A brick Chicago school building and a yellow school bus on a fall morning

Chicago’s Public Schools Counted 316,224 Students Last Fall — 104,701 Fewer Than 20 Years Earlier. The Loop’s Schools Nearly Doubled.

We read all 21 of CPS’s 20th-day enrollment files, fall 2005 through fall 2025, and joined them on the district’s own school IDs. The count fell from 420,925 to 316,224 — and the map is uneven: 63 of 77 community areas are below their fall 2012 level while the Loop’s schools nearly doubled. Mapped area by area, with the reading rules that matter.

Every fall, on the 20th day of classes, Chicago Public Schools counts who is enrolled, school by school, and publishes the file. We read twenty-one of those files — every fall from 2005 through 2025 — and joined them on the district’s own school IDs. The count fell from 420,925 to 316,224, a loss of 104,701 students, and the loss was uneven: in fall 2025, enrollment at the schools in 63 of the 77 community areas sat below its fall 2012 level, while the Loop’s schools had nearly doubled. One reading rule before the map: a school’s enrollment sits where the school sits. Chicago students routinely attend schools outside the area where they live, so none of this measures where children live — only where the seats they fill are.

CPS 20th-day membership files, fall 2005–fall 2025 · retrieved August 8, 2026 · school counts are the district’s own; area totals and changes are computed from them
School enrollment: fall 2025 against fall 2012 20th-day enrollment at the schools in each community area down >25%down ≤25%up ≤25%up >25% Albany Park: 7,452 in fall 2012, 5,093 in fall 2025Archer Heights: 6,475 in fall 2012, 5,680 in fall 2025Armour Square: 1,591 in fall 2012, 1,073 in fall 2025Ashburn: 7,394 in fall 2012, 6,479 in fall 2025Auburn Gresham: 5,204 in fall 2012, 4,269 in fall 2025Austin: 11,795 in fall 2012, 7,757 in fall 2025Avalon Park: 2,036 in fall 2012, 1,810 in fall 2025Avondale: 4,797 in fall 2012, 3,449 in fall 2025Belmont Cragin: 15,285 in fall 2012, 12,012 in fall 2025Beverly: 1,569 in fall 2012, 1,435 in fall 2025Bridgeport: 3,128 in fall 2012, 2,578 in fall 2025Brighton Park: 10,617 in fall 2012, 7,910 in fall 2025Burnside: 527 in fall 2012, 262 in fall 2025Calumet Heights: 1,534 in fall 2012, 1,201 in fall 2025Chatham: 6,270 in fall 2012, 4,607 in fall 2025Chicago Lawn: 7,436 in fall 2012, 6,190 in fall 2025Clearing: 3,107 in fall 2012, 3,190 in fall 2025Douglas: 5,775 in fall 2012, 2,739 in fall 2025Dunning: 4,623 in fall 2012, 4,510 in fall 2025East Garfield Park: 6,057 in fall 2012, 3,638 in fall 2025East Side: 5,289 in fall 2012, 4,043 in fall 2025Edgewater: 4,566 in fall 2012, 4,257 in fall 2025Edison Park: 972 in fall 2012, 1,174 in fall 2025Englewood: 7,350 in fall 2012, 5,071 in fall 2025Forest Glen: 1,474 in fall 2012, 1,801 in fall 2025Fuller Park: 518 in fall 2012, 206 in fall 2025Gage Park: 10,922 in fall 2012, 8,807 in fall 2025Garfield Ridge: 4,729 in fall 2012, 4,273 in fall 2025Grand Boulevard: 3,994 in fall 2012, 1,750 in fall 2025Greater Grand Crossing: 5,036 in fall 2012, 3,874 in fall 2025Hegewisch: 943 in fall 2012, 826 in fall 2025Hermosa: 4,478 in fall 2012, 3,074 in fall 2025Humboldt Park: 10,376 in fall 2012, 8,278 in fall 2025Hyde Park: 1,897 in fall 2012, 1,587 in fall 2025Irving Park: 8,336 in fall 2012, 7,133 in fall 2025Jefferson Park: 1,762 in fall 2012, 1,497 in fall 2025Kenwood: 4,460 in fall 2012, 4,349 in fall 2025Lake View: 6,991 in fall 2012, 5,956 in fall 2025Lincoln Park: 5,515 in fall 2012, 5,728 in fall 2025Lincoln Square: 4,271 in fall 2012, 4,486 in fall 2025Logan Square: 7,986 in fall 2012, 6,448 in fall 2025Loop: 1,745 in fall 2012, 3,272 in fall 2025Lower West Side: 8,192 in