--- title: "How Many Americans Were Homeschooled? 2026 Statistics" description: "A curriculum publisher deciding how many workbooks to print needs a real headcount. So does a district budget officer trying to explain a dip in kindergarten enrollment. Both run into the same problem when they ask how many Americans were homeschooled: the answer depends on who counts. The best current estimate is about 3.4 million ... Read more" canonical: "https://chalklens.org/how-many-americans-were-homeschooled/" published_date: "2026-09-30T14:31:00+00:00" modified_date: "2026-10-09T09:50:50+00:00" author: "Dr. Noam Bar-Lev" image: "https://chalklens.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/How-many-Americans-Were-Homeschooled.webp" --- A curriculum publisher deciding how many workbooks to print needs a real headcount. So does a district budget officer trying to explain a dip in kindergarten enrollment. Both run into the same problem when they ask how many Americans were homeschooled: the answer depends on who counts. **The best current estimate is about 3.4 million K-12 students in 2024 to 2025, roughly 6 percent of children of school age**, while the last federal survey counted about half that share. This guide sorts out those numbers, then covers growth, [state rates](https://chalklens.org/homeschooling-by-state/), who homeschools, why families do it, what it costs, and the newest laws. ### Key Metrics Summary - **Homeschool Population**: 3.4M [2024-2025 Est.] - Estimated K-12 students learning at home nationwide - **Share of K-12 Students**: ~6.0% [National Rate] - Approximate proportion of all school-age American children - **Ever Homeschooled**: 9M+ [Adult Experience] - Estimated Americans who have experienced homeschooling - **Highest State Rate**: 16.15% [Alaska (Top)] - Highest proportion of school-age children learning at home ## Homeschool Population in the US How many kids are homeschooled in America? **About 3.4 million K-12 students were homeschooled in the United States during the 2024 to 2025 school year**, according to the National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI). Nobody counts every homeschooler, so treat that number as an estimate rather than a headcount. - NHERI’s best estimate for the 2024 to 2025 school year is **3.408 million homeschool students**, or 6.262 percent of children of school age. - That math starts from 54,417,758 children ages 5 to under 18, based on Census Bureau figures for July 1, 2024. - Allowing a 10 percent margin either way, NHERI puts the range at 3.067 million to 3.749 million students. - Census Household Pulse Survey data for the same year show 83.016 percent of children in public school, 10.453 percent in private school, and 6.530 percent homeschooled. - Johns Hopkins analysis of the same survey puts the 2023 to 2024 homeschool share at 5.92 percent, with private school at 9.92 percent and public school at 84.16 percent. - Weekly survey waves that year swung between 5.20 percent and 6.91 percent, so any single reading can mislead. - State registration data from 23 states average 4.18 percent homeschooled once weighted by population. - For scale, the NHERI estimate is roughly double Catholic school enrollment of 1.684 million. - Most homeschoolers learn at home full time (71 percent), while 18 percent use cooperatives, 8 percent attend hybrid schools, and 3 percent use another setup. - Families also mix school types: among students in households with a homeschooled child, 35 percent say someone in the home attends traditional public school. ## Federal vs Independent Homeschool Estimates Homeschool Demographic Estimation & Survey Specifications Census Pulse Sample 65,000+ HH Independent Headcount 3.07M - 3.75M National Enrollment Share 5.4% - 6.4% Federal Survey Baseline 1.5M (2.8%) Estimates vary based on survey methodology, post-stratification weighting, and whether counts include part-time homeschoolers or district-run virtual school learners. How many homeschoolers are there in the US, and what percentage of students are homeschooled? It depends on who counts. **The federal government counts far fewer homeschoolers than independent researchers do.