Average Private School Tuition (2026)

The average private school tuition in the US was $12,790 for the 2020-21 school year, according to table 205.50 of the NCES Digest of Education Statistics. That is the federal government's figure for all private K-12 schools combined, from the National Teacher and Principal Survey. In 2022-23 dollars it comes to $14,570.

It is the most recent federal number. NCES prepared the table in October 2023, the 2024 edition of the Digest did not update it, and the 2023-24 Private School Universe Survey published in May 2026 does not ask schools about tuition. Websites that quote a 2025 or 2026 national average are usually drawing on their own school listings, which is why their numbers differ from each other.

Each school reports the highest tuition it charges a full-time student, before any discount or financial aid, and NCES weights those figures by enrollment. About 7% of schools reported charging nothing, mostly special education schools paid for under public contracts. Both choices pull the national average below what a family shopping in a large metro area tends to see.

High school costs more at almost every kind of private school. In 2020-21 private elementary and middle schools averaged $9,210, high schools averaged $15,420, and combined schools that span both averaged $15,550 (see the table below).

The gap is widest at religious schools other than Catholic ones. Their elementary schools averaged $8,810 while their high schools averaged $21,930, two and a half times as much. NCES notes that the high school estimate carries a large standard error, so treat the exact figure with some caution. At Catholic schools the step is from $6,760 to $13,960.

School type moves the price more than grade level does. Catholic schools averaged $9,720 in 2020-21, other religious schools $10,910 and nonsectarian schools $19,590, about double the Catholic average (NCES). Nonsectarian elementary schools alone averaged $19,030, and nonsectarian combined schools $23,490.

Religious schools also enroll most private school students, which is a large part of why the overall average stays near $13,000. In 2023-24, 67% of private schools had a religious orientation and they enrolled 76% of private school students.

Average tuition nearly tripled in current dollars over two decades, from $4,570 in 1999-2000 to $12,790 in 2020-21. After adjusting for inflation, NCES puts the increase at $8,080 to $14,570 in 2022-23 dollars, a real rise of about 80% (see the chart and table below).

Most of that real growth came before 2012. In constant dollars the average rose from $13,100 in 2011-12 to $14,570 in 2020-21, about 11% over nine years. Catholic school tuition rose faster than the other groups in the later period, from $6,530 to $9,720 in current dollars, while nonsectarian tuition was roughly flat at around $19,600 to $19,900.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks K-12 tuition in the Consumer Price Index as "elementary and high school tuition and fees" (series CUUR0000SEEB02). The index stood at 108.654 in September 2026, up 4.4% from 104.052 a year earlier. Prices across the whole CPI rose 3.7% over the same twelve months.

Over ten years the tuition index rose 44.9%, from 74.973 in September 2016, against 39.6% for all items. Tuition increases show up in the index in late summer, when new school-year prices take effect: the series went from 105.804 in July 2026 to 108.065 in August and 108.654 in September. BLS did not publish an October 2025 value because of the federal government shutdown.

Independent schools, the group represented by the National Association of Independent Schools, charge far more than the national average. Across NAIS's 1,358 member schools, average day tuition was $33,361 in 2025-26, up from $32,251 the year before (NAIS Facts at a Glance). NAIS is an industry association, and its members are roughly 4% of US private schools, so these numbers describe that tier and not private schools as a whole.

Prices rise with grade. The median was $29,015 for grade 1, $32,920 for grade 6, $33,700 for grade 8 and $38,500 for grade 9, the first year of high school. Grade 12 was $38,220. Full-day programs for children age 2 and under had a median of $23,075, up 12.3% in a year, the largest increase in the NAIS table.

Boarding roughly doubles the bill. NAIS members charged an average of $74,242 for seven-day boarding in 2025-26, up from $71,715, and $60,296 for five-day boarding. The median for a seven-day boarding student in grade 9 was $74,400 and in grade 12 $73,840.

Even those prices do not cover what boarding schools spend. The median total expense per boarding student was $117,101 in 2025-26, compared with $33,567 per day student. Schools close the gap with endowment income, annual giving and other revenue; the median endowment per student across NAIS members was $30,481.

Sticker price is not what every family pays. At NAIS schools the median share of students receiving financial aid was 26.4% in 2025-26, and the median grant was $22,308 per aided student. Financial aid made up a median 12.6% of a school's budget.

NAIS also reports a median net tuition income of $26,474 per student, against median tuition and fee income of $32,746. These are separate medians across schools, so subtracting one from the other does not give a discount rate. NCES's federal tuition figures ignore aid entirely.

The NCES data shows how wide the spread is. In 2020-21, about 2.6 million of the 4.4 million students in schools offering grade 1 or higher attended schools charging less than $10,000 a year (NCES). Another 678,520 attended schools charging $10,000 to $14,999.

At the top, 1,159,670 students, about 26%, attended schools charging $15,000 or more, where the average was $29,960. Nonsectarian high schools in that band averaged $44,770. The middle of the market is far cheaper than the independent-school figures that dominate news coverage.

Catholic schools are the largest single group. The National Catholic Educational Association counted 1,674,907 students in 5,829 Catholic schools in 2025-26, of which 4,644 were elementary or middle schools and 1,185 were high schools (NCEA, industry data). About 37.6% of schools reported a waiting list, 22.2% of students were not Catholic, and 62 schools closed or consolidated while 13 opened.

