Chicago Public Schools Counted 304,687 Students in Fall 2026, 11,537 Fewer Than in Fall 2025. Its 18,838 Kindergartners Were the Fewest in 22 Years of Files.

Updated October 1, 2026: this page first read 21 files, through fall 2025, on August 8, 2026. It now adds the fall 2026 file. Every citywide count from the earlier 21 files came out the same on rereading. Two things changed. From fall 2022 on, each school is now placed in the community area that year’s file names, so a school that moved counts in its new area from the year it moved; that moves one school’s 145 fall 2025 students from the Near West Side to North Lawndale. The update also corrects a year this page reported: the number of schools in the files peaked at 683 in fall 2011, and this page first gave that year as 2012.

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 about a month into the year. 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. A school usually keeps its ID from file to file, so the 22 files join on IDs without matching names; the exceptions, by our reading, are six schools that appear under new IDs in fall 2026 after a change of governance, described below, and no citywide or area figure on this page depends on linking their old and new IDs. The count measures enrollment on one day. It does not measure attendance, building capacity or where children live: a student who lives in Austin and attends a school in the Loop counts in the Loop.

Is this fall’s drop unusual?

• Fall 2005the first file420,925
• Fall 2012the plateau’s last year403,461
• Fall 2020the steepest one-year drop340,658
• Fall 2024the second gain in a row325,305
• Fall 2025316,224
• Fall 2026the latest file304,687

By the record of the last two decades, yes. The count held near 405,000 from fall 2008 through fall 2012, then fell ten falls in a row, from 403,461 to 322,106 in fall 2022; the steepest of those drops, 4.1 percent, came in fall 2020. Falls 2023 and 2024 brought the first back-to-back gains since falls 2008 and 2009, 3,199 students in all. The two falls since lost more than six times that: 9,081 students in fall 2025 and 11,537 in fall 2026. Only fall 2020 lost a larger share of its students in one year, and only falls 2020 and 2006 lost more students.

Did fewer children start school, or did more students leave?

Both, in a grade-level accounting the files allow because they count every grade. The files do not follow individual students, so each part of the split is a net figure. Each fall’s change splits three ways: the kindergarten class that entered against the senior class of the year before, which has left; the change from each grade to the next grade a year later; and preschool. In fall 2026 the kindergarten class of 18,838 was 5,425 smaller than the 24,263 seniors of fall 2025. Grades one through twelve held 5,926 fewer students than the grades below them had held a year earlier: 2,717 fewer in grades one through eight and 3,209 fewer in grades nine through twelve. Preschool fell by 186. The three parts add to the 11,537.

How each fall’s change in enrollment splits, fall 2017 to fall 2026

Fall	Kindergarten minus last fall’s seniors	Grade to grade, grades 1–8	Grade to grade, grades 9–12	Preschool	Total change
Fall 2017	+521	−5,169	−4,087	−1,232	−9,967
Fall 2018	−926	−4,528	−2,841	−1,773	−10,068
Fall 2019	−225	−3,056	−2,701	−176	−6,158
Fall 2020	−2,976	−4,851	−673	−5,998	−14,498
Fall 2021	−4,496	−8,236	−1,451	+3,936	−10,247
Fall 2022	−4,383	−1,780	−3,115	+973	−8,305
Fall 2023	−2,879	+3,756	−918	+1,186	+1,145
Fall 2024	−2,695	+5,122	−677	+304	+2,054
Fall 2025	−4,638	−1,529	−1,937	−977	−9,081
Fall 2026	−5,425	−2,717	−3,209	−186	−11,537

Two patterns run through the decade. The kindergarten class has been smaller than the departing senior class every fall since 2018, by between 2,695 and 5,425 students in each fall since 2020, so the district shrinks from the bottom even in a fall when no one leaves between grades. The grade-to-grade change swings more. In falls 2023 and 2024, grades one through eight held 3,756 and 5,122 more students than the grades below them had a year earlier, a net gain between grades. That turned to a net loss of 1,529 in fall 2025 and 2,717 in fall 2026. Our reading: gains that size point to students arriving after kindergarten, since holding a student back a grade moves the student between grades without adding to the total; in the two falls since, more students appear to have left between grades than joined, on top of an entering class smaller than the one that graduates. The files do not record why. The district’s September 24 release lists declining birth rates, migration, housing affordability, moves to suburbs and Sunbelt metro areas, and changes in national immigration and refugee policy as contributing factors; these files cannot test any of them.

Which areas’ schools lost the most students since fall 2012?