** The gap comes from definitions, survey wording, and how each group corrects for families the data miss. - The [National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)](https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/tgk) survey found the rate climbing from 2.8 percent in 2018 to 2019 to **3.4 percent in 2022 to 2023**. - NCES counts a child ages 5 to 17 as homeschooled when parents say the child learns at home for all or some classes. - Students in full time virtual schools are counted separately (1.8 percent in 2022 to 2023, up from 0.86 percent). Adding them lifts the share instructed at home to 5.2 percent, from 3.7 percent in 2019. - The Census Pulse survey asks adults how many children in the household are homeschooled, meaning not enrolled in public or private school, and it never mentions charter, hybrid, or microschools. - Families in publicly funded programs where students learn at home often call themselves homeschoolers, which NHERI’s authors say probably inflates Census counts. - To offset undercounting, NHERI assumes state data miss 20 percent of homeschoolers and Census data miss 15 percent, which lifts the estimates to 5.016 percent and 7.509 percent. Averaging the two adjusted results produces its headline figure. - Roughly 11 percent of the 13 school years from kindergarten through 12th grade are not compulsory, so states often do not require registration for those grades. - West Virginia officials reported about 60 percent compliance with required assessment submissions, which shows how incomplete state records can be. - In universal education savings account (ESA) states such as Florida, families that take the account are no longer counted as homeschooled, so totals can look smaller than reality. - Survey and state based estimates also diverge by state: Tennessee’s Pulse figure ran 7.6 percentage points above the NCES and state estimate, while Nebraska’s gap was only 0.4 points. ## Homeschool Growth Over Time Is homeschooling growing? Yes, but **the pace has changed**. Growth held steady for decades, spiked during the pandemic, and then continued, though new state counts point to cooling for the 2025 to 2026 school year. - NCES measured 1.7 percent of students in 1999 and 3.4 percent in 2012, and the 2019 rate came in lower than the 2012 rate. - NHERI estimates 2 million homeschoolers in spring 2010, 2.3 million in spring 2016, and 2.5 million in spring 2019. - Before 2020, the homeschool population grew an estimated 2 to 8 percent a year. - Johns Hopkins found average growth of **4.9 percent in 2024 to 2025**, more than double the pace before the pandemic of roughly 2 percent. - That year, 28 states reported counts, 80 percent of them showed increases, and 10 states (36 percent of reporters) set record enrollment, topping even pandemic peaks. - For 2025 to 2026, 17 of the 22 reporting states (77 percent) show gains, while five report declines. - Across those same 22 states, growth slowed from **6.3 percent to 1.5 percent**, which is about 38,000 added students down to about 9,000. - Fewer states are setting records too: only 27 percent hit all-time highs this year. - Johns Hopkins notes that a shrinking child population and falling public and private enrollment make slower growth unsurprising, though homeschooling still outpaces those sectors. - A 2023 news analysis of state and district records found homeschool enrollment up 51 percent between the 2017 to 2018 and 2022 to 2023 school years in comparable states, versus 7 percent for private schools and a 4 percent drop in public schools. ## Pandemic Surge in Homeschooling Yes, homeschooling surged during the COVID-19 pandemic. Census data show **the share of households homeschooling roughly doubled between spring and fall of 2020**, and the rise was steepest among [Black families](https://chalklens.org/black-homeschooling-statistics/). - The [Census Household Pulse Survey](https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/household-pulse-survey.html) recorded 5.4 percent of households with school age children homeschooling in late April 2020, rising to 11.1 percent that September. - Among Black households, the share climbed fivefold, from **3.3 percent in spring to 16.1 percent in fall**. - By October 2020, 12.1 percent of Hispanic households and 9.7 percent of white households reported homeschooling. - Ten states posted increases of at least 9 percent: Alaska, Florida, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New York, Oklahoma, Vermont, and West Virginia. - Alaska jumped from 9.6 percent to 27.5 percent, while Massachusetts rose from 1.5 percent to 12.1 percent. - Among metro areas, Detroit went from 3.2 percent to 15.2 percent and Phoenix from 4.8 percent to 15.4 percent. - NHERI’s student estimates run from 2.6 million in March 2020 to 3.721 million in 2020 to 2021, then back down to 3.135 million in 2021 to 2022. - The Census Bureau clarified its question between May and September to separate homeschooling from virtual schooling, so early readings may include some virtual learners. - Because Pulse counted households with school