States with fewest children ages 5 to 17

Which states have the fewest school-age children?

It's no surprise that the smallest states (and the District of Columbia) tend to have the fewest numbers of children aged 5 to 17 years old. That's what the data show from the federal government. The Digest of Education Statistics 2013 says that nine of the 10 smallest states also have the fewest numbers of school-age children.

The smallest, in both percentage and overall number, is Washington, D.C. Of the 632,000 people in Washington, D.C., in 2012, a little more than 11 percent--71,000--fell within the typical school age for K-12 schools. Alaska had only 132,000 5- to 17-year-olds, but that represented 18.1 percent of the state's population.

Overall, the United States had 53,729,000 boys and girls 5 to 17 years old in 2012, the digest says. That amounts to a little more than 17 percent of the overall U.S. population.