were satisfied with the education their oldest child receives in August 2026, down 8 points from 74% in 2025. Gallup (n = 1,200 adults), 2026
  14. 74% 74% of public schools had difficulty filling one or more teaching vacancies before 2024-25, down from 79% in 2023-24 and 80% in 2022-23; schools averaged 6 vacancies and filled 79% before the year started. NCES School Pulse Panel (n = 1,392 schools), 2024

How many students are in US public schools, and is enrollment falling?

Public schools enrolled 49.5 million students in fall 2023, 2.5% below the fall 2019 peak of 50.8 million, and NCES projects a further drop to 46.9 million by fall 2031.

  • 49.5 million

    49,516,000 students were enrolled in US public schools in fall 2023, down 0.2% from fall 2022 and 2.5% from fall 2019.

    NCES Digest of Education Statistics, Table 203.10 · 2023 · nces.ed.gov

  • 50.8 million

    Public school enrollment peaked at 50,796,000 in fall 2019, then fell 2.8% to 49,375,000 in fall 2020 and has not recovered.

    NCES Digest of Education Statistics, Table 203.10 · 2024 · nces.ed.gov

  • 46.9 million

    NCES projects public school enrollment to fall 5% from 49.6 million in fall 2022 to 46.9 million in fall 2031, with preK-8 down 5% and grades 9-12 down 6%.

    NCES Condition of Education, Public School Enrollment · 2024 · nces.ed.gov

  • -4.5%

    PreK-8 public enrollment was 33.9 million in fall 2023, 4.5% below 2019, while grades 9-12 grew about 2% to 15.6 million; enrollment fell more than 4% in 18 states between 2019 and 2023.

    NCES press release · 2024 · ies.ed.gov

  • 8.5 million

    Traditional public schools could lose as many as 8.5 million students, shrinking from 43.06 million in 2023-24 to as few as 34.57 million by 2050.

    Brookings Institution · 2025 · brookings.edu

  • 13,303

    13,303 regular school districts ran 99,297 public schools with 49.4 million students in 2023-24, about 3,714 students per district on average, alongside 4,212 independent charter agencies.

    NCES Common Core of Data, 2023-24 Summary Tables 1 and 2 · 2023-24 · nces.ed.gov

How many charter schools are there?

8,010 of the 99,297 public schools operating in 2023-24 were charters (8.1%), and the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools counts nearly 4 million students in more than 8,100 charter schools, up 15% in six years while district schools lost about 2 million students.

How many private schools are there, and what do they charge?

30,553 private schools enrolled 5.1 million students in 2023-24, average tuition across all private schools was $12,790 in 2020-21, and the median NAIS independent day school charged $32,251 in 2024-25.

How many students are homeschooled or use school choice programs?

About 1.77 million students (3.4%) were homeschooled in 2022-23, and more than 1.5 million students use a private school choice program across 75 programs in 34 states, Washington DC, and Puerto Rico.

  • 1.77 million

    Approximately 1,765,000 students, 3.4% of K-12 students, were homeschooled in 2022-23, and 5.2% received instruction at home including full-time virtual school, in a survey of 19,562 students.

    NCES, Parent and Family Involvement in Education: 2023 · 2024 · nces.ed.gov

  • 6.5%

    4,198,591 adults in households with K-12 children reported a homeschooled child in August and September 2024, 6.5% of adults reporting an enrollment type, in the Census Bureau's experimental Household Pulse Survey.

    US Census Bureau, Household Pulse Survey Cycle 09 · 2024 · www2.census.gov

    Adult respondents, not children; share computed from the table.

  • 1.5 million

    More than 1.5 million students take part in 75 private school choice programs across 34 states, Washington DC, and Puerto Rico.

    EdChoice, The 2026 ABCs of School Choice · 2026 · edchoice.org

  • 488,736

    488,736 students use education savings accounts across 21 ESA programs in 18 states.

    EdChoice, School Choice Fast Facts · 2026 · edchoice.org

  • 349,923

    349,923 students use vouchers across 23 programs in 15 states and DC, and 217,194 use tax-credit scholarships across 22 programs in 18 states.

    EdChoice, School Choice Fast Facts · 2026 · edchoice.org

  • 280,000+

    More than 280,000 students use Florida's Family Empowerment Scholarship ESA, the largest program; Arkansas participation rose 226% from 14,297 to 46,578 in one year, and Texas is launching an ESA with about 80,000 students at $10,500 each.

    EdChoice, 2026 Yearbook Superlatives · 2026 · edchoice.org

  • 84%

    84% of school parents support education savings accounts and 65% would enroll their child if offered one, yet 50% of parents are unsure whether their state has an ESA program.