age children, the doubling does not mean the number of students doubled. - Across 6,517 districts in 29 states and D.C., homeschooling fell from its pandemic peak in most districts through 2022 to 2023 but stayed well above earlier levels, and in 697 districts it kept rising. ## Americans Who Have Ever Been Homeschooled How many adults were homeschooled? Federal homeschool rates count children currently learning at home, so **they cannot say how many Americans were ever homeschooled**. Adult figures come from a few sample studies and one dated estimate, and each has limits. - [NHERI](https://www.nheri.org/research-facts-on-homeschooling/) estimated that over 9 million Americans had experienced homeschooling as of February 2020. That figure predates the growth since then, so treat it as a rough guide rather than a current count. - The [Cardus Education Survey](https://www.cardus.ca/research/education/), a national survey of adults ages 24 to 39, included 181 people homeschooled for at least one year among 2,350 respondents. - The survey oversamples adults who were homeschooled, so those 181 respondents cannot be turned into a national percentage. - NHERI also warns against generalizing from 181 respondents to the likely millions of adults who were homeschooled. - Among the homeschooled adults, 20 percent were homeschooled for only one year, while 17 percent were homeschooled for all K-12 years. - Patricia Lines estimated about 13,000 homeschool students in the late 1970s. - Homeschooling was the norm before 1900 and had nearly disappeared by the 1970s. - Adults homeschooled for many years are more likely than others to volunteer, and limited research finds homeschooled adults more politically tolerant than the publicly schooled. - Outcomes are mixed, though: all three groups of homeschooled adults were less likely than never homeschooled adults to work full time or earn above the median household income. ## Homeschool Rate by State Which states have the most homeschoolers? **Alaska has the highest homeschool rate of any state**, with 16.15 percent of children of school age homeschooled in 2023 to 2024, based on Census Household Pulse data analyzed by Johns Hopkins. Among the 23 states with usable registration data, North Carolina leads at 9.47 percent. - Tennessee (10.75 percent) and Montana (9.03 percent) rank second and third behind Alaska in the 2023 to 2024 Pulse data. - A year earlier, West Virginia held third place at 8.89 percent, behind Alaska at 12.56 percent and Tennessee at 9.02 percent. - The lowest shares in 2023 to 2024 were in Connecticut (3.01 percent), Washington, D.C. (3.04 percent), and Massachusetts (3.39 percent). - Alaska also posted the biggest gain in one year, up 3.6 percentage points, followed by Rhode Island (2.5 points) and Tennessee (1.7 points). - Washington, D.C. fell the most, down 5.5 points, ahead of Hawaii (1.7 points) and Maryland (1.3 points). - Those Pulse shares come from households that chose to answer the survey, so they are not enrollment counts. - In registration records, North Carolina reports 165,243 homeschool students, more than Florida (152,871) or Georgia (89,510). - By share, South Dakota (7.02 percent) and Arkansas (6.79 percent) rank right behind North Carolina. - The lowest registered shares appear in Massachusetts (1.21 percent), Rhode Island (2.03 percent), and Pennsylvania (2.28 percent). - Data gaps limit any ranking: 30 jurisdictions, including D.C., publish annual homeschool counts, while 21 states do not. ## States With the Fastest Homeschool Growth **South Carolina posted the fastest homeschool growth among reporting states for 2024 to 2025, at 21.5 percent.** Early counts for 2025 to 2026 put Montana on top, up 27.7 percent. - Vermont (17 percent), Ohio (15 percent), and New Hampshire (14.5 percent) followed South Carolina. - Louisiana, by contrast, grew only 1 percent that year, so gains varied widely. - Louisiana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and South Carolina kept climbing after the pandemic with no dip through 2024 to 2025. By 2025 to 2026, only South Carolina and South Dakota still held that streak. - Montana’s jump followed 2025 policy changes by the governor that made homeschooling easier, which Johns Hopkins says may have played a role. - North Dakota grew 18.8 percent and Arkansas 14 percent. Arkansas has a universal ESA, yet its homeschool counts held while more families moved in from traditional schools. - California grew 8.5 percent, which adds over 4,000 homeschooled students, even though spring reports suggested a decline. - Six states set all-time highs for 2025 to 2026: Arkansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. - Several states slid: Minnesota fell 10.8 percent, North Carolina 7.5 percent, and New Hampshire 4 percent. A policy battle in Minnesota and a confusing policy change in North Carolina are possible causes. - Growth also varies inside states. In Georgia, it ranged from 4.5 percent in the Cobb school district to over 22 percent in Atlanta Public Schools. - [Colorado](https://chalklens.org/colorado-homeschooling-statistics/) shows the same split: Denver and Jeffco declined while rural districts such as Woodland Park and Poudre grew. ## Homeschool Demographics by Race and Ethnicity About four in ten homeschool families are people of color based on the latest Census data, while older federal data put the share closer to three in ten. **Homeschooling is more diverse than its stereotype, though still less diverse than the country.** - Census Pulse respondents with homeschooled children in 2023 to 2024 were 63 percent white, 18 percent Hispanic, 10 percent Black, 2 percent Asian, and 7 percent two or more races or other. - A year earlier, the split ran 60 percent white, 19 percent Hispanic, 12 percent Black, 2 percent Asian, and 7 percent other. - The federal [National Household Education Survey (NHES)](https://nces.ed.gov/nhes/) shows the share of homeschooled students of color creeping up from 25 percent in 1998 to 1999 to 29 percent in 2022 to 2023. - Still, about 51 percent of children of school age are students of color, so homeschooling skews white. - A Johns Hopkins and EdChoice parent survey found 69 percent of homeschooling parents white, 15 percent Hispanic, 10 percent Black, and 5 percent Asian, against 57, 20, 14, and 7 percent of the U.S. population. - Federal homeschool rates by race in 2022 to 2023 were 5.1 percent for white students, 1.7 percent for Black students, and 1.8 percent for Hispanic students. In 2019, they were 4.0, 1.2, and 1.9 percent. - Delaware is the only state that reports homeschoolers by race. Its 2022 to 2023 count of 3,467 students was 68 percent white, 12 percent multiracial, 11 percent Black, 8 percent Hispanic, and 1 percent Asian. - By 2023 to 2024, Delaware’s count reached 4,466, with 66 percent white, 12 percent Black, 11 percent multiracial, 10 percent Hispanic, and 1 percent Asian. - Hispanic and Latina homeschooling parents said preserving or reclaiming their cultural heritage was one of their reasons for starting or continuing. - Black families, meanwhile, may homeschool to empower families in the education of their children. ## Homeschool Family Income and Parent Education **Homeschooling spans the income range.** Parent education looks much like that of public school parents, and household income runs modestly lower on average. - Among Pulse respondents with homeschooled children in 2023 to 2024, 9 percent had less than high school, 29 percent had a diploma or GED, 33 percent had some college or an associate degree, and 29 percent held a bachelor’s degree or higher. - An earlier Pulse analysis found 27 percent of homeschooling parents held a bachelor’s degree, against 29 percent of public school parents, while 11 percent had less than high school, against 9 percent. - For 2023 to 2024 income, 10 percent of homeschooling households earned under $25,000, 13 percent earned $100,000 to $149,999, and 5 percent earned $200,000 or more. Another 24 percent did not report. - In the 2022 to 2023 data, 49 percent of homeschooling families earned under $100,000, 23 percent earned more, and 28 percent did not say. - The reported income of respondents with homeschooled children is modestly lower, on average, than that of respondents with children in public schools. - In 2019 federal data, the homeschool rate was 1.8 percent for children whose parents had only a high school education, versus 2.9 to 3.3 percent for parents with more schooling. - That same survey found no measurable difference in the homeschool rate by family poverty status. - NCES urges care with these splits, since parents without education beyond high school skipped homeschool survey items at a 16 percent average rate. - In the 2020 to 2021 Pulse, adults reported a homeschooled student in the home more often at $25,000 to $49,999 (8.8 percent) and $50,000 to $74,999 (8.6 percent) than at $100,000 to $149,999 (5.3 percent) or $150,000 and up (5.5 percent). - Family structure matters too: the 2019 rate reached 6.6 percent for two parents with one in the labor force, versus 1.6 percent when both parents worked and 1.2 percent for single parents in the labor force. ## Homeschool Enrollment by Grade Level What grade level is homeschooled most? **Grades 6 to 8 had the highest federal homeschool rate in 2019, at 3.4 percent.