New York's Homeschooling Boom: What the Latest Numbers Show
New York City — home to the largest public school system in the country — is also home to one of the fastest-growing homeschooling populations in the nation, according to recent analyses of state education data.
The numbers
Statewide, New York now has nearly 54,000 homeschooled children, more than triple the figure from 2009-10 and a growth rate of over 200% in the past 15 years — the fastest of any school sector in the state. A separate Washington Postanalysis found New York's homeschool population has more than doubled since 2017, giving it the fastest growth rate of any state in the country.
The trend is concentrated in an unlikely place: deep-blue New York City. More than 14,000 children are now homeschooled across the five boroughs. A New York Post review of state data found that in 24 of the city's 33 school districts, the number of homeschooled kids has more than tripled since 2017-18 — and in parts of Brooklyn and the Bronx, it has quadrupled. Citywide, homeschooling is up roughly 324% over that period.
Not just a pandemic blip
Homeschooling spiked nationally during COVID as remote learning left many families frustrated, and NYC was no exception — the city's homeschool population had already more than doubled since the pandemic began. But unlike some states where numbers have since drifted back down, New York's growth has kept climbing. Only Georgia and Maryland have seen homeschooling return to pre-pandemic levels nationally; New York is moving the opposite direction.
Who's homeschooling, and why
The city's homeschool population isn't confined to any one type of family or district — growth shows up in both struggling and well-performing school zones. It also includes a significant share of high-need students: more than 15% of New York's homeschoolers are classified by the state as having a known disability.
Parents cite a range of reasons, echoed in interviews with homeschooling families: a child who didn't fit the pace of a traditional classroom, dissatisfaction with how remote learning was handled during COVID, and a desire for more day-to-day involvement in their kids' education. Nationally, researchers point to similar drivers — flexibility, custom pacing, and, for some families, concerns about curriculum content.
The bigger picture
Nationally, homeschooling is now the fastest-growing form of K-12 education, up an estimated 51% since 2017 even as public school enrollment has declined and private school enrollment has grown more modestly. Between an estimated 1.9 and 2.7 million children are homeschooled in the U.S. today. Florida has the largest total homeschool population, but New York — along with South Dakota and Rhode Island — has posted the sharpest growth rate of any state since 2017.
What it means for NYC
Even with the surge, homeschooled students remain a small fraction of New York City's overall school-age population, which is still dominated by public, charter, and private schools. But the trajectory has caught the attention of school-choice advocates, some of whom are using the numbers to push for policies like education savings accounts or tax credits that would let public funding follow a student who leaves the traditional system. Critics of that framing note that NYC also has one of the country's more established homeschool support networks — co-ops, museum programs, and borough-based meetup groups — suggesting the growth reflects more than dissatisfaction with public schools alone.
Sources: New York Post/Empire Center analysis, The Washington Post, Daily Wire, Time4Learning