A Tale of Two Sectors: Historic and Contemporary Perspectives on New York City Public and Private School Segregation

Abstract

Over half of the white school-aged population attends private schools in New York City, compared to less than 9% of Black and 7% of Hispanic students. We explore how between- and within-sector enrollment differences influence overall NYC school segregation. We find that nearly one-quarter of NYC's school segregation is attributable to segregation between the public and private sectors, 60% is due to within-public-sector segregation, and the remaining 16% is explained by within-private-sector segregation. While New York City is in some ways a unique case, these patterns likely extend to other major cities experiencing neighborhood gentrification and demographic change.

Keywords

segregation urban demography school racial/ethnic composition

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

B. P.

Gamoran

(2009). Trends in school racial composition in the era of unitary status. In Smrekar

Goldring

(Eds.), From the courtroom to the classroom: The shifting landscape of school desegregation (pp. 19–48). Harvard Education Press.

Annie E. Casey Foundation. (2025). Child population by race and ethnicity and age group in United States. Annie E. Casey Foundation. https://datacenter.aecf.org/data/tables/8446-child-population-by-race-and-ethnicity-and-age-group

Archdiocese of New York. (2023). 12 Catholic schools in Archdiocese of New York will not reopen, four will merge into two, at the end of the academic year. Author. https://archny.org/12-catholic-schools-in-archdiocese-of-new-york-will-not-reopen-four-will-merge-into-two-at-the-end-of-the-academic-year/

Archdiocese of New York. (2024). Bronx high schools. Catholic Schools NY. https://catholicschoolsny.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/ArchdioceseOfNewYorkOpenHouse.pdf

Beck

Cohen

S. M.

Ukeles

J. B.

Miller

(2012). Jewish community study of New York 2011: Geographic profile. UJA Federation of New York.

Billingham

C. M.

(2015). Within-district racial segregation and the elusiveness of white student return to urban public schools. Urban Education, 54(2), 151–181. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085915618713

Brown-Saracino

(2017). Explicating divided approaches to gentrification and growing income inequality. Annual Review of Sociology, 43(1), 515–539. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-soc-060116-053427

Cohen-Zada

(2006). Preserving religious identity through education: Economic analysis and evidence from the US. Journal of Urban Economics, 60(3), 372–398. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jue.2006.04.007

Cohen-Zada

Sander

(2008). Religion, religiosity and private school choice: Implications for estimating the effectiveness of private schools. Journal of Urban Economics, 64(1), 85–100. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jue.2007.08.005

10.

Coleman

Hoffer

Kilgore

(1982a). Achievement and segregation in secondary schools: A further look at public and private school differences. Sociology of Education, 55(2), 162–182. https://doi.org/10.2307/2112296

11.

Coleman

Hoffer

Kilgore

(1982b). Cognitive outcomes in public and private schools. Sociology of Education, 55(2), 65–76. https://doi.org/10.2307/2112288

12.

DiMarco

(2025, July 7). Direction signals: A new analysis of the evolving private school choice landscape. FutureEd. https://www.future-ed.org/directional-signals-a-new-analysis-of-the-evolving-private-school-choice-landscape

13.

Domanico

(2020). A statistical profile of New York’s K-12 educational sector: Race, income, and religion. Manhattan Institute.

14.

Orfield

Teitell

(2018). Private schools in American education: A small sector still lagging in diversity. Civil Rights Project.

15.

Elbers

(2024). Explaining changes in US residential segregation through patterns of population change. Nature Cities, 1(3), 194–204. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44284-024-00032-w

16.

Frankenberg

(2013). The role of residential segregation in contemporary school segregation. Education and Urban Society, 45(5), 548–570. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013124513486288

17.

Frey

W. H.

(2025, July 31). Growing diverse and immigrant populations drove the nation’s post-pandemic demographic rebound, new census data show. Brookings. https://www.brookings.edu/articles/growing-diverse-and-immigrant-populations-drove-the-nations-post-pandemic-demographic-rebound-new-census-data-show/

18.

Goldstein

(2025, May 13). Federal school voucher proposal advances, a milestone for conservatives. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/13/us/federal-school-vouchers-bill.html

19.

Green

T. L.

Germain

Castro

A. J.

Latham Sikes

Sanchez

Horne

(2022). Gentrifying neighborhoods, gentrifying schools? An emerging typology of school changes in a gentrifying urban school district. Urban Education, 57(1), 3–31. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085920974090

20.

