Report: Declining enrollment converts schools to apartments

By Esther Wickham
The Center Square

Amid a steady decline in K-12 enrollment, nearly 2,000 apartments were created from former school buildings across the U.S. in 2024, according to a new report by RentCafe.

The report showed a 296% increase from 2023 to 2024 in school buildings converted into apartment complexes. Around 70% of these upcoming apartments are projected to come from cities in Ohio, Washington state and Pennsylvania, among others. The apartments are also in Washington, D.C.

Cities like Columbus, Cleveland, Seattle and Pittsburgh are projected to see the highest number of future school-to-apartment conversions, Alexandra Both, the author of the report, told The Center Square.

Columbia and Cleveland are projected to create 1,405 apartments combined.

“These typically involve older or unused school buildings that districts have closed and that cities are considering for reuse as housing,” Both told The Center Square. “Conversions of educational facilities made up 7.9% of all adaptive reuse apartments in 2024, up from just 3% the year before, making it the fastest-growing reuse category.”

The report noted that the increase in apartment conversions is tied to factors such as declining enrollment.

For Ohio, the decrease in 2025 was 1.0% or 14,786 students, which is faster than the declines in the three previous years.

Enrollment in Washington public schools is down 4% since 2019, with many students now enrolled in private schools, charter schools or home school programs.

Enrollment is projected in the state to decline by another 3% by 2031.

Since 2020, COVID-19 and the rise of alternative schooling have affected K-12 public school enrollment. Nationally, public school enrollment fell 3% in 2020.

According to an August 2025 Brookings Institution study on public school enrollment declines, the current 45 million public school students are projected to drop to 38 million by 2050, a trend that “could drive future school closures and alter the number of seats traditional districts will need.”

The Center Square reached out to the Ohio Department of Education and Seattle Public Schools, but did not receive a response.