2023-24 School Year: How many students were enrolled in Merced County schools?

There were 59,126 students enrolled in Merced County schools in the 2023-24 school year, 0.9% less than the previous year, according to the California Department of Education.

Of all the students welcomed at the time, 51.4% identified as male, 48.6% as female, and 0.1% identified themselves as non-binary or did not specify their gender.

Data also showed that Hispanic or Latino students made up 76.8% of the student body, the largest percentage in the county, followed by white students at 12.2% (7,188 students), Asian students at 5.2% (3,088 students) and Black or African American students at 2.5% (1,452 students).

Atwater High School had the highest enrollment among Merced County’s 739 schools in the 2023-24 academic year, welcoming 2,051 students.

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.