144+ High School Statistics For 2024 (In-Depth Research)

High school is a phase in teenager’s life that helps them to shape their future. High school stats will help you to understand the trends and details of high schools in the USA. This will help you to understand the behavior of the students in high school. 

The classes 9th to 12th come under the high school category. Many teens work hard to shape their lives in these years, while some aren’t that serious. 

In the following article, I have compiled high school stats related to public schools, private schools’ effect of COVID-19 on high schools, graduation rates, general stats of 2024.

High School Statistics(Top Picks)

This is basically the key high school statistics in a nutshell.

1. As per the data from Statista, it is estimated that there will be  17,284,000 student enrollment in high school in 2023.
2. There are more than 26,727 high schools in the US as of 2022.
3. According to the latest data, there are over 11.8 million high school teachers in the US.
4. In 2019 15.3 million students were admitted to high school for further studies. 
5. In the year 2020, more than 3,209,510 students graduated from high school.
6. According to recent research, the graduation rate for high school is 85.3%.
7. Similarly, the dropout rate for high schools is 6%.
8. By the year 2023, the number of students that will enroll in public schools is estimated to be 15,746,000.
9. $62,870 is an average salary of a high school teacher. 
10. 34% of the private schools in the USA are located in the southern part of the country.
11. 26,727 high schools and secondary high schools are located in the US.
12. The number of students who enrolled in private high schools was 10%.
13. More than 59% of the students say they are planning to attend a 4-year college after graduating from high school.
14. According to the School Counselor, behind 415 high school students, there is one college counselor.
15. 61.8% of high school students will attend university or college in the year 2022. 
16. A 100% graduation rate is registered by only 4% of the students. 

Let’s have a look at the percent of high school graduates over the years.

Year	% of high school graduates
1870	5%
1890	7%
1910	15%
1930	26%
1970	78%
1992	75%
2020	86%

17. The crime committed by high school dropouts accounts for 75%. 
18. 45% of the students are stressed most of the time due to the pressure of studies. 
19. Most high schools have an average rate of 60% graduation. 
20. The dropout rate of male students in high school is 7%.

High School General Stats

21. 26,727 secondary high schools are located in the US. 
22. Over 16,892,200 students were enrolled in high school in the year 2021.

Let’s have a look at the high school enrollment for public and private schools over the years. (along with the projections up to 2030)

Year	Public high schools	Private high schools
2015	15,050,000	1,446,000
2016	15,138,000	1,482,000
2017	15,190,000	1,68,000
2018	15,196,000	1,443,000
2019	15,246,000	1,420,000
2020	15,316,000	1,502,00
2021	15,458,000	1,512,000
2022	15,575,000	1,535,000
2023	15,574,000	1,542,000
2024	15,502,000	1,484,000
2025	15,285,000	1,464,000
2026	16,021,000	1,458,000
2027	14,854,000	1,455,000
2028	14,760,000	1,463,000
2029	14,863,000	1,397,000
2030	14,992,000	1,311,000

23. According to the 2023 reports, more than 17,288,000 are expected to enroll in public and private schools.
24. 15.3 million students were enrolled in high school in 2019.
25. There are 3,892 high school institutions in California, which makes it the state with the highest number of high schools. 

Here is a table showing the growth in the number of institutes in the whole of the U.S. over the years:

Year	Number of Institutes
2007-2008	131,414
2009-2010	138,925
2011-2012	136,423
2013-2014	139,126
2015-2016	139,874
2017-2018	137,432

26. Delaware has a high school count of 83, making it the state with the least number of high schools. 
27. The Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology is ranked as the best high school in the US by the US news national ranking. 
28. The highest-ranking school is Massachusetts, with 49.6% of schools in the top 25%.
29. Nebraska and Maine ranked at the bottom, with only 5.8% and 3.6 % of schools appearing.
30. The median high school teacher receives a salary of $62,870. 
31. The parents that are planning to spend more on school supplies were reported to be 37% of the total. 
32. $661 will be spent by the parents for high school supplies in 2022, as estimated. 
33. Around 85% of teachers believe that virtual reality will create a positive impact on students.  
34. New York City has the largest school district in the US, with an enrollment of 984,462 students.

Source: Statista, Think Impact, US news, Deloitte, Samsung, NCES

Public Schools 

Public schools have more admissions than private schools. They are mostly affordable and offer various scholarships to students. 