    EdChoice, 2026 Schooling in America Survey (N = 2,466 parents) · 2026 · edchoice.org

How do parents choose a school?

Teacher quality (77%), safety (74%), and curriculum (57%) are the factors parents most often rate "very important", safety became the number one reason for private, charter, and homeschool parents in 2026, and 41% of parents who searched for a school used school websites.

How satisfied are parents with their schools?

66% of K-12 parents are satisfied with their own child's education in 2026, down from 74% a year earlier, while only 32% of Americans are satisfied with the quality of US K-12 education overall, a record low.

  • 66%

    66% of K-12 parents were satisfied with the education their oldest child receives in August 2026, down 8 points from 74% in 2025.

    Gallup (n = 1,200 adults) · 2026 · news.gallup.com

  • 32%

    32% of Americans are satisfied with the quality of K-12 education in the US, a record low, and 67% are dissatisfied.

    Gallup · 2026 · news.gallup.com

  • 74%

    74% of K-12 parents were completely (32%) or somewhat (42%) satisfied with their child's education in 2025.

    Gallup (n = 1,094 adults) · 2025 · news.gallup.com

  • 57%

    57% of K-12 parents were extremely or very satisfied with the quality of their child's education in 2022, equal among Republican and Democratic parents at 58%.

    Pew Research Center (n = 3,251 parents) · 2022 · pewresearch.org

  • 43%

    43% of school parents say K-12 education is on the right track in 2026, up from 41% in 2025.

    EdChoice, 2026 Schooling in America Survey · 2026 · edchoice.org

How many schools close each year?

755 public schools closed in 2021-22, affecting 167,575 students, down from 1,310 closures in 2017-18, and the national closure rate was 0.8% of schools in 2023-24.

  • 755

    755 public schools closed in 2021-22, including 571 regular schools and 89 charters, with a prior-year enrollment of 167,575 students; closures were 1,310 in 2017-18, 1,122 in 2018-19, 1,130 in 2019-20, and 865 in 2020-21.

    NCES Digest of Education Statistics, Table 216.95 · 2021-22 · nces.ed.gov

  • 0.8%

    The share of public schools open one year and closed the next was 0.8% in 2023-24, up from 0.7% the year before but below the 1.3% rate of 2014-15.

    Brookings Institution, reported by The 74 · 2025 · the74million.org

    Brookings publishes the rate as a chart; the figures are quoted from The 74's report on it.

  • 2.06%

    Washington DC had the highest school closure rate in 2023-24 at 2.06%, followed by Mississippi (1.81%) and Arkansas (1.64%).

    Brookings Institution · 2025 · brookings.edu

  • 98

    98 public schools closed across a 15-state sample in 2023-24, up from 82 in 2022-23 and 65 in 2021-22; Colorado closures rose from 11 to 26.

    Reason Foundation · 2025 · reason.org

    Think-tank analysis of 15 states, not a national count.

Who runs school communications, and how do families want to hear from schools?

37% of school communicators are a one-person office and 67% now sit on the superintendent's cabinet, while 72% of families prefer email and 70% prefer texts, and half say school information is not always easy to find.

  • 37%

    37% of school district communicators run a one-person office and 41% have a staff of 2 to 4; 67% sit on the superintendent's cabinet, up from 59% in 2020 and 58% in 2018.

    NSPRA, Profile of a School Communicator (562 responses) · 2023 · nspra.org

  • 58%

    58% of school communicators list crisis communications as a top responsibility.

    NSPRA, Profile of a School Communicator · 2023 · nspra.org

  • 72%

    72% of K-12 families prefer email and 70% prefer texts from their schools; 53% say school information is not always easy to access or understand, 45% say communication is not frequent enough, and 62% want a central communications hub.

    SchoolStatus survey of 1,050 K-12 families · 2024 · schoolstatus.com

    Vendor survey.

  • 1 in 3

    One-third of public school parents do not know where to go when they have a question, comment, or concern for their school, in a survey of more than 1,500 families.

    K12 Insight (now Onflo), National Report on Customer Service in Schools · 2023 · onflo.com

    Vendor survey.

  • 61%

    61% of districts that track it say student-led content gets more engagement than staff-created content, 81% rely on video, and 30% use student interns or ambassadors, in a survey of 185 K-12 communications professionals.

    NSPRA and SchoolStatus · 2025 · prnewswire.com

    Industry survey, small sample.

How hard is it for schools to hire?

74% of public schools had difficulty filling at least one teaching vacancy before the 2024-25 year, averaging 6 openings each, and 35% still had a vacancy in October 2024, which is why employer branding has become part of school branding.

  • 74%

    74% of public schools had difficulty filling one or more teaching vacancies before 2024-25, down from 79% in 2023-24 and 80% in 2022-23; schools averaged 6 vacancies and filled 79% before the year started.

