Homeschooling is no longer a pandemic blip. Several independent data sources released over the past two years point the same way: more families are choosing to educate at home, they are staying with it, and the research on how their children fare keeps accumulating. Here is what the numbers say, and how much weight they can bear.
How many families homeschool?
The National Center for Education Statistics reported that 3.4 percent of students ages 5 to 17 were homeschooled in the 2022–23 school year, and that 5.2 percent received instruction at home (homeschooled or in full-time virtual education), up from 3.7 percent in 2018–19.10 The U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey, as documented by the Johns Hopkins Homeschool Hub, put the share of school-aged children reported as homeschooled at 5.92 percent in 2023–24, compared with 9.92 percent in private schools.11
More recent figures point the same direction. The Johns Hopkins Homeschool Research Lab reported in August 2026 that homeschooling grew at an average rate of 4.9 percent during the 2024–25 school year, more than double the pre-pandemic rate of around 2 percent, and that homeschool enrollment reached its highest level ever in 36 percent of reporting states.12 A 2024 Journal of School Choice study by Angela R. Watson of Johns Hopkins found that after a small and brief decline one and two years after the pandemic, the majority of states with available data reported increased homeschool participation three years after the pandemic height.16 The National Home Education Research Institute estimates 3.408 million K–12 homeschool students in 2024–25, about 6.262 percent of the school-age population, with a stated range of 3.067 million to 3.749 million.13
Why families choose it
Parents’ reasons are consistent. In the NCES survey, 83 percent of homeschooling parents cited concern about the environment of other schools, 75 percent cited a desire to provide moral instruction, 72 percent cited an emphasis on family life, and 72 percent cited dissatisfaction with academic instruction elsewhere.10
What the research says about outcomes
A 2026 systematic review in the Peabody Journal of Education, updating a 2017 review, examined studies published from 2017 to 2026:14
- Academic achievement: of 24 studies, 15 (62 percent) found results favoring homeschooled students, four found no difference, four were mixed and one favored conventional-school students.
- Social and emotional development: of 25 studies, 16 (64 percent) were clearly positive for homeschoolers.
- Success in adulthood: of 24 studies, 13 (54 percent) favored those who were homeschooled.
The authors are careful about causation. They note that confounders such as parental involvement and demographics are difficult to control and that random assignment is not achievable, and they describe the body of evidence as supporting a “tentative conclusion” that homeschooling is consistently associated with positive or neutral outcomes “and not with negative ones.”14 Read these findings as associations, not proof that homeschooling itself causes better results.
Family and community life
Using the 2019 National Household Education Survey, sociologist David Sikkink found that homeschooling families reported an average of 4.7 home-based educational activities in the prior week, compared with 3.5 to 3.7 for families in other school sectors, and 2.2 community-based educational activities in the prior month compared with 1.4 for public-school families. Sixty percent of homeschooling parents had taken their child to a library in the prior month, versus 32 percent of public-school families; after adjusting for demographic and socioeconomic differences, homeschoolers still averaged about one additional home-based activity.15
And homeschooling rarely happens alone. In a nationally representative survey of more than 2,400 parents conducted with RAND’s American Life Panel, the Johns Hopkins lab found that 88 percent of homeschooling parents use supplemental educational supports (online resources, co-ops, online classes, online schools, tutors), compared with 44 percent of parents overall.12
Why it matters now
This growth arrives alongside the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit, which launches January 1, 2027, and which Treasury officials say can cover homeschooling costs in participating states, with formal expense guidance still to come.1,3,4 If you are weighing what that means for your family, see our explainer and six steps to get ready.
This post summarizes published research and is not legal or tax advice.