** High school led in 2016, so the pattern shifts from survey to survey. - In 2019, kindergarten through grade 2 had a homeschool rate of 2.8 percent and grades 3 to 5 had 2.9 percent, versus 2.3 percent for grades 9 to 12. - Finer NCES detail for 2019 shows kindergarten at 2.6 percent, grades 1 to 3 at 2.7 percent, and grades 4 and 5 at 3.2 percent. - In 2016, grades 9 to 12 posted 3.8 percent, ahead of grades 6 to 8 at 3.3 percent. - Full time virtual education climbs with age: 0.3 percent in kindergarten through grade 2, 0.6 percent in grades 3 to 5, and 2.0 percent in both grades 6 to 8 and 9 to 12. - Homeschooling is rarely all or nothing. At any given grade level, about 40 percent of adults who were ever homeschooled learned in that setting. - Switching starts early: 8.8 percent of ever homeschooled adults were not homeschooled in kindergarten but switched in first grade. - Researchers estimate half of all adults who were ever homeschooled were homeschooled for at most four years. - Because of that churn, data collected at a single point in time likely underestimates how many families choose to homeschool. - Virginia shows the grade mix in state records. Home instruction for kindergarten through fifth grade peaked at 35,138 students in 2021 to 2022, nearly 60 percent of the total, then fell to 29,489 in 2025 to 2026, still the largest share. - In the same state, high school participation has kept growing since 2018 to 2019 and has not yet peaked. ## Reasons Parents Choose Homeschooling Why do parents homeschool? **Concern about the school environment, such as safety, drugs, or negative peer pressure, is the most common reason parents give.** Religion matters to many families, but it ranks well behind. - In the 2022 to 2023 federal survey, **83 percent** of homeschooling parents called concern about the school environment an important reason. - Moral instruction (75 percent), family life together (72 percent), and dissatisfaction with academic instruction at other schools (72 percent) followed. - Just over half cited religious instruction (53 percent), and half wanted a nontraditional approach to their child’s education (50 percent). - Health and special needs matter too: 21 percent said their child has other special needs, and 15 percent cited a physical or mental health problem. - Asked for the single most important reason, 28 percent chose school environment, up from 25 percent in 2019. - Dissatisfaction with academics came next at 17 percent, then religious instruction at 11 percent. - Family life together and a nontraditional approach each drew 8 percent as the top reason, while special needs drew 7 percent and moral instruction 6 percent. - COVID-19 mattered to only 3 percent of parents, and bullying and convenience each drew 2 percent. - Concern about school environment has crept up from 80 percent in 2019, while family life together slipped from 75 percent. - NHERI’s review adds customizing the curriculum, accomplishing more academically, and building stronger family relationships to the list of common motives. ## Homeschool vs Public and Private School Enrollment #### K-12 Schooling Sector Comparison Matrix (2026) National Share & Governance | Education Sector | Share of K-12 | Estimated Students | Primary Funding Source | Regulatory Oversight | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | **Traditional Public** | 74.0% | ~37.5M | State & Local Taxpayer | High (District/State) | | **Public Charter** | 7.2% | ~3.78M | Public Taxpayer | Moderate-High | | **Private School** | 9.3% | ~5.40M | Parent Tuition / Donors | Low-Moderate | | **Private School** | 9.3% | ~5.40M | Parent Tuition / Donors | Low-Moderate | Synthesis of EdChoice 2026 sector counts, NCES national benchmarks, and NHERI demographic reports. In the [homeschool vs public school](https://chalklens.org/homeschool-vs-public-school-statistics/) comparison, **traditional public school still enrolls about three of every four American students**. Homeschooling now sits in the same range as private and charter school shares, depending on the count. - [EdChoice’s](https://www.edchoice.org/) 2026 sector count shows 74.0 percent of K-12 students in traditional public school, 7.2 percent in charter school, 6.1 percent in private school outside choice programs, 5.0 percent in magnet school, 4.8 percent homeschooled, and 2.8 percent using a choice program. - That count has gaps: public and charter data reflect 2023 to 2024, private data reflect 2021 to 2022, and federal staffing cuts kept NCES from refreshing several