Carbondale Reporter

Jackson County schools welcomed 6,586 students in the 2023-24 school year, according to the Illinois State Board of Education.

This is an increase of 2.1% over the previous school year, when there were 6,449 students enrolled in the county.

Jackson County had the 30th highest enrollment numbers in the state.

Of all the students welcomed at the time, 50.7% identified as male, 49% as female, and 0.3% identified themselves as non-binary or did not specify their gender.

The most represented ethnicity among Jackson County students was white, making up about 56.8% of all the students.

Within Jackson County, Carbondale Community High School had the highest enrollment in the school year, welcoming 947 students.

As of the 2023-24 school year, Illinois public schools enrolled approximately 1.85 million students across nearly 4,000 schools. There was roughly one teacher for every 15 students, slightly better than the national average of 1:16.

K-12 enrollment has been declining in Illinois for many years, reflecting the state's demographic changes. Between the 2019–20 and 2022–23 school years, Illinois public school enrollment declined from approximately 1.98 million to 1.85 million students, a decrease of about 127,000 students or 6.4%. This decline is significantly higher than the typical annual decreases of 0.5% to 1.5% observed in the preceding years, reflecting broader demographic shifts within the state.

School	City	Enrollment
Carbondale Community High School	Carbondale	947
Carbondale Middle School	Carbondale	445
Carruthers Elementary School	Murphysboro	413
DeSoto Elementary School	De Soto	193
Elverado High School	Elkville	108
Elverado Intermediate School	Vergennes	70
Elverado Junior High School	Vergennes	67
Elverado Primary School	Elkville	106
General John A. Logan Attendence Centre	Murphysboro	391
Giant City Elementary School	Carbondale	236
Lewis School	Carbondale	299
Murphysboro High School	Murphysboro	577
Murphysboro Middle School	Murphysboro	414
Parrish Elementary School	Carbondale	456
Thomas Elementary School	Carbondale	362
Trico Elementary School	Campbell Hill	453
Trico Junior High School	Campbell Hill	180
Trico Senior High School	Campbell Hill	219
Unity Point Elementary School	Carbondale	650