February 08, 2012

20-Year Change in Enrollment at Largest School Districts

The school districts listed below represent the biggest schools in the United States broken down by percent change in enrollment during the last 20 years. The 2009 AS&U 100 — a compilation of the nation's 100 largest school districts — also provides the following data:

Rank	School District	State	2007-08 Enroll- ment	1987-88 Enroll- ment	% Change (2007-08 vs. 1987-88)
1	New York City	NY	1,035,406	939,933	10.16%
2	Los Angeles	CA	693,680	589,311	17.71%
3	Chicago	IL	407,510	419,537	-2.87%
4	Miami	FL	348,113	253,720	37.20%
5	Clark County	NV	312,546	100,027	212.46%
6	Broward County	FL	258,895	137,366	88.47%
7	Houston	TX	198,769	191,708	3.68%
8	Hillsborough County	FL	193,116	118,171	63.42%
9	Hawaii	HI	178,369	166,160	7.35%
10	Orange County	FL	174,136	88,878	95.93%
11	Philadelphia	PA	172,704	194,698	-11.30%
12	Palm Beach County	FL	170,844	89,944	89.94%
13	Fairfax County	VA	165,734	112,599	47.19%
14	Dallas	TX	157,605	130,885	20.41%
15	Gwinnett County	GA	154,901	54,754	182.90%
16	Montgomery County	MD	137,717	96,271	43.05%
17	Wake County	NC	133,831	59,687	124.22%
18	Charlotte-Mecklenburg	NC	131,897	74,680	76.62%
19	San Diego	CA	131,577	116,557	12.89%
20	Prince George's County	MD	129,752	104,412	24.27%
21	Duval County	FL	124,775	105,049	18.78%
22	Memphis	TN	113,466	107,345	5.70%
23	Pinellas County	FL	107,895	88,866	21.41%
24	Cobb County	GA	106,673	64,172	66.23%
25	Baltimore County	MD	104,283	81,152	28.50%
26	Detroit	MI	102,494	181,583	-43.56%
27	DeKalb County	GA	97,580	73,865	32.11%
28	Jefferson County KY	KY	97,412	93,198	4.52%
29	Cypress-Fairbanks	TX	96,546	34,073	183.35%
30	Albuquerque	NM	95,965	82,416	16.44%
31	Polk County	FL	94,164	61,391	53.38%
32	Long Beach	CA	88,186	66,253	33.10%
33	Milwaukee	WI	86,819	91,658	-5.28%
34	Jefferson County	CO	86,182	75,337	14.40%
35	Northside	TX	85,544	46,822	82.70%
36	Fulton County	GA	84,337	40,154	110.03%
37	Austin	TX	82,181	61,402	33.84%
38	Baltimore City	MD	81,284	110,189	-26.23%
39	Lee County	FL	80,541	37,708	113.59%
40	Jordan	UT	80,187	61,230	30.96%
41	Fort Worth	TX	78,732	67,191	17.18%
42	Fresno	CA	76,460	61,539	24.25%
43	Brevard County	FL	74,371	49,510	50.21%
44	Anne Arundel County	MD	73,400	64,432	13.92%
45	Nashville	TN	73,077	67,538	8.20%
46	Denver	CO	73,053	59,439	22.90%
47	Prince William County	VA	72,989	34,960	108.78%
48	Mesa	AZ	72,604	59,367	22.30%
49	Virginia Beach	VA	72,477	58,763	23.34%
50	Guilford County	NC	71,220	23,984	196.95%
51	Greenville	SC	69,443	50,886	36.47%
52	Granite	UT	67,948	73,312	-7.32%
53	Fort Bend	TX	67,780	28,738	135.85%
54	Pasco County	FL	66,313	30,305	118.82%
55	Washoe County	NV	65,677	34,538	90.16%
56	Seminole County	FL	65,355	43,511	50.20%
57	Volusia County	FL	64,570	41,829	54.37%
58	Davis	UT	64,551	49,684	29.92%
59	Mobile	AL	63,424	67,619	-6.20%
60	Arlington	TX	62,560	41,414	51.06%
61	Elk Grove	CA	62,294	19,904	212.97%
62	North East	TX	61,910	38,688	60.02%
63	El Paso	TX	61,839	61,800	0.06%
64	Aldine	TX	59,822	37,657	58.86%
65	Tucson	AZ	59,060	55,175	7.04%
66	Chesterfield County	VA	58,969	36,056	63.55%
67	Alpine	UT	58,665	36,005	62.94%
68	Santa Ana	CA	57,061	38,184	49.44%
69	San Bernardino	CA	56,727	35,033	61.92%
70	Garland	TX	56,593	34,603	63.55%
71	Boston	MA	56,168	59,445	-5.51%
72	San Francisco	CA	55,069	63,881	-13.79%
73	Knox County	TN	54,896	50,533	8.63%
74	San Antonio	TX	54,726	61,501	-11.02%
75	Loudoun County	VA	53,985	12,011	349.46%
76	Katy	TX	53,762	15,952	237.02%
77	Columbus	OH	52,894	65,562	-19.32%
78	Cumberland County	NC	52,777	44,216	19.36%
79	Osceola County	FL	52,742	14,448	265.05%
80	Plano	TX	53,439	28,231	89.29%
81	Douglas County	CO	52,983	10,501	404.55%
82	Capistrano	CA	52,390	21,920	139.01%
83	Clayton County	GA	52,029	33,893	53.51%
84	Corona-Norco	CA	51,322	18,296	180.51%
85	Forsyth County	NC	51,255	38,588	32.83%
86	Cherry Creek	CO	50,631	26,739	89.35%
87	Pasadena	TX	50,603	34,880	45.08%
88	Cleveland	OH	50,078	72,639	-31.06%
89	Howard County	MD	49,542	26,653	85.88%
90	Lewisville	TX	49,449	17,712	179.18%
91	Washington DC	DC	49,422	86,435	-42.82%
92	Atlanta	GA	49,101	65,417	-24.94%
93	Anchorage	AK	48,857	40,941	19.34%
94	Brownsville	TX	48,796	35,255	38.41%
95	Garden Grove	CA	48,669	36,289	34.12%
96	Henrico County	VA	48,620	28,309	71.75%
97	Wichita	KS	48,475	45,689	6.10%
98	Sacramento	CA	48,446	46,064	5.17%
99	Omaha	NE	47,652	41,416	15.06%
100	San Juan	CA	47,400	46,710	1.48%

Web Exclusive

View data on the Next 50: 20-Year % Change in Enrollment (2007-08 vs. 1987-88).

View Other Data Comparisons

Essential Reading

The Subtle Stuff

Vikas Nagardeolekar and Edwin Merritt

It's hard to win passage of a school construction bond — whether through a citizen referendum or the vote of a town council or general town meeting.

Hear and Now

Michael McKeon and Lincoln Berry

When acoustics are mentioned with regard to schools, many people first think of performing arts.

Making it Readable

Peter Gisolfi

When my daughter was 10 years old, she left the comfort of her elementary school for the unfamiliar territory of the middle/high school building — a crazy quilt of pieces from the 1910s, 1930s, 1960s and 1970s.