California school enrollment over two decades: gains and losses by region with pandemic year drops

California school enrollment over two decades: gains and losses by region with pandemic year drops

For two decades, K-12 enrollment in California was stable, hovering between 6.1 million and 6.2 million students. But within the state, there was movement: sharp enrollment declines in coastal counties – the rural north and urban Los Angeles and Orange County, where housing prices outpaced incomes – and sharp increases inland, as families moved east to bigger lots and cheaper homes.