New data shows that many schools recently closed due to a shrinking youth population, prompting a rapidly growing senior citizen cohort to move into some of the vacated buildings.
More than 1,000 schools closed during the 2025–26 school year, compared with 755 just four years earlier — a 35 percent increase in school closures across the U.S., the Washington Post reported citing data from the National Center for Education Statistics. Other reports show that at the same time, vacant schools throughout the country are turning into affordable senior living apartments.
“We call it the big shrink,” Marguerite Roza who tracks school funding as director of Georgetown University’s Edunomics lab, said according to the Post. “Enrollment at public schools is declining, partly because there are fewer kids in the U.S.”
Many schools are seeing a decline in enrollment due to declining birth rates and population shifts as families move to the suburbs for cheaper living, the outlet reported. Students are also being moved to private and charter schools as parents take advantage of scholarship programs. Future closures are planned in cities like Houston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Broward County, Florida.
Meanwhile, a RentCafe report found that nearly 2,000 apartments were created from former public school buildings, according to Moneywise. There were 9,320 units of school-to-apartment conversions in the development pipeline at the start of 2026.
A more-than-a-century-old school building in Philadelphia that has been vacant for over 20 years is set to be repurposed as low-income housing for senior citizens, WHYY reported Monday.
As the birth rates are declining in the U.S., the country’s death rate has significantly decreased in the last couple of years. Public school enrollment has been declining since 2019, according to the Washington Post.
Data shows that fertility rates are at a record time low and the U.S. marriage rate fell to an all-time low in 140 years in 2019. U.S. Census data also shows that 52% of families have both parents working full-time for financial security.
(DCNF)