NCEA's public 2025-26 materials do not include a tuition figure, so the most recent sourced Catholic tuition is the NCES 2020-21 average: $6,760 for elementary schools and $13,960 for high schools. NCEA reports that 19.4% of Catholic school students use a parental choice program such as a voucher, scholarship or education savings account, where dioceses reported.

NCES counted 30,553 private elementary and secondary schools in 2023-24, with 5,096,365 students and 517,780 full-time-equivalent teachers (Private School Universe Survey 2023-24). Catholic schools enrolled 33.7% of students, other religious schools 42.1% and nonsectarian schools 24.2% (see the table below).

Private schools are small. The average school had 167 students, and about 39% enrolled fewer than 50. The pupil-to-teacher ratio was 9.8, ranging from 12.2 at Catholic schools to 7.5 at nonsectarian schools. Of the 348,298 students who graduated from private high schools in 2022-23, 61.6% were attending a four-year college by fall 2023, and 84.4% of Catholic school graduates were.

About 1 in 10 American students attends a private school. Private schools enrolled 5,474,000 students from prekindergarten through grade 12 in fall 2021, 10.0% of all enrollment, down from a peak of 6,320,000 and 11.7% in 2001 (NCES table 205.10). Counting kindergarten through grade 12 only, NCES's Condition of Education puts the share at 9%.

Catholic schools have lost share within the private sector, from 39.4% of private enrollment in 2009 to 33.2% in 2021, while other religious schools grew from 37.8% to 41.3% and nonsectarian schools from 22.8% to 25.5% (NCES table 205.20).

California has the most private school students, 563,877 in 2023-24, followed by Florida (486,463) and New York (391,798). Wyoming has the fewest at 1,841, then Alaska (3,093) and Vermont (8,758) (NCES).

As a share of enrollment, private schools are most common in the Northeast, where they enrolled 13.0% of students in fall 2021, and least common in the West at 8.3%. By state, the private share ranged from 2% in Wyoming and Utah to 20% in the District of Columbia (NCES Condition of Education). No federal source publishes average tuition by state, so state tuition rankings found online are not used on this page.

Private school families have higher incomes on average. In 2019, 81.0% of private school students lived in families with income at or above twice the poverty line, compared with 62.7% of public school students; at nonsectarian schools the figure was 89.3% (NCES table 206.30). 9.6% of private school students lived below the poverty line, against 17.2% in public schools.

In 2023-24, 63% of private school students were White, 13% Hispanic, 10% Black and 6% Asian. Most attend schools in cities (45.1%) or suburbs (37.5%); 11.5% attend rural schools.

Public schools do not charge tuition, but they spend money per student. US public school systems spent $17,619 per pupil in current spending in fiscal 2024, up 6.6% from $16,526 in fiscal 2023, according to the Census Bureau. New York spent the most ($31,918), followed by the District of Columbia ($31,529) and Vermont ($28,818). Idaho ($11,060) and Utah ($11,347) spent the least.

The two numbers measure different things. Public spending per pupil is what a school system spends, while private tuition is a posted price that excludes donations, endowment income and aid. They also come from different years. The comparison shows that the typical private school charges less per student than the typical public school spends, while independent schools charge about twice as much.

The 2017 tax law let families use 529 college savings plans for up to $10,000 a year of K-12 tuition per beneficiary. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed July 4, 2025, raised that limit to $20,000 for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2025, which means tax year 2026 for most families (P.L. 119-21, sec. 70413). IRS Publication 970 for 2025 returns still shows the $10,000 limit, which is correct for 2025 (IRS).

The same law widened what counts as a qualified K-12 expense, for distributions made after July 4, 2025. Besides tuition, families can now pay for curriculum and curricular materials, books and other instructional materials, online educational materials, outside tutoring by a qualified tutor who is not a relative, fees for standardized achievement tests, AP exams and college admission tests, dual enrollment fees, and educational therapies for students with disabilities.

State tax treatment can differ. New York's state-run plan, for example, says K-12 tuition withdrawals require the recapture of New York tax benefits on contributions (NY 529). Check your own state's plan before using a 529 for K-12 costs.

P.L. 119-21 also created a federal tax credit for donations to scholarship-granting organizations, capped at $1,700 per taxpayer, for taxable years ending after December 31, 2026. Scholarships go to students in households earning no more than 300% of the area median income, and states must opt in. The IRS lists 30 participating states for 2027 as of October 22, 2026, and describes the cap as $3,400 for joint filers (IRS).

State programs already pay private tuition for many students. EdChoice, a school choice advocacy group, counts more than 1.5 million students in 75 programs across 34 states, DC and Puerto Rico. The largest single program is Florida's FES-EO education savings account with 280,611 students, followed by North Carolina's Opportunity Scholarship voucher at 103,400 and Ohio's EdChoice Expansion at 100,922 (EdChoice).

Multiplying annual prices by years in school shows the scale. Using NCES averages, eight years of private elementary school at $9,210 and four years of high school at $15,420 come to about $135,000 in 2020-21 prices, before any increases. At an independent school, twelve years at the 2025-26 average day tuition of $33,361 would come to about $400,000 at today's price. The tuition index has risen faster than overall prices over the past decade, so these totals understate what later years are likely to cost.

Families who keep education savings in a brokerage account or a 529 can use Walnut, an AI investing app, to see how a connected account is doing. The numbers on this page describe what schools charge; they are not a recommendation about where to send a child or how to save.