35. 15,746,000 students are estimated to enroll in public high schools in the year 2023.
36. There were approx 2.7 million white students, 7.7 million black students, and 13.9 million Hispanic students in public schools for the year 2019-2020.
37. 46.6% of the white schools are enrolled in public schools.
38. 2.7 million Asian students, 0.5 million American Indian or Alaska natives, and 0.2 million Pacific Islander students are minorities in public schools.
39. The average class size of public schools is 24 students.
40. The public elementary and secondary high schools have projected expenditures of $680 billion for the 2019-2020 academic year.
41. The student-to-teacher ratio in most public schools is 16:1.
42. Charter schools sum up to 7% of public schools. 
43. The national graduation rate is 85% for public high schools, according to the latest data. 

Source: Statista, NCES

Private Schools

Private schools are gaining popularity among parents due to their great services and education pattern. Students with financial stability prefer to enroll in private schools. 

44. The number of students that will enroll in private high schools in the year 2023 is estimated to be 1,538,000.
45. There are 2845 private high schools in the US.
46. In 1660, the first private school was started in New Netherlands.
47. 75% of the parents prefer private schools over public schools. 
48. 21,548 private schools have a religious orientation.
49. 68% of the private schools follow the regular element or secondary format, while 9% of them implement the Montessori program.
50. 10,531 private schools are located in the cities, while 12,152 are in suburban areas.
51. Private schools have an average class size of 18.8 students. 
52. The student-to-teacher ratio of private schools is 12:1.
53. The southern part of the US consists of 34% of private schools.
54. The graduation rate of private high schools was 97.3% during the academic year 2016-2017.

The religious orientation of the private schools in the US for the year 2017-2018:

Religious orientations	Number of schools
Roman Catholic	6948
Cristian	4209
Baptist	1569
Amish	1474
Jewish	922
Lutheran Chruch-Missouri Synod	868

Source: Statista, Think Impact, NCES, Private School Universe Survey.

High School Students Demographics

55. According to the ThinkImpact, the Gender parity index for high school students in the US is 0.99. It is seen that slightly fewer girls than boys are enrolled in high school.
56. As per the data from ThinkImpact, US high schools rank 115th globally in terms of gender parity.
57. Among the students in the high schools, 47% of the students were 47%,15% were Black, 27% were Hispanic, and 11% were other races.

High School Statistics by States

58. The state of Montana has the highest graduation rate, with 94.0%
59. The state with the lowest graduation rate is California, with around 83.9%.

Let’s have a look at the states with the highest graduation rates.

(Source: Worldpopulationreview 2023)

State	Graduation Rate
Montana	94.0%
Wyoming	93.6%
Vermont	93.5%
Minnesota	93.4%
New Hamshire	93.3%
Maine	93.2%
Alaska	93.1%
North Dakota	93.1%
Utah	93.0%
Wisconsin	92.6%

Similarly let’s have a look at the states with the lowest high school graduation rates by states. 

(Source: Worldpopulationreview)

State	Graduation Rate
California	83.9%
Texas	84.4%
Mississippi	85.3%
Louisiana	85.9%
New Mexico	86.5%
Nevada	86.9%
Alabama	86.9%
New York	87.2%
Kentucky	87.2%
Arkansas	87.2%

College and Universities

Many high school students plan to attend higher education and get into a prestigious university for higher education. The competition to get into the best universities and colleges has increased at a great rate. 

60. In the year 2023, students are estimated to enroll in high school 17,284,000.
61. In the US, there are 26,727 high and secondary high schools.  
62. The high school graduates that are estimated to attend college in the year 2022 are 61.8%.
63. 1.7 million students enrolled for college in 2022 out of all students who graduated in the year 2021. 
64. The college enrollment rate of high school graduates is down by 0.9% in 2022 as compared to 2020. 
65. 35% of high school teens use Snapchat, while 30% are estimated to use TikTok.
66. In almost 2000 high schools in the US, there is a 60% graduation rate.
67. 66.2% of high school graduates enrolled in college and universities during the year 2018-19. 
68. 19.9 million students started college in the fall of 2019. Six million students were reported to have enrolled in 2-year courses, while 13.9 were enrolled in 4-year courses. 
69. In the year 2016, 69.1% of high school students were enrolled in college.
70. In the academic year 2019-2020, colleges and universities awarded 1,975,000 bachelor’s degrees. 

Source: Statista, BLS, America’s Promise Alliance, NCES

High School Graduation

In the past years, the rate of high school graduates has increased. The students are more focused on passing high school with great performance. 

