Private schools cost extra. So as you might imagine, the demographics, often tied to income, tend to differ between private and public schools. ProPublica, by Sergio Hernández, Nat Lash, and Brandon Roberts, published a searchable database to see the differences for schools near you.
Most of the data we use comes from the National Center for Education Statistics’ Private School Universe Survey, which has aimed to gather information about U.S. private schools every other year since 1989. Because the regulation of private schools is handled differently by state, there is no comprehensive list of every private school in the country. The PSS attempts to approximate such a list using various sources, including state education departments, private school associations and religious organizations, and, in some areas, online yellow pages and local government offices.
