Homeschool statistics by state
In 2022-23, 3.4 percent of US students ages 5 to 17 were homeschooled, about 1,765,000 children (NCES, 2023 survey). In the Census Bureau's 2024 survey, about 4.2 million adults living with children said a child in their home was homeschooled. That is 5.4 percent of those who answered.
The two figures count different things. NCES counts students. Census counts adults, and two adults in one home both count. That means the Census figure is never a number of children.
If you are one of those families, or about to be, how to homeschool Montessori covers setting up a shelf and the first lessons.
The national rate, from NCES
NCES's National Household Education Survey counts a child as homeschooled when they are taught at home, not at a public or private school, all or most of the time. Children enrolled more than 25 hours a week are out, and so are children home only for a short illness.
Add children in full-time online school and the share taught at home rises to 5.2 percent. Both numbers circulate; 3.4 is the homeschool figure. Homeschooling is more common away from cities:
| Where the family lives | Homeschooled, 2022-23 |
|---|---|
| City | 2.1% |
| Suburban | 3.1% |
| Town | 5.1% |
| Rural | 5.2% |
State by state, from the Census Bureau
The Household Pulse Survey asked adults, from August 20 to September 16, 2024, which kinds of schooling the children in their home had. It's the only federal source with a homeschool figure for every state, and it's noisy.
Census treats an estimate as shaky when its standard error is more than 30 percent of the estimate (the CV column). Of the 51 state estimates, 38 cross that line, marked †.
Among the 12 states that clear it, the share runs from 5.3 percent in Missouri to 11.6 percent in Mississippi. Treat any gap of a few points between two flagged states as noise.
| Kentucky† | 155,847 | 106,672 | 15.5% | 41.6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maine† | 41,996 | 24,649 | 14.5% | 35.7 |
| Mississippi | 87,811 | 39,010 | 11.6% | 27.0 |
| Nevada† | 94,716 | 53,963 | 11.6% | 34.6 |
| Alaska† | 17,354 | 10,260 | 11.3% | 35.9 |
| North Dakota† | 21,023 | 19,133 | 11.0% | 55.3 |
| Alabama | 100,515 | 47,705 | 10.1% | 28.9 |
| Arizona | 188,402 | 79,743 | 9.9% | 25.7 |
| Idaho | 49,514 | 20,187 | 9.8% | 24.8 |
| South Dakota† | 24,173 | 13,148 | 9.8% | 33.1 |
| Wyoming† | 11,855 | 9,579 | 7.4% | 49.1 |
| Utah | 63,762 | 18,949 | 7.2% | 18.1 |
| Maryland† | 101,869 | 50,710 | 7.0% | 30.3 |
| Montana† | 18,283 | 10,355 | 7.0% | 34.4 |
| Arkansas† | 57,418 | 31,360 | 6.9% | 33.2 |
| Oklahoma | 63,878 | 28,913 | 6.8% | 27.5 |
| West Virginia† | 24,143 | 18,684 | 6.6% | 47.0 |
| New Mexico† | 31,824 | 18,217 | 6.5% | 34.8 |
| Oregon† | 60,253 | 33,665 | 6.5% | 34.0 |
| Washington | 101,667 | 43,611 | 6.1% | 26.1 |
| Tennessee | 90,577 | 32,939 | 6.0% | 22.1 |
| Connecticut† | 43,062 | 29,605 | 5.9% | 41.8 |
| Texas | 440,666 | 175,785 | 5.8% | 24.2 |
| Colorado† | 65,751 | 35,344 | 5.5% | 32.7 |
| Indiana† | 90,316 | 51,209 | 5.5% | 34.5 |
| California | 547,561 | 266,082 | 5.4% | 29.5 |
| Missouri | 64,053 | 31,130 | 5.3% | 29.5 |
| New York† | 220,990 | 153,559 | 5.3% | 42.2 |
| Virginia | 118,679 | 41,192 | 5.3% | 21.1 |
| Minnesota† | 62,182 | 32,614 | 5.2% | 31.9 |
| South Carolina† | 66,672 | 35,950 | 5.0% | 32.8 |
| New Hampshire† | 12,894 | 8,538 | 4.8% | 40.2 |
| Hawaii† | 15,175 | 10,793 | 4.6% | 43.2 |
| Michigan† | 111,649 | 58,814 | 4.6% | 32.0 |
| Georgia† | 118,257 | 65,213 | 4.5% | 33.5 |
| Pennsylvania† | 116,018 | 82,113 | 4.1% | 43.0 |
| Nebraska† | 19,043 | 11,181 | 3.9% | 35.7 |
| Ohio† | 94,238 | 61,934 | 3.9% | 40.0 |
| Louisiana† | 39,699 | 25,583 | 3.8% | 39.2 |
| North Carolina† | 90,379 | 54,051 | 3.8% | 36.4 |
| Illinois† | 108,054 | 57,705 | 3.7% | 32.5 |
| Florida† | 168,581 | 103,489 | 3.5% | 37.3 |
| New Jersey† | 88,027 | 68,096 | 3.4% | 47.0 |
| Kansas† | 20,773 | 10,905 | 3.2% | 31.9 |
| Iowa† | 19,365 | 14,413 | 3.1% | 45.2 |
| Massachusetts† | 25,937 | 18,419 | 1.7% | 43.2 |
| Rhode Island† | 3,794 | 6,383 | 1.6% | 102.3 |
| Wisconsin† | 15,842 | 11,707 | 1.5% | 44.9 |
| Delaware† | 3,084 | 4,849 | 1.4% | 95.6 |
| Vermont† | 967 | 1,563 | 0.7% | 98.3 |
| District of Columbia | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| United States | 4,198,591 | 471,669 | 5.4% | 6.8 |
Download the state table as CSV (with standard errors and the counts behind each share). The source data is a US government work and in the public domain; our CSV is free to reuse, and a link back is appreciated.
Read the Census table with three limits in mind
It counts adults. The estimates stand for adults in households with children. A home with two adults counts twice, and a home with three homeschooled children still counts once per adult.
Answers overlap. An adult could tick public school and homeschool for different children, so the columns add up to more than the total. Census also calls the survey experimental.
It's the latest there is. The Pulse survey ended in 2024. Its replacement had published no education table when we checked on October 1, 2026. That makes this 2024 cycle the newest state-level homeschool count from Census.
The workbook also covers 15 large metro areas. We leave them out: 14 of the 15 cross the 30 percent line.
Sources
The extracts, download dates, file hashes and the script that computes the shares are kept with the site's source files, one folder per dataset.
- Parent and Family Involvement in Education: 2023 (NCES 2024-113), First Look, National Center for Education Statistics, Key findings; table A-6 (read ): 3.4 percent homeschooled in 2022-23, about 1,765,000 students; 5.2 percent instructed at home including full-time virtual; homeschool rate by locale.
- Household Pulse Survey, Phase 4.2 Cycle 09, Education Table 1 and standard errors, US Census Bureau (read ): Adults in households with children reporting a homeschooled child, for the US, 50 states, DC and 15 metro areas, with standard errors; collected August 20 to September 16, 2024.
Whichever state you are in, the lessons are the same. The scope and sequence lists every Montessori lesson for ages 2.5 to 6 in order, free to read and print. For the school side of the picture, see Montessori schools by state.