71. According to the NCES, the estimated number of high school graduates in the year 2023-24 would be 3,388,680 students.
72. In 2020, 3,65,000 students graduated from high school.
73. According to the data from 2021, the graduation rate in the US is 85.3%, which is an all-time high.
74. Graduation rates for 52% of states have increased since 2019.
75. The recent data suggests that 81% of the Hispanic, 79% of the Black students, and 89.7% of the Caucasian students graduated on time.
76. Talking about the graduation rates by race, Black students’ graduation rates have increased by  12%.
77. Moreover, graduation rates for Hispanic students have increased by 10%.
78. Students with disabilities remain at a 67.1% graduation rate.
79. It is seen that over 64% of high school students have access to career and Vocational courses or Technical Education.
80. The high school graduates that go to college are 61.8% out of the total students that have graduated. 

The following are the high school graduates from public and private high schools over the years.

(Source: NCES)

Year	Total	Public High schools	Private High Schools
2023-24	3,388,680	3,164,540	224,140
2022-23	3,369,380	3,146,530	222,850
2021-22	3,360,180	3,130,360	229,820
2020–21	3,352,680	3,115,140	237,540
2019-20	3,326,590	3,085,600	240,980
2018-19	3,348,610	3,100,900	247,710
2017-18	3,366,070	3,105,970	260,100
2016-17	3,328,710	3,066,350	262,370
2015-16	3,322,620	3,047,830	274,800
2014-15	3,322,780	3,031,450	291,320

81. 59% of high school graduates plan to attend a 4-year college. 
82. Only four high schools in the US have a registered graduation rate of 100%.
83. 21% higher chances of low-income students graduating from high school. 

The Top 5 high schools, according to US News National, as per their graduation rates, are as follows:

High School	Graduation Rate	College Readiness score
Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology	100%	100
Academic Magnet High School	100%	100
The Davidson Academy of Nevada	100%	100
Payton College Preparatory High School	98%	99.3
School for Advanced Studies. (SAS)	100%	95.8

84. In the 2019-2020 academic year, the high school graduation rate was 88.6%.
85. There were 1864 schools with low graduation rates in 2019.
86. In the year 2018-2019, only five high schools had around 90% of the ACGR rate. 
87. The graduation rate of students with disabilities is 68.2%, which is very low compared to their peers. 
88. In the year 2022-2023, the total number of high school graduates is estimated to decrease by 2%.
89. The high school graduation rate of white students in the US is 89.4%, while that of black students is 79.6%.
90. The graduation rates of students with disabilities have improved in 35 states in the US.
91. 90% graduation rates of students would lead to a rise in GDP by 5.7 billion dollars and generate 14,260 new jobs every year.

Source: Statista, US news, America’s Promise Alliance, NCES, Graduation effect.

High School Relationship

Many teenagers get into relationships during their high school years. However, many of them fail to maintain the relationship for a longer time. Only a few high school couples end up marrying. 

92. Teens aged 13 to 15 years usually last less than five months in relationships. 
93. 54% of young married high students have a chance of their marriage lasting about ten years. 
94. Only 19% of students who marry their high school partner attend college.
95. 2% of marriages are between couples that have been dating since high school days.  
96. In the past year, 9.4% of high school students reported physical abuse by their partners. 
97. High school students who marry after turning 25 have a 78% chance of marriage that lasts for at least ten years. 
98. 14% of couples have met in their high school days. 
99. Only 2% of high school students get to finish college out of the students who marry their high school sweetheart.

Source: Classroom, Synonym, Brandon Gaille, The Hotline 

High School And Crime 

The crime rates in high schools have increased in the past few years. The negative effects of exposure to unwanted information, inability to handle emotions, ragging, etc., lead to an increased number of crimes. 

100. High school dropouts commit 75% of the crimes in the US. 
101. If there is an increase in 5% of the males in school, the US will save approximately $18.5 billion on the costs of annual crime. 
102. About 22% of the students in high school admitted that illegal drugs were smuggled into the school premises in the year 2019. 

Source: Statista, Do Something, Spotlight, NCES.

High School Dropouts

Many students tend to drop out during high school. Teenagers mostly drop out due to health issues or peer pressure. 

103. The drop-out rate of students in high school was 5.1%, as recorded in 2019. 
104. The dropout rate of the students in 2019 was 5.1%. 
105. Chronically absent students tend to miss more than 10% of their high school days. 
106. The highest dropout rates are in Louisiana, which was reported to be 9.6%, while the lowest is in  Massachusetts, which has a 3.8 % dropout rate. 
107. Low-income students are at greater risk, by 2.4%, of dropping out of high school.
108. Troublesome teenagers, especially students from juvenile incarceration, have a 13% less chance of finishing high school. 
109. The students that are chronically absent are 292% of the total high school students. 
110. 16.8% of students who dropped out of high school were foreign-born. 
111. The male dropout rate from high school is 7%.
112. The dropout rate for Black students declined from 21% to 6%.
113. Moreover, the dropout rate for Hispanic students has decreased from 36% to 9%.
114. Similarly, Caucasian students’ dropout rate decreased from 12% to 5%.
115. The students who dropped out, 8% of them were born to US-born parents.
116. Of students who dropped out of high school, 16.8% of them are foreign-born students.
117. As per the data from the high school student statistics, 75% of high school dropouts tend to commit crimes in the US.
118. According to America’s Promise Alliance, students who are experiencing homelessness after graduating from high school are 67.7%.
119. Among the students who feel homeless, 86% are from New Hampshire, while 49% are from Minnesota.