enrollment figures. - NHERI’s homeschool estimate for 2024 to 2025 sits just under the 3.784 million students in public charter schools in 2023 to 2024. - In the Census Pulse data for 2022 to 2023, 5.82 percent of children were homeschooled, 10.06 percent attended private school, and 84.12 percent attended public school. - Parent preferences differ from enrollment: a 2024 EdChoice survey found 60 percent of parents would choose a private, charter, or homeschool option. - Some of the movement is hard to count. The National Microschooling Center estimated roughly 750,000 students in microschools in 2025, with a median of 22 students per nonpublic program. - Choice programs are reshaping states: traditional public school share fell from 86 to 51 percent in Florida and from 89 to 68 percent in Arizona. - Private school choice participation rose 25 percent in one year, from just over 1 million students in 2024 to 1.3 million in 2025. ## Homeschool Academic Performance Do homeschoolers score higher on tests? **Homeschooled students typically score 15 to 25 percentile points above public school students** in studies compiled by NHERI. The research cannot prove homeschooling causes that gap, and critics point to who takes the tests. - Public school students average roughly the 50th percentile on the same scales, which NHERI uses as its benchmark. - Of 24 peer reviewed and representative sample studies on achievement, 15 (62 percent) found a significant edge for homeschoolers, and a few showed mixed or negative results. - An earlier NHERI review counted 11 of 14 studies (78 percent) showing a positive effect, so the share fell as the pool of studies grew. - A 2015 study found Black homeschool students scoring 23 to 42 percentile points above Black public school students. - NHERI reports above average scores regardless of parents’ education or family income, and says parents’ teaching certification and state regulation level are not notably related to results. - On social, emotional, and psychological development, 64 percent of studies favored homeschooled students. - For success in adulthood, 54 percent of studies favored homeschooled adults, and the rest generally found no significant difference. - **NHERI itself says the research designs do not prove causation**, and one hypothesis is that family demographics explain part of the gap. - Test data can skew high because samples are often volunteers, and families confident in their results are more likely to take part. - The Cardus survey found adults who were homeschooled for most of high school less likely to hold any postsecondary degree than public school graduates, even after controls, and more likely to fall in the two lowest income quartiles. ## Cost of Homeschooling and Public Funding [How much does homeschooling cost](https://chalklens.org/how-much-does-it-cost-for-homeschooling/) per year? **Most families spend between $500 and $2,500 per child**, and NHERI puts the average at about $600 per student. Public school costs taxpayers far more, while a growing list of states now pays homeschool families directly. - A Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) survey of more than 4,000 families in 2024 found averages of $1,295 per year for an elementary student and $1,636 for a middle or high school student. - With two students per household on average, that comes to about $3,104 per family. - Estimates differ because they count different things: curriculum alone runs $200 to $700 per student, and extracurricular activities add $100 to $1,000. - Taxpayers spend an average of $18,853 per public school pupil, plus capital costs, and NHERI calculates savings of over $64 billion for the 3.408 million homeschool students. - Private school tuition, by comparison, ranges from $5,000 to $40,000 per year. - At least **18 states** now offer public funding to some homeschool families, with Arizona (about $7,000 to $7,500), Arkansas (about $6,864), and Utah ($6,000 to $8,000) among the larger awards. - Other awards are small: Alabama pays $2,000 per homeschool student, capped at $4,000 per family, and Texas pays $2,000 versus $10,474 for a private school student. - Strings attach, since some programs require testing, approved spending platforms, or heavier record keeping than the state’s baseline law. - Federal law allows no deduction for homeschool spending, and only five states (Louisiana, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, and Ohio) offer real credits or deductions, from $250 in Ohio to $5,000 per child in Louisiana. - Starting in 2026, families can withdraw up to $20,000 a year per student from a 529 plan for K-12 expenses, up from $10,000 in 2025. ## Homeschool Laws and Regulation Is homeschooling legal in all 50 states? **Yes, but the rules vary widely.