fall 2012, 5,131 in fall 2025McKinley Park: 2,004 in fall 2012, 1,081 in fall 2025Montclare: 1,323 in fall 2012, 1,022 in fall 2025Morgan Park: 3,278 in fall 2012, 3,265 in fall 2025Mount Greenwood: 2,190 in fall 2012, 2,501 in fall 2025Near North Side: 3,658 in fall 2012, 3,709 in fall 2025Near South Side: 1,830 in fall 2012, 2,280 in fall 2025Near West Side: 12,423 in fall 2012, 9,786 in fall 2025New City: 8,593 in fall 2012, 6,820 in fall 2025North Center: 7,304 in fall 2012, 7,453 in fall 2025North Lawndale: 9,383 in fall 2012, 4,974 in fall 2025North Park: 5,097 in fall 2012, 5,183 in fall 2025Norwood Park: 6,687 in fall 2012, 7,720 in fall 2025Oakland: 629 in fall 2012, 592 in fall 2025O’Hare: 785 in fall 2012, 1,213 in fall 2025Portage Park: 7,192 in fall 2012, 5,552 in fall 2025Pullman: 1,534 in fall 2012, 2,304 in fall 2025Riverdale: 2,207 in fall 2012, 1,555 in fall 2025Rogers Park: 4,374 in fall 2012, 3,500 in fall 2025Roseland: 6,897 in fall 2012, 4,041 in fall 2025South Chicago: 4,638 in fall 2012, 3,873 in fall 2025South Deering: 1,823 in fall 2012, 1,199 in fall 2025South Lawndale: 15,251 in fall 2012, 8,206 in fall 2025South Shore: 4,612 in fall 2012, 4,369 in fall 2025Uptown: 4,523 in fall 2012, 3,235 in fall 2025Washington Heights: 6,095 in fall 2012, 3,816 in fall 2025Washington Park: 3,515 in fall 2012, 2,683 in fall 2025West Elsdon: 2,801 in fall 2012, 1,797 in fall 2025West Englewood: 6,753 in fall 2012, 4,382 in fall 2025West Garfield Park: 2,620 in fall 2012, 1,346 in fall 2025West Lawn: 4,299 in fall 2012, 4,234 in fall 2025West Pullman: 3,455 in fall 2012, 2,368 in fall 2025West Ridge: 8,694 in fall 2012, 8,123 in fall 2025West Town: 13,486 in fall 2012, 9,908 in fall 2025Woodlawn: 4,445 in fall 2012, 3,231 in fall 2025
Thirteen years, area by area Change in 20th-day enrollment at each area’s schools, fall 2012 to fall 2025. Hovering an area shows both counts, and the largest changes in both directions are tabulated below. Fall 2012 is the earliest fall with at least 98.9 percent of enrollment mapped to an area.

How the count works

CPS publishes a 20th-day membership file each school year: one row per school, with the school’s ID and its enrollment on the 20th day of classes — a one-day count, taken in late September. This page uses the district’s own total column in every file, which includes pre-kindergarten, and counts every school the files carry — district-run, charter, contract, and the alternative schools CPS labels “options” — because the files themselves do. The school ID stays with a school across all twenty-one falls, so the panel joins without any name-matching. What the count is not: it is not attendance, not capacity, and — the rule worth repeating — not a count of children living nearby. A student in Austin can fill a seat in the Loop; the seat counts in the Loop.

Twenty-one falls, five numbers

20th-day enrollment, citywidestudents
  • Fall 2005the file’s first year420,925
  • Fall 2012the plateau’s last year403,461
  • Fall 2020340,658
  • Fall 2024second uptick in a row325,305
  • Fall 2025the latest file316,224

The twenty-year loss did not run at a steady pace. From fall 2008 through fall 2012 the count held a plateau near 405,000. Then it declined ten falls in a row, from 403,461 in fall 2012 to 322,106 in fall 2022. The steepest of those drops came in fall 2020, the first pandemic fall, at 4.1 percent. Fall 2023 and fall 2024 brought back-to-back gains — the first since falls 2008 and 2009 — reaching 325,305. Fall 2025 gave the gains back and more: 316,224, down 2.8 percent — the largest one-year drop since fall 2021. The files count seats filled; they say nothing about why any of this happened, and this page doesn’t either.

