As many recognize, homeschooling has been booming in recent years and promises to keep growing. The most recent numbers from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) hail from 2012 and suggest that 1.8 million children are now educated at home.

Compared to public school students, studies suggest that homeschoolers perform up to 30 percentile points better on standardized tests, have higher college GPAs and completion rates, and may even be better adjusted socially. Judging from these numbers, it would seem that homeschooling definitely benefits the individual student.

But what about the nation as a whole? Are there any immediate benefits which homeschoolers offer to their communities?

One of the most obvious is the money each homeschool student saves his or her state. Based on state spending per student multiplied by the approximate number of homeschoolers in each state, the following statistics demonstrate how much savings homeschoolers are passing off to their fellow citizens each year:

Alabama $203.9 million

Alaska $67.5 million

Arizona $249.1 million

Arkansas $137.7 million

California $1.8 billion

Colorado $227.6 million

Connecticut $31 million

Delaware $36.4 million

D.C. $37.2 million

Florida $729.8 million

Georgia $468.1 million

Hawaii $75.1 million

Idaho $58.4 million

Illinois $798.6 million

Indiana $341.3 million

Iowa $157.3 million

Kansas $144.7 million

Kentucky $190.6 million

Louisiana $240.4 million

Maine $68.6 million

Maryland $381.6 million

Massachusetts $429.5 million

Michigan $510.5 million

Minnesota $297.3 million

Mississippi $123.3 million

Missouri $279.4 million

Montana $50.2 million

Nebraska $109.6 million

Nevada $113.8 million

New Hampshire $80.7 million

New Jersey $736.2 million

New Mexico $98.7 million

New York $1.7 billion

North Carolina $1 billion

North Dakota $40.3 million

Ohio $614.5 million

Oklahoma $149.5 million

Oregon $222.3 million

Pennsylvania $298.6 million

Rhode Island $64.8 million

South Carolina $214.8 million

South Dakota $37 million

Tennessee $262.4 million

Texas $1.2 billion

Utah $117.8 million

Vermont $43 million

Virginia $366.7 million

Washington $327.8 million

West Virginia $117.1 million

Wisconsin $209.7 million

Wyoming $44 million

The chart below gives a visual idea of what these numbers look like:

Graphic Credit: David Curran @iamreddave.

It should be noted that because homeschool registration varies by state, these numbers are likely conservative, making the savings even more than recorded above. In fact, a recent report by the Pioneer Institute suggested that on a national scale, homeschoolers save taxpayers $22 billion every year.

Such savings should give us pause. Homeschooling parents pay taxes like everyone else, yet they also fork out a lot of money each year to pay for books and other equipment. Should some of this savings be passed on to them, or would such a process only invite more government control into individual homes?

Furthermore, if homeschooling produces such a good product for such a large monetary savings, doesn’t it seem like states would want to encourage more parents to pursue such an education option?

[Image Credit: Flickr-Alexandre Normand | CC BY SA 2.0]