Homeschooling Statistics & Trends For 2023

Homeschooling has been steadily increasing in popularity recently, becoming much more prevalent in the U.S. and around the world. The COVID-19 pandemic jumpstarted the number of students switching to homeschool even further, and today, more and more people are beginning to see the benefits. There are pros and cons to all educational approaches, but much of the data shows that homeschooling is a positive, dynamic, and effective method. Let’s take a look at the latest statistics and trends.

General Statistics and Trends

1. The number of homeschooled students in the U.S. increased from 2.5 million in 2019 to 4.3 million in 2022.

2. 25% of homeschooled children are enrolled in a higher grade level than the one recommended for their age.
3. Homeschooled students score, on average, between 85% and 87% on standardized tests, regardless of parents’ educational background. The average public school score is 50%.
4. Homeschoolers typically score 15-30% higher than public school students on standardized tests.
5. Boys perform 44% better on reading tests when educated at home compared to boys in public schools.
6. 98% of homeschooled students participate in an average of 5 extracurriculars per week.
7. Students who attend homeschool outperform those who attend traditional schools in social, emotional, and psychological development, according to 87% of participant research.
8. Annually, $56 billion in taxpayer money is saved by homeschooling.
9. The number of school-aged children who homeschool in the US is 6.73%.
10. In 2020, the number of homeschooled students was 2.65 million, and as of 2021, there were 3.7 million students who were homeschooled.
11. Among the overall students who are homeschooled, 48% are male and 52% are female.
12. 68% of the students who are homeschooled are white, 15% are Hispanic, 8.5% are black, and 4% are Asian.
13.  The percentage of homeschooled students is growing by 2% to 9% annually.
14. In 2022, 4.3 million students were homeschooled.
15. The most common reason for choosing to homeschool is being unconfident in the safety of schools today.
16. The grades with the highest number of homeschooled students is 6th to 8th.
17. More than 48% of parents who homeschool their children have more than three kids.
18. From March to May of 2022, 5.22% of all school-age children were homeschooled.
19. 1 out of 3 homeschooling parents has a yearly income of more than $100,000.
20. The median expense per student for homeschooling is $700-$1,800 per year.

States With the Most Homeschooled Students

1. The states with the highest numbers of homeschooled students are, in order, North Carolina, Florida, and Georgia.
2. The next 7 homeschooling states by number of students are Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Carolina, Massachusetts, and Nebraska.
3. North Carolina had 179,900 homeschooled students in 2021.
4. Florida was a close second, with 143,431 homeschooled students.
5. In 2021, Washington had 39,843 homeschooled students.

Reasons for Homeschooling

1. At 25.0%, the number one reason for opting to homeschool was school safety concerns.
2. Number two on the list was poor academic quality (14.5%).
3. The third most popular reason to homeschool, with 13%, was to provide religious instruction.
4. The fourth-ranking reason was “other reasons” (14%).
5. Emphasis on family came in at number five with 8.3%.
6. At 7.7%, number six of the reasons was to provide nontraditional education.
7. Special needs was the eighth most popular response, at 7.3%.
8. The eighth reason was to provide moral instruction (6.6%).
9. The 9^th most cited reason to homeschool, at 3.6%, was health problems.

Reasons to NOT Homeschool

1. Number 1 reason: lack of socialization and preparation for real life (18%).
2. 16%  of those surveyed listed “other reasons.”
3. Third on the list was coordination with daily work schedule (15%)
4. 14% of respondents said time management was a homeschooling concern.
5. Not being sure of the responsibilities of homeschooling was the primary issue for 13%.
6. 12% said fear of disrupting the child’s relationships with their peers and teachers was the main reason not to homeschool.
7. 12% stated they had an unwillingness to disrupt their child’s education.

