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Homeschool Montessori

Montessori schools by state

The US has 2,378 private Montessori schools teaching 101,795 students from kindergarten up (NCES, 2023-24). It also has 314 public schools with Montessori in their name (NCES, 2024-25). The Montessori Census, a directory schools keep themselves, lists 603 public schools.

By Owen WrenLast updated

Families teaching at home are a third group, and none of these surveys counts them. How to homeschool Montessori covers doing it yourself, and the homeschool statistics page has the federal numbers on that group.

California leads on private schools, Texas on public

California has the most private Montessori schools, an estimated 352, then Texas (264) and Florida (167). For public schools the order changes: Texas has 31, Wisconsin 26, and 16 states have none with the name.

Montessori schools by state: private schools from the NCES Private School Survey 2023-24, public schools with Montessori in the name from NCES 2024-25. Select a column heading to sort.
California35229012,18413822
Texas26419113,70011331
Florida16713510,0608019
Illinois1281084,313835
Virginia115934,557661
New Jersey93823,088580
Washington93783,502446
Pennsylvania85742,209495
Ohio72604,3303613
Maryland71592,697436
New York66583,768417
Georgia64513,122272
Massachusetts58522,513403
North Carolina55463,6543016
Michigan54452,4902625
Oregon45391,765243
Minnesota44381,7361818
Colorado42351,1802420
Indiana39342,622208
Arizona38331,6471623
Tennessee34281,418142
Missouri32271,097175
South Carolina32261,2791310
Wisconsin30269451026
Utah231993963
Connecticut22201,323174
Kentucky2218705131
Idaho211861482
Louisiana181562367
New Hampshire1817484120
Alabama†13†70
Alaska†4†34
Arkansas†10†60
Delaware†3†32
District of Columbia†6†56
Hawaii†8†60
Iowa†11†80
Kansas†8†30
Maine†8†70
Mississippi†4†10
Montana†13†71
Nebraska†5†30
Nevada†8†33
New Mexico†14†73
North Dakota†2†10
Oklahoma†8†60
Rhode Island†6†60
South Dakota†4†30
Vermont†4†20
West Virginia†5†20
Wyoming†3†21
United States2,3781,962101,7951,183313

† Fewer than 15 Montessori schools in the state answered the survey, the minimum NCES sets for publishing an estimate (21 states). The Responding column still gives the real count of schools that answered. The United States row uses the national estimates, so it is larger than the sum of the rows shown. Public total excludes one school in Puerto Rico.

Download the table as CSV (51 rows, one per state and DC). 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.

What each number counts

Private schools. The Private School Survey asks each school which type best describes it, and 1,962 answered "Montessori" in 2023-24. NCES weights each answer to stand for schools that did not respond. That gives the 2,378.

We ran the weights on the public file ourselves and matched NCES's published totals exactly: 2,378 schools, 101,795 students, 18,004 full-time-equivalent teachers.

The school picks its own type, and the survey does not define Montessori. Of the schools that chose it, 297 have no "Montessori" in their name. Another 56 have the word in their name but chose a different type. We count by type, as NCES does.

Students. The count runs from kindergarten to grade 12. Children in a Montessori school's preschool rooms are left out, and so are schools that serve only preschool. The survey covers schools teaching kindergarten or above. For a method built around ages 3 to 6, keep that gap in mind.

AMS or AMI. Responding Montessori schools that say they belong to the American Montessori Society (954) or the Association Montessori Internationale (360); some belong to both. Membership is self-reported, and the column says nothing about accreditation.

Public schools. Every public school in the NCES 2024-25 directory whose name contains "Montessori": 314, of which 313 are in the 50 states and DC. A name search misses public Montessori classrooms inside schools with other names, so this is a floor.

The Montessori Census. Its About page lists 3,699 schools, 603 public and 3,047 private (read October 2, 2026). Schools write their own entries, and the directory takes schools from other countries. The three totals don't quite add up, and there is no download or state breakdown, so we quote the totals only.

Part of the gap between its 603 and the 314 name matches is public programs a name search can't see. Part may be schools outside the US.

Sources

The raw extracts, download dates, file hashes and the script that builds this table are kept with the site's source files, one folder per dataset.

  1. Private School Universe Survey 2023-24, public-use data file and codebook, National Center for Education Statistics (read ): School type P415 = 2 (Montessori), AMS and AMI membership (P540, P542), state (PSTABB), students (NUMSTUDS), FTE teachers (NUMTEACH), final weight (PFNLWT); 22,510 responding schools.
  2. Characteristics of Private Schools in the United States: Results From the 2023-24 Private School Universe Survey (NCES 2026-015), National Center for Education Statistics, Table C-1; appendix B (read ): Published national figures our weighted sums reproduce (2,378 schools, 101,795 students, 18,004 FTE teachers); the 15-school reporting standard; the survey's target population.
  3. Public School Locations 2024-25 (from the Common Core of Data), National Center for Education Statistics (EDGE) (read ): Every public school record whose name contains Montessori, queried from the NCES feature service.
  4. About the Montessori Census, National Center for Montessori in the Public Sector (read ): Directory totals: 3,699 schools, 603 public, 3,047 private; self-maintained by schools, worldwide, no download.

Whatever the school down the road offers, the lessons themselves are public. The scope and sequence lists every Montessori lesson for ages 2.5 to 6 in order, free to read and print.