Source: Statista, MASS DOE, Boston, NCES

High School Job Statistics

120. Students aged between 16 and 19 who had full-time jobs numbered 1.336 million in the year 2020.
121. During the non-summer months of the year 2020, the percentage of teens who held jobs was 27.5%.
122. While throughout the summer month of 2020, 30.8% of the teens were employed.
123. The teens who are more likely to hold the job are white.

Let’s have a look at the teens who held jobs in 2020 by race.

Race	Percent of students who held a job in the summer	Percent of students who held a job in December
White	33.4%	31.4%
Hispanic	25.8%	28.3%
Black	25.1%	23.2%
Asian	14.3%	16.1%

124. The average weekly salary of the high school worker was $497 in 2020.
125. The annual median salary for a high school student who is working was around $25,844.
126. High school students are more likely to get a job as cashiers, according to Zippa.com.
127. In Feb and April, about 1.9 million students lost their job due to the pandemic.
128. In 2021, 32.4% of the students were employed in May, which is the highest rate since 2008.

Mental Health Of High School Students

With increasing pressure to excel in studies, the mental health of high school has considerably deteriorated. The competition to excel in studies has taken a negative toll on teenagers. 

129. 45% of teens claim that they are stressed most of the time. 

The percentage of High school students who feel stressed is: 

Stressed	Percentage
All the time	44.88%
Sometimes	36.64%
Rarely	12.18%
Never	6.30%

130. Of the students who complain about having regular mental health problems, 37% of high school students. 
131. 64% of the LGB students have experienced mental health problems amid the pandemic period.
132. 44.04% of teenagers require apps and online resources to help them feel better under stress, while 34.53% do nothing when stressed. 
133. 70 % of teenagers think that anxiety and depression are crucial problems to be dealt with by their generation. 
134. The pressure to score good grades is felt by 61% of the students, while 29% feel the pressure to look presentable. 
135. Only 4% feel pressure to use drugs, and 6% feel pressured to drink alcohol. 
136. Around 40% of teens feel boredom on a daily basis. 

Source: Statista, Globe News Wire, CDC, Pew Social Trends, 

High Schools And Covid-19

The covid-19 pandemic has immensely affected the life of high school students. Mostly the study routines and the quality of the study had a negative effect. Most of the students lost the ability to concentrate, while some lost interest in studying. 

137. The number of male players that participated in the 11-player high school game of Football dropped to one million. 
138. 86% of the teens had to complete the school work at home despite regular classes being canceled during the pandemic.
139. 41% of teenagers haven’t attended a single virtual class during the pandemic.
140. Only 31% of the students were in connection with their teacher at least once a day. 
141. 12% of students had no plans to be full-time students in universities and colleges. 
142. 59% of students said that they were not interested in an online degree or program. 
143. 60% of students were satisfied with their remote classrooms. 
144. 69% of the students agreed that covid-19 pandemic negatively affected the quality of education.

The frequency of communication between students and teachers during covid-19:

Frequency	Public School	Private School
Once an hour or more	2%	14%
Few times in a day	15%	33%
Once a day	31%	66%
Less than once a week	28%	4%

Source: Statista, Common sense media, College Finance. 

Future Of High Schools

The quality of education is constantly upgraded with the help of AI every year. AI integrates with smart technology to provide students with personalized instructions. 

76% of the high schools will use AI-integrated systems to teach students efficiently. AI will play a major role in simplifying the concepts for the students. 

With exposure to the greater world, the students are predicted to commit more crimes in the future years. The dropout rates of the students are estimated to decrease. 

Related Read:

• eLearning Statistics

Conclusion: High School Statistics (2024)

That’s all about High School Statistics 2024.

High school students are the future of the nation. However, mostly in the high school years, teenagers get distracted and land up in bad company or circumstances, while some, on the other hand, tend to get submerged with mental health issues. 

According to past research, the mental health of high school students is reported to deteriorate day by day. 

I hope the above article has helped you to analyze the high school graduation rates, facts about public and private schools, etc. 

If I missed some important stats, let me know in the comments section below. I usually keep updating the article with the latest stats. Your comments can surely help with it.