Chicago Public Schools Enrollment Declines by 11,500 Students, Continuing Decades-Long Trend
Chicago Public Schools (CPS) has reported a decline of 11,537 students this academic year, bringing its official 20th-day enrollment to 304,687. This represents a 3.7% decrease since the previous fall and continues a decades-long trend of declining student numbers. Despite this, CPS has regained its position as the nation's third-largest school district, following New York City and Los Angeles, after Miami-Dade County's enrollment dropped significantly. Since 2010, CPS has seen an overall enrollment reduction of 24%, or nearly 100,000 students. This decline is largely attributed to falling birth rates in the U.S., with Chicago experiencing a 37% decrease in births between 2010 and 2023. While CPS saw modest enrollment increases in 2023 and 2024 due to an influx of migrants, intensified immigration enforcement led to a 5.3% drop in Latino enrollment this fall. The district's demographic makeup remains stable, with Black students comprising about a third and Latino students 47% of the student body. The decli...