Where the seats emptied

Largest declines by students, fall 2012 → fall 2025enrollmentchange
  • South Lawndale15,251 → 8,206-46%
  • North Lawndale9,383 → 4,974-47%
  • Austin11,795 → 7,757-34%
  • West Town13,486 → 9,908-27%
  • Belmont Cragin15,285 → 12,012-21%
  • Lower West Side8,192 → 5,131-37%
  • Douglas5,775 → 2,739-53%
  • Roseland6,897 → 4,041-41%

South Lawndale’s schools enrolled 7,045 fewer students in fall 2025 than in fall 2012 — the largest decline in the city, a 46 percent drop — and North Lawndale’s nearly halved. Two areas’ school enrollments did halve: Douglas, from 5,775 to 2,739, and Grand Boulevard, from 3,994 to 1,750. The declines are not a South and West Side story alone — West Town’s schools are down 27 percent, Belmont Cragin’s 21 — but the deepest cuts cluster there, and in total 63 of the 77 community areas held fewer students in their schools than thirteen falls earlier.

Where the seats filled

Largest gains by share, fall 2012 → fall 2025 (areas over 700 students)enrollmentchange
  • Loop1,745 → 3,272+88%
  • O’Hare785 → 1,213+55%
  • Pullman1,534 → 2,304+50%
  • Near South Side1,830 → 2,280+25%
  • Forest Glen1,474 → 1,801+22%

Fourteen areas moved the other way. The Loop’s schools went from 1,745 students to 3,272 — an 88 percent gain, the city’s largest — with O’Hare up 55 percent, Pullman up 50, and the Near South Side up 25. Most of the other gainers sit on the North and Northwest Sides — Forest Glen, Edison Park, Norwood Park, Lincoln Square, Lincoln Park, North Center, North Park, the Near North Side — joined by Clearing and Mount Greenwood on the Southwest Side. Remember the reading rule: a new school opening downtown moves seats downtown, wherever its students live.

Known limits

Citywide figures need no geography and cover every school in every file. Area figures require placing each school in a community area, and for schools that closed before 2011 the public record thins: in the fall 2005 file, 4.8 percent of enrollment sits at schools this page cannot place; by fall 2012 that share is 1.1 percent, and from fall 2016 on it is effectively zero. That is why every area comparison here starts at fall 2012 — unplaced schools stay in the citywide totals and are never dropped. The count is one day’s membership: a student who enrolls in October is not in it. School counts changed shape across the window — 625 schools in the fall 2005 file, 683 at the 2012 peak, 643 in fall 2025 — and a school that moved buildings carries its enrollment to its new area.

  • Sources CPS 20th-day membership files, school years 2005–06 through 2025–26, from the district’s demographics page, retrieved August 8, 2026. The district-total rows printed in the 2016–17 through 2025–26 files match this page’s sums exactly; earlier files carry no total row.
  • Counting One row per school per fall, keyed on the district’s School ID; each school’s enrollment is the file’s own total (or totals) column, pre-kindergarten included. Falls are named by calendar year: “fall 2012” is school year 2012–13.
  • Geography Schools were placed in community areas by a four-step ladder, first match wins: the Community Area column CPS added to its 2022–23 and later files; the portal’s School Profile datasets (SY1617–SY2425), whose computed community-area column stores internal region codes, not area numbers — the code-to-area crosswalk was derived from the city’s 311 file (v6vf-nfxy), which carries both columns, by assigning each of the 77 codes the community area that over 95 percent of that code’s 2026 311 rows name, rows created January 1 through August 8, 2026; the portal’s CPS Schools 2013–14 dataset; and the portal’s 2011–12 progress-report dataset (9xs2-f89t). Area names follow the city’s boundary dataset (igwz-8jzy).

Computed by KCM Desk from records retrieved August 8, 2026. If you spot an error, corrections come first.

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