** Some states ask for nothing, while others require notice, testing, and sometimes approval. Tier lists lag behind new laws, so check your state’s statute. - [HSLDA](https://hslda.org/legal) sorts states into four tiers: no notice, low regulation (notice only), moderate regulation (notice plus testing or evaluation), and high regulation (adds items such as curriculum approval or home visits). - The number of states with no notice requirement runs from nine to 12, depending on how each tally classifies them. - Commonly listed states with no notice requirement include Alaska, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, Oklahoma, and Texas. - HSLDA based lists name Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont as the strictest. - Massachusetts is the only state that requires prior approval from the local school committee or superintendent. - New York requires a letter of intent, an individualized instruction plan, quarterly reports, and annual assessments, with standardized tests in alternate years for grades 4 to 8 and every year for grades 9 to 12. - Pennsylvania requires an annual notarized affidavit, a curriculum log, and a portfolio review by a qualified evaluator, plus testing in grades 3, 5, and 8. - Idaho’s compulsory age range, 7 to 16, is the narrowest in the country. - Texas treats homeschools as unaccredited private schools under a 1994 court ruling, so it requires no registration, notice, or testing. - Alabama, Florida, Tennessee, and Texas let families meet compliance through an umbrella school instead of filing directly with the state. ## Recent Developments State lawmakers split in 2026. **Connecticut adopted its first homeschool rules, while New Hampshire dropped notification altogether.** Texas also began paying homeschool families, and federal data collection stalled. - Connecticut’s governor signed HB 5468 on May 26, 2026, the state’s first homeschool regulation. Background checks for families withdrawing a child from public school start July 1, 2027, and a notice of intent starts July 1, 2028. - Supporters say the Connecticut rules close blind spots in child protection, while many homeschool advocates say the background check treats their community as suspect. - HSLDA has challenged the Connecticut law, arguing that it conflicts with the federal student records law known as FERPA. - New Hampshire went the other way in mid-July 2026, when HB 1268 dropped its notice, required subjects, and annual assessment rules. - Tennessee’s HB 1729 (May 2026) lets Option 1 families use any nationally normed test and removes testing penalties, while Idaho’s SB 1285 (March 2026) treats homeschool diplomas as equal for licensing in at least 10 vocations. - Texas Education Freedom Accounts drew more than 274,000 applications, awarded more than 95,600, and paid homeschool students $2,000 each on July 1, 2026. - West Virginia’s Hope Scholarship opens to all K-12 students for 2026 to 2027, with a projected award of $5,435.62 per student. - Wyoming’s $7,000 Steamboat Legacy Scholarship became available again after the state Supreme Court cleared the way in May 2026. - Federal homeschool data collection has stalled: Johns Hopkins says the NHES and Pulse collections halted, so its findings run only through 2023 to 2024. - On September 12, 2026, NHERI cautioned against a viral graphic predicting 20 million homeschoolers by 2030, noting it would take roughly 34 percent growth a year for six years from about 3.4 million. ## Editor’s Choice A few standout figures did not fit the sections above but round out the picture of who homeschools and where. - Rural students were homeschooled more often than others in 2019, at 4.7 percent versus 2.2 to 2.5 percent in towns, suburbs, and cities. - Regional gaps showed up too: the South’s 2019 rate of 3.4 percent beat the Northeast’s 2.0 percent and the Midwest’s 2.3 percent. - Hispanic parents made up 22 percent of one national parent sample but nearly 15 percent of its homeschool population. - Among Pulse respondents with homeschooled children, 38 percent were ages 25 to 39 and 41 percent were ages 40 to 54. - Religious practice varies: 44 percent of homeschooling parents attend services weekly or more, while 31 percent never attend. - So does politics: 44 percent of homeschooling parents identify as Republicans, 29 percent as Democrats, and 27 percent as Independents. - Virtual learning reaches beyond full time students: 7 percent of enrolled or homeschooled students took at least one virtual course in 2022 to 2023, and 3 percent took all courses virtually. - The federal survey found no measurable difference in homeschool rates by student sex in 2019. - Among Texas applicants by mid-March 2026, 79 percent planned private school and 21 percent chose homeschool or other settings. ## Frequently Asked Questions **How many kids are homeschooled in the United States?