Homeschool Statistics

New NC Homeschool Numbers

In July 2026, the NC Division of Non-Public Education (DNPE) published the NC homeschool statistics for the 2025-2026 school year. The number of state recognized homeschools decreased this year from 101,880 to 95,190. The decrease this year over last year was about 6.57% to 95,190. It is important to note that this decrease does not necessarily represent a corresponding decline in the number of families homeschooling. During the 2025–2026 school year, DNPE conducted a cleanup of its records by removing homeschools that had become inactive over the years but were never officially closed. The result is a more accurate count of active homeschools in North Carolina.

During this process, some homeschools may have been moved to inactive status because families had not updated their online portal information or responded to DNPE communications requesting confirmation that their school was still active. In some cases, families have reported that their homeschools were made inactive in error. If you believe this happened to your homeschool, contact DNPE to have your status reviewed and corrected. NCHE is also here to help if you need assistance navigating the process.

While there is not an exact count of the number of students, DNPE estimates that there are about 1.6 students per homeschool for a total of 152,304 students. NCHE believes that a more realistic estimate is 2 students per homeschool for a total student population of 190,380 students. Since most homeschools with only students below the age of 7 do not officially open a school (because the law does not require it), there are actually more homeschools than this number represents. Here is a link to the North Carolina Division of Non-Public Education homeschool data for the 2025-2026 school year.

A post written by Brian D. Ray, Ph.D. states that “More empirical evidence shows that homeschooling doubled in the United States during the government pandemic lockdowns. The growth occurred from the 2019-2020 institutional school year to the 2020-2021 year, to perhaps as many as 5 million school-age children. The latest data come from the United States Census Bureau.”

Ray (2021b) estimated that there were 4.0 to 5.0 million homeschool students in grades K-12 in the United States (or 7% to 9% of school-age children) in January of 2021. The rate of growth in North Carolina didn’t double, but NCHE estimates that homeschool students represent about 13% of the total NC K-12 student population. That’s about double the national average.

Historical Growth in NC Homeschooling

In January 1988, there were about 1,046 homeschools in North Carolina. When NCHE convinced the NC General Assembly to pass a favorable homeschool law that was ratified on June 20, 1988, the number of homeschools began to grow rapidly. By the end of the 1988-89 school year the NC homeschool community had experienced a phenomenal 32% increase in numbers to 1,385 homeschools. Since then, the number of homeschools in North Carolina has grown at an annual compound growth rate of more that 29%.

In 2011, NCHE commissioned the following research:
A Summary of Homeschooling Across North Carolina: Academic Achievement and Demographic Characteristics
Brian D. Ray, Ph.D. March 11, 2011