Hanson

(2024). Average cost of private school. Education Data Initiative. https://educationdata.org/average-cost-of-private-school

21.

Hsieh

C. T.

Urquiola

(2006). The effects of generalized school choice on achievement and stratification: Evidence from Chile's voucher program. Journal of Public Economics, 90(8-9), 1477–1503. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2005.11.002

22.

Hudson

(2025, February 20). NYC’s most elite private high schools will cost nearly $70,000 this fall. Financial Advisor. https://www.fa-mag.com/news/nyc-s-most-elite-private-high-schools-will-cost-nearly–70-000-this-fall-81436.html

23.

Irwin

De La Rosa

Wang

Hein

Zhang

Burr

Roberts

Barmer

Bullock Mann

Dilig

Parker

Nachazel

Barnett

Purcell

(2022). Report on the Condition of Education 2022. Institute of Education Sciences. https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2022/2022144.pdf

24.

Kimelberg

S. M.

Billingham

C. M.

(2012). Attitudes toward diversity and the school choice process: Middle-class parents in a segregated urban public school district. Urban Education, 48(2), 198–231. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085912449629

25.

Koeth

S. M.

(2025). Crabgrass Catholicism: How Suburbanization Transformed Faith and Politics in Postwar America. University of Chicago Press.

26.

Kollar

Scherer

(2025). Income in the United States: 2024. US Census Bureau Current Population Reports.

27.

Kucsera

Orfield

(2014). New York State’s extreme school segregation: inequality, inaction and a damaged future. The Civil Rights Project at UCLA.

28.

Lee

V. E.

Chow-Hoy

T. K.

Burkam

D. T.

Geverdt

Smerdon

B. A.

(1998). Sector differences in high school course taking: A private school or Catholic school effect? Sociology of Education, 71(4), 314–335. https://doi.org/10.2307/2673173

29.

Maciag

(2015). Gentrification in America Report. Governing. http://www.governing.com/gov-data/gentrification-in-cities-governing-report.html

30.

Mann

Rogers

(2025). The inequality of the long game in a city with school choice and changing racial demographics. Urban Education, 60(2), 434–466. https://doi.org/10.1177/00420859231153415

31.

Milner

H. R.

IV . (2012). But what is urban education? Urban Education, 47(3), 556–561. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085912447516

32.

Mordechay

Ayscue

J. B.

(2020). Does neighborhood gentrification create school desegregation? Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education, 122(5), 1–34. https://doi.org/10.1177/016146812012200505

33.

Mordechay

Ayscue

J. B.

(2024). Diversifying neighborhoods, diversifying schools? The relationship between neighborhood racial change and school segregation in New York City. Education and Urban Society, 56(1), 3–32. https://doi.org/10.1177/00131245221110555

34.

Murnane

R. J.

Reardon

S. F.

(2018). Long term trends in private school enrollments by family income. AERA Open, 4(1), 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1177/2332858417751355

35.

National Center for Education Statistics. (2023). Private school enrollment. National Center for Education Statistics. https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/cgc

36.

National Center for Education Statistics. (2024). Private School Enrollment. Condition of Education. U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences. https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/cgc

37.

Neal

(1997). The effects of Catholic secondary schooling on educational achievement. Journal of Labor Economics, 15(1, Part 1), 98–123. https://doi.org/10.1086/209848

38.

New York City Public Schools. (n.d.). NYCPS data at a glance. New York City Public Schools. https://www.schools.nyc.gov/about-us/reports/nycps-data-at-a-glance

39.

Niche. (n.d.). NAIS member schools in the New York City area. Niche. https://www.niche.com/k12/search/top-nais-schools/m/new-york-city-metro-area/

40.

NYC Independent Budget Office. (2025). Education Indicators 2025. NYC Independent Budget Office. https://www.ibo.nyc.gov/content/publications/2025-september-education-landing

41.

NYC Planning. (n.d.). Demographic shifts in NYC and the surrounding metro area: Key insights from the 2020 Census. NYC Planning. https://www.nyc.gov/assets/planning/download/pdf/planning-level/region/nyc-metro-census-2020-webinar.pdf

42.

Operti

F. G.

Moreira

A. A.

Reis

S. D.

Gabrielli

Makse

H. A.

Andrade

J. S.

Jr . (2022). Dynamics of racial residential segregation and gentrification in New York City. Frontiers in Physics, 9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphy.2021.777761

43.

