School & District Management Interactive

Enrollment Data: How Many Students Went Missing in Your State?

A look at state enrollment data during the 2020-21 school year
By Eesha Pendharkar & Maya Riser-Kositsky — July 02, 2021 | Updated: February 01, 2022 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Updated: This page was updated with new data from Illinois on July 9, 2021. It was updated with new data from Delaware, Illinois (special education data), and New Jersey (special education data) on July 22, 2021. It was updated with new data from Alabama, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New York, and North Carolina on Dec. 6, 2021. It was updated with new data from Tennessee on Jan. 13, 2022. Data for Nebraska (English-language learners, special education students, and free and reduced price meal enrollment) was updated on Feb. 1, 2022.

America’s public school system lost more than 1.3 million students in the 2020-21 school year, according to an Education Week analysis of state data.

The loss was spread out across the nation, touching almost every demographic group and concentrated in lower grades. It will likely have academic, financial and staffing repercussions for years to come.

Education Week reached out to 51 state departments of education in order to collect a more comprehensive picture of enrollment losses across the country.

See Also

Students participate in class outside at the Woodland Pond School, a private school located near Bangor, Maine. Maine experienced one of the nation's largest drops in student enrollment in the 2020-21 school year, according to an EdWeek analysis.
Students participate in class outside at the Woodland Pond School, a private school located near Bangor, Maine. Maine experienced one of the nation's largest drops in student enrollment in the 2020-21 school year, according to an EdWeek analysis.
Photo courtesy of Woodland Pond School

Contact Information

For media or research inquiries about this data, contact library@educationweek.org.

How to Cite This Page

Enrollment Data: How Many Students Went Missing in Your State? (2021, July 2). Education Week. Retrieved Month Day, Year from https://www.edweek.org/leadership/enrollment-data-how-many-students-went-missing-in-your-state/2021/07

Holly Peele, Library Director contributed to this article.

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
College & Workforce Readiness Webinar
Smarter Tools, Stronger Outcomes: Empowering CTE Educators With Future-Ready Solutions
Open doors to meaningful, hands-on careers with research-backed insights, ideas, and examples of successful CTE programs.
Content provided by Pearson
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Reading & Literacy Webinar
Improve Reading Comprehension: Three Tools for Working Memory Challenges
Discover three working memory workarounds to help your students improve reading comprehension and empower them on their reading journey.
Content provided by Solution Tree
Recruitment & Retention Webinar EdRecruiter 2026 Survey Results: How School Districts are Finding and Keeping Talent
Discover the latest K-12 hiring trends from EdWeek’s nationwide survey of job seekers and district HR professionals.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

School & District Management How These School Leaders Stop the Distractions That Steal Learning Time
Cellphones "are a huge time waster," said one principal.
3 min read
A student at Glover Middle School in Spokane, Wash., checks their phone before the start of school on Dec. 3, 2025.
A student checks a phone before school in Spokane, Wash., on Dec. 3, 2025. One school leader discussed the time-saving effect of a bell-to-bell cellphone ban during a recent EdWeek virtual event.
Kaylee Domzalski/Education Week
School & District Management Opinion 11 Critical Issues Facing Educators in 2026
We asked nearly 1,000 education leaders about their biggest problems. These major themes stood out.
5 min read
Screen Shot 2026 01 01 at 3.49.13 PM
Canva
School & District Management Zohran Mamdani Reverses Course on Mayoral Control Over NYC Schools
New York City's new mayor promised during his campaign to end mayoral control of the city's schools.
Cayla Bamberger & Chris Sommerfeldt, New York Daily News
3 min read
Mayor Zohran Mamdani reacts during his inauguration ceremony on Jan. 1, 2026, in New York.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani reacts during his inauguration ceremony on Jan. 1, 2026, in New York. He promised during his campaign to end mayoral control of New York City's public schools but announced a change in position the day before taking office.
Andres Kudacki/AP
School & District Management Opinion 14 New Year’s Resolutions to Inspire School Leaders
For inspiration on how to make the most of your second reset of the school year, we checked in with contributors to The Principal Is In column.
1 min read
Collaged image of school principal resolutions for the new year
Vanessa Solis/Education Week via Canva