Since many private schools are Catholic, it's no surprise that New Orleans tops the list of metropolitan areas with high private school enrollment. NOLA, which was once part of the Louisiana Purchase, is steeped in the French culture of the “New World”, which tends to be dominated by Catholics, and is home to some of the most important Catholic educational institutions, such as the Ursulinas (traditionally a school for women), founded by the Italian Saint Angela Merici and named after the patron saint of education. Saint Orleans is also home to Xavier University, the only historically black Catholic university in the United States. In Wilmington, Delaware, more than 13,000 students are enrolled in 60 private schools, and most of these schools have a religious affiliation, mostly Roman Catholic or Christian.
Only 19 percent of the total student body at these schools belong to racial or ethnic minorities, slightly less than Delaware's overall state average of 21 percent. Cleveland, Ohio has around 28,000 students attending more than 100 private schools, most of which are linked to a religion. Roman Catholic and Jewish schools are the most frequent, and minority enrollment, at 26 percent, is actually higher than the overall Ohio State average of 17 percent. Cleveland has at least a dozen elite university preparation institutions, including the prestigious Western Reserve Academy, a boarding school and day school with strong ties to renowned Case Western Reserve University.
St. Louis, Missouri is known as the “Gateway to the West” and is located on the banks of the Mississippi River. This city has around 200 private schools serving 44,000 students. The majority are Roman Catholic or Lutheran, and minority enrollment, at 17 percent, is 2 percent higher than the state average.
By enrolling, students can compete to enroll at the University of St. Louis, a Jesuit Catholic university that is ranked as one of the best research schools of the country. Honolulu is one of the richest metropolitan areas with high private school enrollment. Many of the city's private schools have a religious affiliation, predominantly Catholic or Jewish, and the city has more than 100 private schools.
The most famous private school in Honolulu is Punahou School from which President Barack Obama graduated in 1979. In total there are 34,576 private schools in the United States serving 5.7 million PK-12 students. Private schools represent 25 percent of all schools and enroll 10 percent of all PK-12 students. DC has the highest proportion of private and public students while Utah and Wyoming are among those with lower percentages. The majority of private school students (78 percent) attend schools affiliated with a religion and in every state private school students come from wealthier families than public school students on average.
When it comes to private schools, New Orleans tops the list as one of the metropolitan areas with high enrollment due to its French culture that tends to be dominated by Catholics. Wilmington in Delaware also has a high percentage of private school students while Cleveland and St Louis have many elite university preparation institutions and Honolulu has some famous private schools such as Punahou School.