Homeschooling by Demographics

1. From 2020 to 2021, the percentage of black students homeschooling increased from 1% to 8%.
2. The proportion of Hispanic students who are homeschooled increased from 2% to 9% between 2019 and 2021.
3. Black, Hispanic, Asian, or other students make up 41% of homeschooled students (non-white).
4. White students constitute 59%, Black constitute 8%, Hispanics form 26%, and the Asian or Pacific Islanders form 3% of the total.
5. Those with lower incomes (18%), those in the middle (11%), and those with higher incomes (7%) were more likely to choose to homeschool,
6. According to the NCES, 7 in 10 homeschooled students are white.
7. Homeschoolers make up 6.73% of all school-age children (K-12) in the U.S. 
8. Homeschooling has had a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.1% from 2016 to 2021.
9. The data shows that only 19% of homeschooling households have 1 child and 33% have 2 children, with 48% having 3 or more children.
10. 83% of homeschool students live in two-parent households, followed by 14% in 1 parent, and 3% in non-parental households.
11. 34% of homeschoolers resided in suburban areas, 31% were in rural regions, 28% lived in cities, and 7% lived in towns.

Homeschooling Household Data

1. 34% of homeschooling households have an annual income over $100,000.
2. 10% of households make less than $20,000 per year.
3. Homeschooling household income from $20,001 – $50,000 was 20%.
4. 21% of households had an annual income of $50,001 – $75,000.
5. 15% of homeschooling households had an annual income between $75,001 – $100,000.
6. 23% of homeschooling parents had an education level of high school diploma or less.
7. 26% had a vocational/technical, associate’s degree, or some college.
8. Homeschooling parents with a Bachelor’s degree/some graduate school made up 31%.
9. 21% of homeschooling parents had a graduate or professional degree.

Homeschool Statistics by State

1. 10% of states have strict laws regulating homeschooling: New York, Vermont, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania.
2. 18 states have moderate regulation.
3. Low regulation is seen in 16 states.
4. 11 states provide complete freedom to parents regarding homeschooling.

Homeschoolers in College

1. College students who were homeschooled earn higher first-year and fourth-year GPAs when controlling for demographic, pre-college, engagement, and first-term academic factors.
2. 2.5 million homeschoolers were enrolled in college in spring 2019.
3. Compared to public school students, who graduate high school at a rate of 57.5%, homeschoolers do so at a rate of 67% on average. Many go on to college.
4. 69% of homeschoolers succeeded in college, according to peer-reviewed studies.

Homeschooled Students vs. Traditional Students

1. Homeschooled score 15 to 30 percentile points above public-school students on standardized academic achievement tests. The public school average is the 50th percentile; scores range from 1 to 99.
2. Black homeschool students scored 23 to 42 percentile points above black public school students.
3. In several studies, children from structured homeschool settings outperformed their conventional school peers.
4. 78% of peer-reviewed studies on academic achievements show that homeschool students perform statistically significantly better than students in institutional schools.
5. Home-educated students typically score above average on the college admission SAT and ACT tests.
6. Homeschooled college graduation rates are 10% higher than that of students from public schools.
7. Homeschoolers score 15%-30% higher than students in public schools in standardized academic achievement exams.
8. Homeschooled students typically perform 72 SAT points better than the national mean.
9. Homeschoolers outperformed the general population in all subject areas by 39 percentile points.

COVID-19 and Homeschooling

1. Around 41% of the parents in the US opted for homeschooling for their children.
2. Before the pandemic, 28% fewer parents opted for homeschooling.
3. Due to the pandemic, 59% of the parents were ok with homeschooling and 30% of them were strongly considering it for their children.
4. 53% of black parents think that the COVID-19 pandemic has positively changed their opinion about homeschooling.
5. 68% of the students who did homeschooling before the pandemic, found it satisfactory.
6. During the pandemic, 83% of students who had never experienced homeschooling found it satisfactory.
7. 54% of households homeschooling their children before 2020 were more likely to continue full-time for the next academic year.

Homeschooling Costs Data

1. The cost of homeschooling one child for parents is around $700 to $1800.
2. Materials needed for homeschooling cost around $150 to $300.
3. The extracurricular activities included in homeschooling cost around $100 to $500.
4. Average costs are between $100 and $250 annually for field trips.

Sources

NHERI.org How Many Homeschool Students Are There in the United States? Pre-Covid-19 and Post-Covid-19: (link)

NHERI.org Research Facts on Homeschooling (link)

United States Census Bureau (link)

National Center for Educational Statistics, Reasons for Homeschooling (link)

EdChoice (link)

Tandfonline.com (link)

NCES, Household Characteristics (link)

Time4Learning.com Cost of homeschooling (link)

https://www.time4learning.com/homeschool/homeschoolstatistics.shtml

https://study.com/blog/7-interesting-homeschooling-statistics-facts.html