School Enrollment in the United States: 2011

The Census Bureau’s annual, national-level statistics on the characteristics of students, from nursery to graduate school. According to the statistics, enrollment in private elementary and high schools was 4.1 million in 2011, down from 4.8 million in 2005 and a high of 6.3 million in 1965. Furthermore, non-Hispanic white children now make up only a slight majority of elementary school students (54 percent), down from 58 percent in 2005.
 
For the first time, the Census Bureau has developed a series of charts illustrating trends in enrollment from 1947 to the present. These include the distribution of school enrollment by level from 1955 forward, trends in college enrollment by sex and by race, and dropout rates of students in 10th through 12th grades. Internet address: http://www.census.gov/hhes/school/data/cps/historical/index.html>.
 
The tables provide information by age, sex, race, Hispanic origin, family income, type of college, employment status, nativity, foreign-born parentage, attendance status (full or part time), control of school (public or private), and vocational course enrollment. They explore issues such as nursery school and kindergarten enrollment, the likelihood of being enrolled below modal grade, and the percentage of young adults enrolled in college. The statistics are produced from the October School Enrollment Supplement to the Current Population Survey; historical tables are provided. Internet addresses: Main page: http://www.census.gov/hhes/school/index.html> and Tables: http://www.census.gov/hhes/school/data/cps/2011/tables.html>.

Skip to content