The New York Department of Education has released updated enrollment data for New York nonpublic schools. This data reflects enrollment taken on Oct. 2, 2024, for the 2024-2025 school year.
1. Overall Nonpublic Enrollment.
In October 2024, New York nonpublic school enrollment was 382,457 – a slight increase of 1,056 (+0.28%) from the previous year’s enrollment of 382,401.
This is the fourth year nonpublic school enrollment has stayed steady around 380,000. Before 2020, the state experienced 8 years of nonpublic school enrollment decline.
2. Enrollment Trends by Religious Affiliation.
In general, in 2024-25 Jewish and Muslim schools grew while enrollment in other schools declined. Excluding students listed as “ungraded”:
• Jewish Schools grew by 4,537 students – an increase of 2.7% over the prior year.
• Catholic Schools shrunk by -2,784 students – a decrease of -2.5% over the prior year.
• Independent Schools shrunk by -458 students – a decrease of -0.6% over the prior year.
• Christian Schools shrunk by -244 students – a decrease of -3.1% over the prior year.
• Muslim Schools grew by 450 students – an increase of 8.1% over the prior year.
As of 2024-2025, the group that had the most K-12 students were Jewish schools with 172,673 students (45% of the total). This was followed by Catholic schools with 106,630 students (27.9% of the total), Independent Schools with 73,663 students (19.3% of the total), Christian schools with 7,719 students (2.0% of the total), and Muslim schools with 5,973 students (1.6% of the total).
3. Enrollment Trends in Jewish Schools.
Overall enrollment in Jewish Schools grew by 4,537 students – a +2.7% increase over the prior year.
3.1 Jewish Enrollment Growth by Region.
Growth in Jewish schools was concentrated in Monroe (+2,075, +12.6%); New York City (+1,023, +1.0%); and Monsey (+981, +2.8%). Some growth was also seen in Catskills (+191, +18.4%); Long Island (+229, +2.7%); Westchester (+26, +1.3%); and Rochester (+28, +12.6%).
Jewish school enrollment declined slightly in Albany (-8, -4.5%); and Other Areas (-8, -5.6%).
3.2 Enrollment Trends by Jewish Category.
Chassidic Schools saw the largest enrollment growth, with an additional enrollment of 3,881 students (+4.0%).
Yeshivish Schools – defined as Orthodox schools where students are gender-segregated – saw slight enrollment growth, with an additional enrollment of 451 students (+0.9%).
Modern Orthodox Schools – defined as Orthodox schools that are coed – saw some enrollment growth, with an increase of 224 students (+1.3%).
Non-Orthodox Schools saw a minimal decrease in enrollment with a decline of 19 students (-0.5%).