** About 3.4 million students were homeschooled in 2024 to 2025, or 6.262 percent of children of school age, according to the National Home Education Research Institute. The last federal survey counted 3.4 percent of students in 2022 to 2023, so the answer depends on who counts. **Is homeschooling legal in all 50 states?** Yes, homeschooling is legal in all 50 states, but the rules range from no notice in roughly nine to 12 states to notice, testing, and approval in stricter ones. Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont are usually listed as the strictest. **Why do parents choose to homeschool?** Concern about the school environment leads, cited as important by 83 percent of homeschooling parents in 2022 to 2023. Moral instruction followed at 75 percent, then family life together and academic dissatisfaction at 72 percent each. **Do homeschoolers score higher than public school students?** Homeschooled students typically score 15 to 25 percentile points above public school students, and 62 percent of studies reviewed by the National Home Education Research Institute found a significant edge. That institute itself notes the research cannot prove homeschooling causes the gap. **How much does homeschooling cost per year?** Most families spend between $500 and $2,500 per child, and the National Home Education Research Institute puts the average at about $600 per student. At least 18 states now offer some public funding to homeschool families. ## Conclusion So, how many Americans were homeschooled? The honest answer is a range. **NHERI estimates about 3.4 million students, Census based surveys put the share near 6 percent, and the last federal survey found 3.4 percent in 2022 to 2023.** All three agree that homeschooling now sits well above its 2019 level, even as state growth cooled for 2025 to 2026. Families mostly choose it over school environment concerns, they come from a wider mix of races and incomes than the stereotype suggests, and the rules they face keep shifting from state to state. With federal data collection stalled, state counts and university tracking will decide how well the next headline number holds up. ### Structured Data (JSON-LD) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": [ "Article", "BlogPosting" ], "@id": "https://chalklens.org/how-many-americans-were-homeschooled/#article", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://chalklens.org/how-many-americans-were-homeschooled/" }, "author": { "name": "Dr. Noam Bar-Lev", "@id": "https://chalklens.org/#/schema/person/ed67a1e06d0d4ae93b54eeeaa130a6bd" }, "headline": "How Many Americans Were Homeschooled? 2026 Statistics", "datePublished": "2026-09-30T14:31:00+00:00", "dateModified": "2026-10-09T09:50:50+00:00", "mainEntityOfPage": { "@id": "https://chalklens.org/how-many-americans-were-homeschooled/" }, "wordCount": 4674, "image": { "@id": "https://chalklens.org/how-many-americans-were-homeschooled/#primaryimage" }, "thumbnailUrl": "https://chalklens.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/How-many-Americans-Were-Homeschooled.webp", "keywords": [ "Homeschooling", "Statistics" ], "articleSection": [ "Analysis", "Curriculum & Costs", "Demographics & Enrollment", "Homeschooling Statistics", "Statistics" ], "inLanguage": "en-US" }, { "@type": [ "WebPage", "FAQPage" ], "@id": "https://chalklens.org/how-many-americans-were-homeschooled/", "url": "https://chalklens.org/how-many-americans-were-homeschooled/", "name": "How Many Americans Were Homeschooled? 2026 Statistics", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://chalklens.org/#website" }, "primaryImageOfPage": { "@id": "https://chalklens.org/how-many-americans-were-homeschooled/#primaryimage" }, "image": { "@id": "https://chalklens.org/how-many-americans-were-homeschooled/#primaryimage" }, "thumbnailUrl": "https://chalklens.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/How-many-Americans-Were-Homeschooled.webp", "datePublished": "2026-09-30T14:31:00+00:00", "dateModified": "2026-10-09T09:50:50+00:00", "author": { "@id": "https://chalklens.org/#/schema/person/ed67a1e06d0d4ae93b54eeeaa130a6bd" }, "description": "About 3.4 million K-12 students were homeschooled in 2024 to 2025. 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