The face of American homeschooling is changing rapidly, with new demographic data indicating that the population is far more diverse across race, income, and politics than has been commonly believed.
Following a surge during the COVID-19 pandemic, the homeschool sector has maintained a magnitude similar to the private and charter school sectors, according to researchers Angela R. Watson and Matthew H. Lee.
Homeschooling participation currently ranges between 3.4 percent and 6 percent of all K-12 students nationally. A national sample collected in the spring of 2024 by Watson and Lee found that the U.S. homeschool population “looks much like the broader society.”
Here is a breakdown of the key demographic findings regarding America’s homeschoolers:
Growth and Scope
Homeschool participation spiked to 11 percent of families at the height of the pandemic in the fall of 2020, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Although participation has settled, multiple sources indicated that the average national rate had stabilized at about 6 percent of K-12 students in 2023 and 2024.
A more conservative estimate from the National Household Education Survey (NHES) puts the figure at 3.4 percent of students in the 2022–23 school year, totaling approximately 1.76 million students, according to commentary by Aaron Garth Smith. However, data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey estimates nearly 6 percent of students were homeschooled during that same period.
Race and Ethnicity: The common stereotype that homeschooling is an almost entirely white pursuit is challenged by the latest data.
White families are still overrepresented among the population, with 69 percent of homeschool parents identifying as white, compared to 56 percent of all parents in the national sample, according to data from Watson and Lee.
Despite the overrepresentation of white parents, substantial proportions of Hispanic families (15 percent) and Black families (10 percent) choose to homeschool, according to the Watson and Lee study.
When analyzing the students themselves, estimates based on NHES data suggest that about 29 percent of homeschoolers were students of color in 2022–23, including 6 percent Black and 14 percent Hispanic students, according to estimates by Bjorklund-Young and Watson. The proportion of Black homeschoolers specifically increased by half a percentage point, rising from 1.2 percent in 2018–19 to 1.7 percent in 2022–23, according to NHES data.
Socioeconomics and Education
Homeschool parents show differences in income and educational attainment compared to the general population of K-12 parents, according to data collected in the spring of 2024.
Homeschool parents are generally more likely to have lower household incomes. 46 percent of homeschool parents earned less than $50,000 per year, compared to 36 percent of all parents surveyed, according to the Watson and Lee study.
Only 18 percent of homeschool parents reported household incomes over $100,000, versus 28 percent overall. This lower income profile may result from financial barriers to other choices or the need for one parent to forego employment. Earlier NHES 2019 data indicated that nearly half of homeschoolers (49 percent) lived in households earning more than $75,000.
Homeschooling parents are less likely to hold a bachelor’s degree or higher (33 percent) compared to their non-homeschooling peers (40 percent), according to the Watson and Lee data.
Political and Religious Landscape
While historically associated with political conservatism, recent data shows a broader ideological spread among homeschool parents.
Homeschool parents are more likely to identify as Republican (44 percent) compared to 36 percent of the general parent population, and more likely to be conservative (43 percent vs. 32 percent overall). However, the data reveals that the majority of homeschool parents identify elsewhere on the spectrum, with 29 percent identifying as Democrats and 27 percent as Independents, according to the Watson and Lee survey.
Homeschooling parents are more likely to attend religious services weekly or more (44 percent) compared to 33 percent of all parents. Yet, a substantial number of homeschooling parents (31 percent) never attend religious services, a proportion similar to the general population (30 percent).
Homeschooling participation is concentrated outside of major metropolitan areas, but the practice remains widespread across the country.
Homeschool families are less likely to be in urban settings (24 percent vs. 33 percent overall) and more likely in rural settings (25 percent vs. 15 percent overall), according to Watson and Lee. Nevertheless, city and suburban students still comprised about 64 percent of all homeschoolers in 2019, according to NHES data.
Homeschool parents are married at similar rates (60 percent) to the overall sample (59 percent). Both groups also share similar family sizes, averaging 1.7 K-12 children in homeschooling households compared to 1.6 for non-homeschooling families.
Blending Education Sectors
The decision to homeschool is rarely a permanent or exclusive rejection of public education. 35 percent of households who homeschool also have at least one child enrolled in a public school option.
The majority of homeschooled students are educated full-time (71 percent). However, the remainder are distributed among cooperative programs (18 percent) or hybrid schools (8 percent), according to student descriptive statistics. Furthermore, research indicates that only 17 percent of adults who were homeschooled did so for their entire K–12 career, confirming the dynamic nature of this educational choice.
The picture revealed by the data is that the old stereotypes about home-schooling need to be put aside by policymakers and others looking at this approach to education.