Map Shows States With the Most, Least Homeschooled Students

Newsweek

a day ago

Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
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Homeschooling remains a steady presence in American education, with federal data revealing where it is thriving, where it is waning, and the factors driving families to keep children out of traditional classrooms.
According to analysis by John's Hopkins Institute of Education of Census Bureau statistics, 5.92 percent of school-aged children in the U.S. were homeschooled during the 2023-2024 school year. That compares with 9.92 percent enrolled in private schools and 84.16 percent attending public schools. These figures remain largely consistent with those from the 2022–2023 school year, with homeschooling seeing a slight increase of 0.1 percentage points.
The states with the highest shares of homeschooled students were Alaska, where 16.15 percent of students were reported as homeschooled, followed by Tennessee at 10.75 percent and Montana at 9.03 percent. The states with the lowest shares were Connecticut (3.01 percent), Washington, D.C. (3.04 percent), and Massachusetts (3.39 percent).
In terms of year-over-year change, Alaska again stood out, seeing the largest increase in homeschool enrollment, rising 3.6 percentage points from the prior year. Rhode Island followed with a 2.5-point increase, while Tennessee's homeschool share rose by 1.7 points. The largest declines were seen in Washington, D.C., which dropped 5.5 percentage points, followed by Hawaii (down 1.7 points) and Maryland (down 1.3 points).
The 2022–2023 school year had similar leaders and laggards. Alaska then reported 12.56 percent of students as homeschooled, followed by Tennessee (9.02 percent) and West Virginia (8.89 percent). States with the lowest homeschooling shares included Rhode Island (2.86 percent), Massachusetts (3.14 percent), and New York (3.23 percent).
The Rise of Homeschooling
While state-level trends show the scope and scale of homeschooling across the country, other data also sheds light on why families opt out of traditional school settings.
According to findings from the Pew Research Center, based on National Center for Education Statistics data for the 2022–2023 academic year, parents cited a variety of motivations. The most common concern was the school environment—including safety, drug exposure, or negative peer pressure—which 83 percent of parents named as a factor. Dissatisfaction with academic instruction at schools was cited by 72 percent.
Melissa Jenkins, founder of Little Shoes Academy, said many parents' decisions can be traced back to the pandemic.
"Initially parents chose to homeschool out of necessity from COVID-19," which she said marked the beginning of "a major cultural shift."
"Families that chose to homeschool discovered high levels of success," she told Newsweek. "Families have seen that tailoring instruction to their child's pace and learning style fosters stronger engagement and achievement. Many are reluctant to return to a 'one-size-fits-all' approach. The public school setting has felt more restrictive as the years go by."
Some parents also turned to homeschooling for health or special needs reasons. About 21 percent cited unmet special education needs in schools, and 15 percent said their child had a long-term physical or mental health condition.
Jenkins, who homeschooled her own twin daughters with disabilities, said: "I found the classroom setting was not where they would find success. Many parents have discovered the same thing. Whether their child is advanced or needs extra support, homeschooling offers a level of detailed instruction that cannot be attained in a classroom setting."
Cultural and personal values also played a major role: 75 percent of parents said they homeschooled to provide moral instruction, while 72 percent said they wanted to emphasize family life. Religious instruction was another key factor, mentioned by 53 percent.
Rebecca Mannis, a New York-based learning specialist and founder of The Ivy Prep Learning Center, told Newsweek the flexibility found during COVID has fueled homeschooling, allowing families to take a more active role in their children's education and integrate learning through travel or varied living situations.
"Parents saw the gaps and decided they could do better," she said, noting that during the pandemic, many parents observed shortcomings in instruction and turned to consultants to design programs that provided enrichment and accommodated learning differences such as dyslexia and ADHD.
Is Homeschooling on the Rise?
Looking ahead, Mannis expects homeschooling to keep growing and to become increasingly accessible, with parent networks and technology such as AI supporting personalized learning.
"Personalized learning is no longer a luxury—it's becoming the norm," she said, adding that for some families, safety concerns—ranging from virus exposure to bullying and discrimination—are closely tied to educational decisions.
"For some families, safety and learning now go hand in hand," she said.
Jonathan Becker, an associate professor of educational leadership at Virginia Commonwealth University and a homeschooling parent, said that while the percentage of homeschool families has risen since the pandemic, the raw numbers remain relatively low.
"My observation is that the pandemic added to the existing list of reasons for homeschooling," he told Newsweek. "So, for example, some families might now choose to homeschool over concerns about health issues with school buildings, while others might have discovered that their children thrived by learning at home during the pandemic. Those are newer, pandemic-driven reasons to choose homeschooling."
However, Becker does not expect homeschooling percentages to grow significantly from here.
"I do not expect to see the percentage of homeschooled students to continue to increase much, if at all, in the coming years. I don't expect the numbers to decline much either," he said, citing how homeschooling can often be resource-intensive and logistically difficult at times.
While collective or hybrid homeschooling models might make it easier for working parents, he believes the U.S. may now be "hitting a ceiling" on how many families will choose at-home education for the long term.