Every year we try to compile all of the available data maintained by the states that keep records on homeschool enrollment. Some states make this information easily-accessible on state department of education websites, but many do not. After extended searching, I think we have collected all the currently-available data. If anyone reading this knows of a state we have missed and where its data can be found, please contact us, and we will add it. To access the complete enrollment data, please visit the ICHER site.
Before commenting on trends, let me make some caveats regarding this data. As noted many times before when presenting this information, the numbers here are unreliable for at least three reasons:
- Data collection is haphazard, varying widely by state, by district within a state, and from year-to-year based upon state budgets, which do not prioritize homeschooling data collection.
- The figures provided by some states don’t account for homeschoolers who may choose to do so by, say, registering as private schools.
- Some homeschoolers simply refuse to register with the state and hence are not included in these tallies.
These shortcomings mean that the enrollment figures cited here are in no way an accurate count of homeschoolers in a given state, but they can at least tell us something about trend lines if we look at how the figures are changing year by year. Of the 19 states that we have found updated enrollments for, 15 are up and 4 are down. Overall, it looks like homeschool enrollments are rebounding after a period of stagnation between 2010 and 2012. Here are the two most recent data points available for each state to give a sense of the growth:
Arkansas
2014: 17,299
2015: 18,650
Trend: Up, Significantly
Colorado
2014: 8,009
2015: 8,606
Trend: Up, Modestly
Delaware
2014: 2,720
2015: 2,609
Trend: Down, Modestly
Florida
2013: 77,054
2014: 84,096
Trend: Up, Significantly
Georgia
2014: 62,582
2015: 58,806
Trend: Down, Significantly
Maine
2013: 5,024
2014: 5,561
Trend: Up, Modestly
Maryland
2012: 24,302
2013: 26,434
Trend: Up, Significantly
Minnesota
2013: 17,451
2014: 18,085
Trend: Up, Modestly
Montana
2013: 4,694
2014: 4,954
Trend: Up, Modestly
Nebraska
2014: 8,095
2015: 8,290
Trend: Up, Modestly
New Hampshire
2013: 5,914
2014: 6,655
Trend: Up, Modestly
North Carolina
2013: 98,172
2014: 106,853
Trend: Up, Significantly
South Dakota
2013: 3,366
2014: 3,796
Trend: Up, Modestly
Utah
2014: 10,438
2014: 13,033
Trend: Up, Significantly
Virginia
2013: 29,477
2014: 32,314
Trend: Up, Significantly
Washington
2013: 19,610
2014: 20,921
Trend: Up, Significantly
West Virginia
2013: 9,199
2014: 9,616
Trend: Up, Modestly
Wisconsin
2014: 19,850
2015: 18,750
Trend: Down, Significantly
Wyoming
2013: 2,452
2014: 2,316
Trend: Down, Modestly
Disclaimer: The views expressed in reviews are not the official views of ICHER or of its members. For more information about ICHER’s Reviews, please see the « About these Reviews » Section.