• South Lawndale15,251 → 7,554-50%
• North Lawndale9,383 → 4,854-48%
• Austin11,795 → 7,517-36%
• West Town13,486 → 9,280-31%
• Belmont Cragin15,285 → 11,643-24%
• Douglas5,775 → 2,397-58%
• Lower West Side8,192 → 4,846-41%
• Brighton Park10,617 → 7,307-31%

South Lawndale’s schools enrolled 7,697 fewer students in fall 2026 than in fall 2012, the largest decline in the city, which leaves them with fewer than half as many. Five areas’ school enrollments have halved or more since fall 2012: Douglas, Fuller Park and Grand Boulevard, each down 58 percent; West Garfield Park, down 51; and South Lawndale, down 50. North Lawndale’s are down 48 percent. The declines reach the Northwest Side too, with West Town down 31 percent and Belmont Cragin 24, and 63 of the 77 community areas held fewer students in their schools than in fall 2012.

Which areas’ schools gained?

• Loop1,745 → 3,156+81%
• Pullman1,534 → 2,262+47%
• O’Hare785 → 1,137+45%
• Forest Glen1,474 → 1,792+22%
• Near South Side1,830 → 2,171+19%

Fourteen areas moved the other way. The Loop’s schools went from 1,745 students to 3,156, an 81 percent gain and the city’s largest, with Pullman up 47 percent and O’Hare 45. Most of the other gainers are on the North and Northwest Sides, in Forest Glen, Edison Park, Norwood Park, Lincoln Square, Lincoln Park, North Center and North Park, joined by Clearing and Mount Greenwood on the Southwest Side and the Near South Side and Kenwood on the South Side. Kenwood is new to the list this fall; its two largest schools, both high schools, added 298 students between them. The Near North Side, on the list a year ago, has left it. A new school downtown adds its students to the downtown count, wherever they live.

Every community area: 20th-day enrollment at its schools

Community area	Fall 2012	Fall 2025	Fall 2026	Change since fall 2012
Albany Park	7,452	5,093	4,695	-37%
Archer Heights	6,475	5,680	5,497	-15%
Armour Square	1,591	1,073	1,033	-35%
Ashburn	7,394	6,479	6,177	-16%
Auburn Gresham	5,204	4,269	4,174	-20%
Austin	11,795	7,757	7,517	-36%
Avalon Park	2,036	1,810	1,771	-13%
Avondale	4,797	3,449	2,677	-44%
Belmont Cragin	15,285	12,012	11,643	-24%
Beverly	1,569	1,435	1,471	-6%
Bridgeport	3,128	2,578	2,494	-20%
Brighton Park	10,617	7,910	7,307	-31%
Burnside	527	262	264	-50%
Calumet Heights	1,534	1,201	1,221	-20%
Chatham	6,270	4,607	4,416	-30%
Chicago Lawn	7,436	6,190	6,091	-18%
Clearing	3,107	3,190	3,212	+3%
Douglas	5,775	2,739	2,397	-58%
Dunning	4,623	4,510	4,361	-6%
East Garfield Park	6,057	3,638	3,394	-44%
East Side	5,289	4,043	3,984	-25%
Edgewater	4,566	4,257	3,928	-14%
Edison Park	972	1,174	1,113	+15%
Englewood	7,350	5,071	4,843	-34%
Forest Glen	1,474	1,801	1,792	+22%
Fuller Park	518	206	218	-58%
Gage Park	10,922	8,807	8,545	-22%
Garfield Ridge	4,729	4,273	4,055	-14%
Grand Boulevard	3,994	1,750	1,696	-58%
Greater Grand Crossing	5,036	3,874	3,675	-27%
Hegewisch	943	826	813	-14%
Hermosa	4,478	3,074	2,995	-33%
Humboldt Park	10,376	8,278	7,940	-23%
Hyde Park	1,897	1,587	1,515	-20%
Irving Park	8,336	7,133	7,032	-16%
Jefferson Park	1,762	1,497	1,714	-3%
Kenwood	4,460	4,349	4,619	+4%
Lake View	6,991	5,956	5,787	-17%
Lincoln Park	5,515	5,728	5,674	+3%
Lincoln Square	4,271	4,486	4,551	+7%
Logan Square	7,986	6,448	6,431	-19%
Loop	1,745	3,272	3,156	+81%
Lower West Side	8,192	5,131	4,846	-41%
McKinley Park	2,004	1,081	1,050	-48%
Montclare	1,323	1,022	967	-27%
Morgan Park	3,278	3,265	3,260	-1%
Mount Greenwood	2,190	2,501	2,495	+14%
Near North Side	3,658	3,709	3,534	-3%
Near South Side	1,830	2,280	2,171	+19%
Near West Side	12,423	9,641	9,419	-24%
New City	8,593	6,820	6,586	-23%
North Center	7,304	7,453	7,466	+2%
North Lawndale	9,383	5,119	4,854	-48%
North Park	5,097	5,183	5,149	+1%
Norwood Park	6,687	7,720	7,499	+12%
Oakland	629	592	586	-7%
O’Hare	785	1,213	1,137	+45%
Portage Park	7,192	5,552	5,187	-28%
Pullman	1,534	2,304	2,262	+47%
Riverdale	2,207	1,555	1,518	-31%
Rogers Park	4,374	3,500	3,171	-28%
Roseland	6,897	4,041	4,065	-41%
South Chicago	4,638	3,873	3,760	-19%
South Deering	1,823	1,199	1,143	-37%
South Lawndale	15,251	8,206	7,554	-50%
South Shore	4,612	4,369	4,060	-12%
Uptown	4,523	3,235	3,142	-31%
Washington Heights	6,095	3,816	3,771	-38%
Washington Park	3,515	2,683	2,742	-22%
West Elsdon	2,801	1,797	1,746	-38%
West Englewood	6,753	4,382	4,304	-36%
West Garfield Park	2,620	1,346	1,278	-51%
West Lawn	4,299	4,234	4,019	-7%
West Pullman	3,455	2,368	2,095	-39%
West Ridge	8,694	8,123	7,769	-11%
West Town	13,486	9,908	9,280	-31%
Woodlawn	4,445	3,231	2,914	-34%

