With homeschooling on the rise, calls for increased government oversight of home-based education are growing. In some states, the process has already begun: Lawmakers in Illinois, New Jersey, and Virginia introduced bills this year to create new regulations for homeschoolers. New Jersey’s Assembly Bill 5825, for example, would require homeschool parents to align their curricula with the state’s learning standards, maintain a portfolio of their child’s work, and undergo an external evaluation of their child’s progress. This may sound like simple oversight to some, but such regulations can be a burden for families, interfere with their K–12 education goals, and put them in the crosshairs of hostile public officials.

For state policymakers, it is crucial to have an accurate understanding of modern homeschoolers when considering new laws or regulations. While misconceptions about homeschooling remain prevalent, a growing body of research and data is helping to set the record straight.

The following analysis compiles key information to address two fundamental questions: Who homeschools, and why do they choose to do so? It begins by examining trends in homeschool participation, then looks at the sector’s demographics and the reasons families choose home education, and ends with a brief discussion of policy considerations.

Homeschool Participation and Growth

Homeschooling has increased over the past few decades, but it saw an especially steep spike at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. Participation estimates vary by data source, but it is clear that growth has been anything but linear.

Using figures from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey, Alanna Bjorklund-Young and Angela R. Watson estimate that nearly 6 percent of students were homeschooled during the 2022–23 academic year. In comparison, the most recent estimate published by the National Center for Education Statistics’ National Household Education Survey (NHES) puts this figure at 3.4 percent in the same year.

This discrepancy is due to differences in how data are collected. The Pulse survey uses a broader definition of homeschooling than the NHES, whose estimates “can be viewed as a more restrictive definition of homeschooling, providing a more conservative estimate of this population,” write Bjorklund-Young and Watson.

However, the NHES also reports that a total of 5.2 percent of students are schooled at home—comprising homeschoolers and students enrolled full-time in virtual courses—a figure that is more in line with the Pulse survey.

Bjorklund-Young and Watson suggest looking at these data sources as a range of estimates. But to evaluate growth over time, the NHES figures should be used to ensure consistent comparisons. According to the NHES data, the proportion of homeschooling students increased from 1.7 percent of all students in 1999 to 3.4 percent in 2011–12, but dipped to 2.8 percent by 2018–19. Homeschooling then surged during the Covid-19 pandemic, with the latest NHES data showing the aforementioned 3.4 percent homeschooled in the 2022–23 school year. While the total number of homeschoolers in 2022–23—1.76 million—is up from 1.45 million in 2018–19, it is nearly identical to the 2012 figure of 1.77 million students.

Research also indicates that the homeschool population is dynamic, with many students switching school sectors at least once during their K–12 education. A survey conducted by Albert Cheng and Angela Watson found that only 17 percent of adults who were ever homeschooled did so for the entirety of their K–12 education, with 56 percent of respondents doing so for six years or fewer.

Homeschool Demographics

The National Center for Education Statistics’ NHES program and the Census Bureau’s Pulse survey also provide insight into homeschooling demographics. According to the NHES, a greater share of white students (5.1 percent) were homeschooled in 2022–23 than Black students (1.7 percent) and Hispanic students (1.8 percent), as shown in Figure 1. However, compared to pre-pandemic levels, the proportion of Black homeschoolers increased by half a percentage point—rising from 1.2 percent to 1.7 percent. White participation rose even more, while Hispanic participation fell slightly.

Bjorklund-Young and Watson’s research provides additional context for these figures. Using the NHES data, they estimate that in 2022–23, about 29 percent of homeschoolers were students of color: 6 percent black, 14 percent Hispanic, 7 percent two or more races, and less than 2 percent Asian (see Figure 2). Their estimate rises to 40 percent using Pulse data, indicating that students of color are underrepresented among homeschoolers, regardless of the data source. (About 51 percent of all school-aged students fall into this category.) While students of color have seen only modest growth as a share of all homeschoolers over time—about four percentage points between 1998–99 and 2022–23—Bjorklund-Young and Watson nonetheless conclude that “the stereotypical narratives around homeschooling as a predominantly white population must be updated to represent the modern group of homeschoolers.”

Additionally, a nationally representative survey by Angela Watson and Matthew Lee included comparisons of homeschooling parents with their non-homeschooling peers on characteristics such as political affiliation, religiosity, and schooling sectors. It found that, while Republicans are overrepresented among homeschoolers—44 percent of homeschool parents identified as Republican compared to 36 percent of the general population—the majority of homeschool parents are either Democrats or independents (see Figure 3). The study also found that fewer than half of homeschoolers attend religious services weekly (including 31 percent who never attend services), and about 35 percent of homeschool households have at least one child enrolled in a public school.

