Which Orange County district had largest enrollment in 2023-24 school year?

Capistrano Unified School District had the highest enrollment among Orange County school districts, welcoming 48,223 students during the 2023-24 school year, according to the California Department of Education.

Of all the students welcomed in the 2023-24 school year, 51.2% of them were boys, 48.6% were girls, and 0.2% identified themselves as non-binary or did not specify their gender.

The most represented ethnicity among Capistrano Unified School District students was Hispanic or Latino, accounting for 28.8% of the student population.

Among the 28 districts in Orange County, Santa Ana Unified School District ranked second in enrollment numbers with 40,295 students, while Irvine Unified School District welcomed 37,867 students and ranked third in the 2023-24 school year.

Capistrano Unified School District roughly covers schools within Orange County and has a main office in San Juan Capistrano.

In the previous school year, Capistrano Unified School District also had the highest number of students among Orange County districts.

After peaking at 6.3 million in the early 2000s, public school enrollment in California has marked its seventh consecutive decline in the 2023-24 school year, with projections indicating it could fall to approximately 5.2 million by the 2033-34 school year. This trend is attributed to lower birth rates, slowed immigration, and families relocating out of state due to high housing costs. Rural and coastal districts have been particularly affected, facing tough decisions such as school closures and staffing reductions.

Although chronic absenteeism in California decreased in 2023, it remains double the pre-pandemic rate. According to the Public Policy Institute of California, chronic absenteeism in the state public schools reached 25% in 2023, up from 12% in 2019.