Where did this fall’s drop land?

The schools in 66 of the 77 areas enrolled fewer students in fall 2026 than in fall 2025. Avondale’s lost the most, 772 students or 22 percent, mostly because two charter high schools that held 354 and 217 students in last fall’s file are not in this fall’s. South Lawndale’s schools lost 652 students, West Town’s 628 and Brighton Park’s 603. Kenwood’s gained the most, 270.

Ten schools in the fall 2025 file are missing from the fall 2026 file. Six schools new to the fall 2026 file, all listed under district governance with new school IDs, sit in the same community areas as six of the missing ones and carry similar names: five have the names of Acero charter campuses, Tamayo, Fuentes, Cisneros, Santiago and De Las Casas, without the network’s name, and Chicago Arts High School corresponds to the ChiArts contract school. Our reading is that these are the same six schools under district management; the file itself does not link the old IDs to the new ones. Under their old IDs they enrolled 1,623 students in fall 2025, and under the new ones 1,373 in fall 2026. The other four, all charter high schools that enrolled 929 students in fall 2025, have no apparent counterpart in the new file, which lists no school with their names in their areas: Aspira Business and Finance, Aspira Early College, EPIC and Urban Prep Bronzeville. A change of governance moves no students between areas, so the area totals above are unaffected by it.

Why do the district’s own area figures differ?

The district’s September 24 release reported its own community-area changes, led by a decline of nearly 53 percent on the Lower West Side and a rise of 29 percent in O’Hare. The release does not say over what period, or whether it places students where they live or where their schools sit. This page places them at their schools and measures from fall 2012, which gives the Lower West Side a 41 percent decline and O’Hare a 45 percent gain. The two sets of figures answer different questions, so comparing them line by line would mislead.

Does a falling count mean a school will close?

These files cannot say. A 20th-day count records how many students a school enrolled on one day, and decisions about buildings rest on capacity, programs and budgets that the files do not carry. On closures, the district’s release states that it “remains under a school closure moratorium until the end of the 2026-27 school year.” One school’s count, grade by grade, is in the fall 2026 file on the district’s demographics page, which also carries the same file for every fall back to 2005.

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. The count is one day’s membership, so a student who enrolls in October is not in it. The number of schools in the files changed across the period, from 625 in fall 2005 to a peak of 683 in fall 2011 and 639 in fall 2026. From fall 2022 on, a school that moved counts in its new area from the year it moved; seven schools, none with more than 250 students, did so in fall 2025 or fall 2026. The grade split uses the district-total row the files print from fall 2016 on; kindergarten is summed from the school rows in all 22 files, adding the full-day and half-day kindergarten columns in the first three files, fall 2005 through fall 2007.

• Sources CPS 20th-day membership files, school years 2005–06 through 2026–27, from the district’s demographics page; the 2026–27 file was retrieved October 1, 2026, the rest August 8, 2026. The district-total rows printed in the 2016–17 through 2026–27 files match this page’s sums exactly; earlier files carry no total row. The district’s September 24, 2026 release, read October 1, 2026, is the source of the statements attributed to the district.
• 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.
• The grade split Each fall’s change is split into three parts that add to it exactly: kindergarten minus the previous fall’s twelfth grade; the sum, over grades one through twelve, of each grade minus the grade below it a year earlier; and the change in preschool (the files’ PE and PK columns). The grade-to-grade figure nets students who joined, students who left and students held back a grade.
• Geography In the 2022–23 and later files, each school is placed in the community area that year’s file names. Schools in earlier files were placed by a four-step ladder, first match wins: the Community Area column of the 2022–23 and later files; five of the portal’s School Profile datasets (8i6r-et8s, w4qj-h7bg, 83yd-jxxw, 9a5f-2r4p and 3dhs-m3w4; three others in the series could not be queried by region), whose computed community-area column stores internal region codes rather than area numbers, with the code-to-area crosswalk 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 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 and October 1, 2026. Human-guided and edited — about this desk. If you spot an error, corrections come first.

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