The NHES data also provide valuable insight into other key demographic variables, as shown in Figure 4. (Although the National Center for Education Statistics has not yet published a complete 2022–23 dataset, I use its 2018–19 data to supplement the latest figures.)

Not surprisingly, a greater proportion of students living in areas classified as rural or towns are homeschooled than those living in areas classified as cities or suburbs. But while city and suburban students are homeschooled at lower rates, the NHES’s 2019 data indicate they still comprise about 64 percent of all homeschoolers.

Students living in lower-income households homeschool at lower rates than those living in higher-income households. According to the NHES’s 2019 data, nearly half of homeschoolers—about 49 percent—live in households earning more than $75,000.

Finally, in terms of education level, parents who have attended at least some college choose to homeschool at higher rates than parents with only a high school education. The NHES’s 2019 data show that a slight majority of homeschooler parents (52 percent) hold a bachelor’s, graduate, or professional degree, with less than one-quarter having only completed high school or less.

Reasons for Homeschooling

The National Center for Education Statistics’ 2023 NHES report provides insight into why parents choose to homeschool. The survey allowed respondents to select multiple factors that were important in their decision, along with one “most important” factor. These findings, which largely mirror the final NHES survey before the Covid-19 pandemic, are summarized in Figure 5.

Notably, parents’ concerns about school environment stood out above the rest, with 83 percent of respondents identifying it as an important reason to homeschool and 28 percent ranking it as the most important one. Another factor receiving high scores in both categories was dissatisfaction with academic instruction at other schools, which was selected as an important reason by 72 percent of respondents and the most important reason by 17 percent. Taken together, nearly half of respondents cited school environment or academics as the most important reason to homeschool their kids, underscoring the weight parents put on these factors.

Also notable is that moral instruction was selected by 75 percent of respondents as an important reason to homeschool, while the desire to provide religious instruction was chosen by 53 percent.

Takeaways and Policy Implications  

Available research and data on homeschooling provide several key takeaways for policymakers.

First, homeschoolers are a sizeable and growing share of U.S. students. Estimates vary, but we can confidently say that homeschoolers comprise between about 3.4 and 6 percent of all U.S. students, with a conservative estimate of 1.76 million total students as of 2022–23. “The U.S. homeschool population is of similar magnitude to the private and charter sectors,” conclude Watson and Lee.

As its popularity grows, homeschooling will face increasing scrutiny and regulatory pressure. It’s important for state policymakers to have an accurate view of who homeschoolers are, how they homeschool, why they choose this model, and what the research says about abuse, neglect, outcomes, and other vital issues. They should also carefully consider whether proposed homeschool regulations—ranging from notification requirements to curricular reviews—will achieve their intended purposes, and what the negative unintended consequences of additional oversight might be.

Next, data show that homeschoolers are a diverse population, putting to rest the stereotype that home education is exclusively the domain of white Christian conservatives. While white families homeschool at higher rates than Black and Hispanic families, between 29 and 40 percent of homeschoolers are students of color.

Furthermore, less than half of homeschool parents say they are Republicans, which should alert policymakers to the fact that homeschooling draws support across the political spectrum. Regardless of partisan affiliation, parents want what is best for their children, and for many, this means a home-based education.

Additionally, and perhaps surprisingly, many homeschooling families are connected to the public education system in some form. It’s rare for children to be homeschooled for their entire K–12 education, and more than one-third of homeschool households have at least one child enrolled in a public school. This underscores that, even within the same family, children have vastly different needs that can only be satisfied by a diverse supply of education providers. If maximizing each child’s unique potential is a primary goal for K–12 education, then it only makes sense to give families robust options through policy mechanisms such as education savings accounts, charter schools, and public school open enrollment. Policymakers should be sector-agnostic when it comes to cultivating K–12 education systems.

Finally, these findings offer valuable insights into where public schools are falling short and provide guidance on how they can improve. The fact that 45 percent of homeschool parents cite either concerns about school environments or dissatisfaction with academic instruction at other schools as the most important reason for homeschooling should raise flags for policymakers, especially at a time when lax discipline, chronic absenteeism, declining enrollment, low academic standards, and curricular controversies are making headlines from public school systems across the country.

The latest data and research clearly demonstrate that homeschoolers are diverse in many ways and that past conceptions about them should be discarded. They also provide lawmakers with an accurate understanding of modern homeschooling, its role in the education system, and insights into what public schools can learn from the reasons parents choose to homeschool. This is a critical time in K–12 education. With public schools falling short for families in a variety of measures, homeschooling is increasingly becoming an attractive alternative. Overregulating the sector in response to that preference won’t solve any of those problems, but it may add to them.

Aaron Smith is the director of education policy at Reason Foundation.