    NCES School Pulse Panel (n = 1,392 schools) · 2024 · ies.ed.gov

  • 64%

    64% of schools with hiring difficulty cited a lack of qualified candidates and 62% cited too few applicants.

    NCES School Pulse Panel · 2024 · ies.ed.gov

  • 35%

    35% of public schools had at least one teacher vacancy in October 2024, 3% of all teaching positions were vacant, and 50% of school leaders felt understaffed.

    NCES School Pulse Panel (n = 1,491 schools) · 2024 · ies.ed.gov

  • 80% vs 66%

    80% of public schools had at least one teaching opening in 2020-21, up from 66% in 2011-12, while enrollment in traditional teacher preparation programs fell 30% between 2012-13 and 2019-20.

    NCES Condition of Education, Teacher Openings · 2023 · nces.ed.gov

Original data

What SBA's own project records show

School Branding Agency has worked with 250+ schools since 2010. These figures come from our 81 published projects and internal records, and are labeled as estimates where they are rounded.

SBA published projects by school level (n = 81)

  • Elementary (K-5) 31% (25)
  • Academies, charters, and other K-12 30% (24)
  • Middle and K-8 20% (16)
  • High school 7% (6)
  • College and university 6% (5)
  • Whole district 6% (5)
  • About 70%

    Roughly 7 in 10 schools that hire SBA are replacing an existing identity rather than creating a first one, which lines up with the enrollment pressure in the numbers above.

    School Branding Agency project records, 2010 to 2026 · estimate

  • About half

    About half of SBA school branding projects involve a mascot; the rest are wordmarks, crests, and district identity systems.

    School Branding Agency project records, 2010 to 2026

  • 31%

    Elementary schools are the largest single group in SBA's published projects, ahead of middle and K-8 schools, high schools, districts, and colleges.

    School Branding Agency portfolio · 2026 · n = 81

Portfolio counts are rebuilt from the published case studies at /our-schools at each update. Price bands and the rebrand share come from internal project records and are rounded; they are not a survey of the wider market.

Methodology

How this page is built and how to cite it

Every statistic is traced to the organization that produced it: a federal agency, a state legislature, a tribal or advocacy body's database, a university study, a school board record, a survey publisher, or a company's own price list. We do not copy numbers from other roundups. Where a news outlet is the source, it is because the outlet built its own count or reported a board-approved figure.

Each source URL is opened and checked at every update. If a number is a range or an estimate, it is labeled as one. Vendor and advocacy surveys are labeled as such. Dates show the data year where the publisher gives one, otherwise the publication year.

School Branding Agency's own figures come from our published portfolio and internal project records and are labeled as such.

Cite this page

School Branding Agency. "School Branding & Enrollment Statistics 2026." schoolbranding.agency, updated 2026-09-12. https://schoolbranding.agency/school-branding-statistics

Use the data

All 51 statistics with publisher, year, and source URL, as a CSV. Free under CC BY 4.0. A link back to this page is appreciated.

Download CSV

Change log

  • 2026-09-12 First edition. Sourced statistics on public, charter, private, and homeschool enrollment, school choice programs, how parents choose schools, parent satisfaction, closures, school communications, and hiring. SBA project data added from internal records.

Questions

Common questions

Is public school enrollment declining?

Yes. Public school enrollment fell from a peak of 50.8 million in fall 2019 to 49.5 million in fall 2023, and NCES projects 46.9 million by fall 2031, a 5% drop from 2022. Brookings estimates traditional public schools could lose up to 8.5 million students by 2050.

How many charter schools are there in the US?

8,010 charter schools operated in 2023-24, about 8% of all public schools, enrolling roughly 3.7 to 4 million students depending on the year and source.

What matters most to parents when choosing a school?

In the NCES parent survey, teacher and staff quality (77%) and safety (74%) top the list. In EdChoice's 2026 survey, safety became the number one reason for private, charter, and homeschool parents. About 4 in 10 searching parents use school websites.

How many students are homeschooled?

About 1.77 million students, 3.4% of K-12 students, were homeschooled in 2022-23 according to NCES. The Census Bureau's experimental Household Pulse Survey gives a higher share based on adult respondents.

What does school branding have to do with these numbers?

Falling enrollment, growing school choice, and hiring shortages all push schools to compete for families and staff. Branding is how a school explains what it stands for and stays recognizable across the website, signage, uniforms, and social media that parents use to compare schools.

Can I use these statistics?

Yes. The page and CSV are free to use under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. Cite School Branding Agency and link to this page, and cite the original publisher named next to each number.

Related: school mascot statistics, the hidden cost of an outdated school brand, school branding cost and pricing guide, charter school branding guide, school district branding.

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