Private schools operate in 70 of Michigan’s 84 counties. Over one-quarter of all private schools are located in Oakland and Wayne counties. Additionally, Kent, Macomb, Washtenaw, Ottawa, and Ingham counties are each home to 20 or more private schools, as shown in Graphic 5. Although these counties have the greatest number of private schools, other counties have a higher availability of private schools after accounting for population differences. Grand Traverse County has the most private schools per 1,000 school-age children in the state, while Genesee County has the fewest (not including the 14 counties that do not have any private schools).
Graphic 5: Total Private Schools and Availability Per 1,000 School-Age Children
Source: Author’s calculations based on “Nonpublic Student Counts” (Center for Educational Performance and Information, 2016), https://perma.cc/2A4M-8XK8. Fifty-six counties not listed in Graphic 5 are home to 183 private schools, however, each of these individual counties has fewer than 10 private schools.