Public school buildings across US converted to apartments amid declining enrollment: report

The Center Square described the year-over-year increase in school buildings converted into apartments as 296 percent from 2023 to 2024. 70 percent of upcoming school-to-apartment units are expected to come from cities in Ohio, Washington State, and Pennsylvania, with additional projects planned in Washington, DC.

Several metro areas are positioned to lead the next wave of school conversions. Columbus, Cleveland, Seattle, and Pittsburgh are projected to see the highest number of future school-to-apartment projects. The report also highlights that Columbus and Cleveland together are projected to deliver 1,405 apartments from school conversions.

The rise in school conversions is closely tied to enrollment pressures that leave districts with more space than they can justify operating. In Ohio, for example, the Legislative Service Commission reports school district enrollment continued to decline, with a 1.0 percent drop in FY 2025, 14,786 students, faster than the declines in the prior three years.

In Washington state, enrollment has also slid with reporting on statewide trends that says public school enrollment is down 4 percent since 2019. Projections indicate Washington could see another 3 percent decline by 2031 in enrollment. Federal education data shows total public school enrollment fell from 50.8 million in fall 2019 to 49.4 million in fall 2020, a 3 percent drop in the first year of COVID-era shutdowns. At the same time, there has been an increasing adoption of alternatives to public schooling, such as homeschooling.