Why SouthCoast School Enrollments Are Plunging as Massachusetts Sees 30-Year Low

The student population in Massachusetts public schools is rapidly declining, with cities like New Bedford seeing a 1.7 percent decline in K-12 students over the past ten years. Boston experienced a 22.6 percent enrollment decline during the same period.

State Affairs, which runs the country's leading network of state house newsrooms, including the State House News Service in Massachusetts, is compiling a series of reports titled "The New School Math." The series addresses declining public school enrollment across the nation.

SHNS reported that fewer children are being born in Massachusetts, and fewer are moving here, meaning fewer students are entering the Commonwealth's public school systems.

Statewide Enrollment Drops to Lowest Point Since 1994

"Statewide K-12 enrollment fell to 867,825 students in 2025-26, the lowest level since 1994 and a 6 percent decline from 922,984 a decade earlier, according to data from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE)," according to SHNS.

That's 55,000 fewer students in a decade.

Massachusetts Sees A Sharp Decline In K-12 Student Enrollment

"Kindergarten enrollment has fallen 7.8 percent over the same period, closely tracking the decline in births," SHNS said.

How SouthCoast School Districts Compare Over the Last Decade

According to DESE, New Bedford Public Schools had 14,737 students enrolled for the 2015-16 academic year and 14,488 in 2025-26, a 1.7 percent change over 10 years, but a 7.3 percent change over just the last five years.

Fairhaven experienced a 24 percent drop-off over the last 10 years, Dartmouth 15 percent, Acushnet 7.3 percent, Marion 14.7 percent, and Mattapoisett 20.3 percent. Westport was the only community on the SouthCoast to add students (+2.6 percent) over the last decade.

The report cites an aging population, housing costs, and a slowdown in immigration to Massachusetts as reasons for declining enrollments. In addition, more people are having fewer children than their parents' generation did.