Ospino

Weitzel-O’Neill

(2016). Catholic schools serving Hispanic families: Insights from the 2014 national survey. Journal of Catholic Education, 19(2), 54–80. https://doi.org/10.15365/joce.1902042016

44.

Pearman

F. A.

(2020). Gentrification, geography, and the declining enrollment of neighborhood schools. Urban Education, 55(2), 183–215. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085919884342

45.

Pearman

F. A.

Swain

W. A.

(2017). School choice, gentrification, and the variable significance of racial stratification in urban neighborhoods. Sociology of Education, 90(3), 213–235. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038040717710494

46.

Posey-Maddox

Powell

S. N.

Roda

Lenhoff

S. W.

Miller

E. O.

(2025). Advantaged families’ opportunity hoarding in US K–12 education: A systematic review of the literature. Review of Educational Research, 96(2), 476–515. https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543241304766

47.

ProPublica. (2025). Private schools in New York City Department of Education. ProPublica. https://projects.propublica.org/private-school-demographics/districts/new-york-city-department-of-education-3620580/

48.

Reardon

Yun

J. T.

(2002). Private school racial enrollments and segregation. Harvard University, Civil Rights Project.

49.

Reardon

S. F.

Owens

(2014). 60 Years after Brown: Trends and consequences of school segregation. Annual Review of Sociology, 40, 199–218. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-soc-071913-043152

50.

Reardon

S. F.

Yun

J. T.

(2001). Suburban racial change and suburban school segregation, 1987-95. Sociology of Education, 74, 79–101. https://doi.org/10.2307/2673164

51.

Reardon

S. F.

Yun

J. T.

Eitle

T. M.

(2000). The changing structure of school segregation: Measurement and evidence of multiracial metropolitan-are school segregation, 1989-1995. Demography, 37(3), 351–364. https://doi.org/10.2307/2648047

52.

Roda

(2023). “Holding the line”: Investigating how urban school leaders’ respond to gentrification in New York City schools. Urban Education, 58(10), 2515–2542. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085920959137

53.

Saporito

Sohoni

(2006). Coloring outside the lines: Racial segregation in public schools and their attendance boundaries. Sociology of Education, 79, 81–105. https://doi.org/10.1177/003804070607900201

54.

Sattin-Bajaj

Roda

(2020). Opportunity hoarding in school choice contexts: The role of policy design in promoting middle-class parents’ exclusionary behaviors. Educational Policy, 34(7), 992–1035. https://doi.org/10.1177/0895904818802106

55.

Shmoys

McCormick

Ready

(2026). Constrained agency and the structures of educational choice: Evidence from New York City. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 48(1), 317–335. https://doi.org/10.3102/01623737251315754

56.

Sohoni

Saporito

(2009). Mapping school segregation: Using GIS to explore racial segregation between schools and their corresponding attendance areas. American Journal of Education, 115(4), 569–600. https://doi.org/10.1086/599782

57.

Sutton

(2020). Gentrification and the increasing significance of racial transition in New York City 1970-2010. Urban Affairs Review, 56(1), 65–95. https://doi.org/10.1177/1078087418771224

58.

Taeuber

K. E.

James

D. R.

(1982). Racial segregation among private and public schools. Sociology of Education, 55(2), 133–143. https://doi.org/10.2307/2112293

59.

Theil

(1972). Statistical decomposition analysis. North-Holland.

60.

Tilly

(1998). Durable inequality. University of Chicago Press.

61.

U.S. Census. (2020). American Community Survey, 5-year estimates subject tables, school enrollment (table S1401). U.S. Census. https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?q=private%20school%20enrollment%20new%20york%20city

62.

U.S. Department of Education. (2023). Digest of education statistics. U.S. Department of Education. https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d23/tables/dt23_205.50.asp

63.

Welner

Orfield

Huerta

L. A.

(2023). Introduction: Voucher expansion and the abandonment of equity. In Welner

Orfield

Huerta

L. A.

(Eds.), The school voucher illusion: Exposing the pretense equity (pp. 1–24). Teachers College Press.

64.

Yun

J. T.

Reardon

(2005). Private school racial enrollment and segregation. In Scott

J. T.

(Ed.), School choice and diversity: What the evidence says (pp. 42–58). Teachers College Press.

65.

Zuk

Bierbaum

A. H.

Chapple

Gorska

Loukaitou-Sideris

(2018). Gentrification, displacement, and the role of public investment. Journal of Planning Literature, 33(1), 31–44. https://doi.org/10.1177/0885412217716439