Of the 28 school districts across the Greater Houston area, 17 saw an increase in the number of economically disadvantaged students compared to five years ago, according to Texas Education Agency data released April 21.

The overview

Community Impact analyzed data from the TEA to learn how many students were considered economically disadvantaged at public school districts for the 2024-25 school year. In the data sets, the TEA defines economically disadvantaged as students who qualify for free or reduced lunches under the National School Lunch and Child Nutrition Program, or meet other criteria including:By the numbers

According to data for 28 Greater Houston-area school districts, the districts with the highest total for economically disadvantaged students in all categories for 2024-25 are:
Looking at how the raw numbers for 2024-25 compare to five years ago, 11 districts saw a decrease in economically disadvantaged students while 17 gained economically disadvantaged students.

The districts with the biggest changes for economically disadvantaged student enrollment from 2020-25 are:
  • HISD, which lost 17,076 students
  • KISD, which gained 12,082 students
  • AISD, which lost 9,008 students
  • CFISD, which gained 6,420 students
  • Conroe ISD, which gained 6,188 students
Put in perspective


When looking at the number of economically disadvantaged students as a percentage of total enrollment, some different school districts emerged for the largest populations.

The districts with the highest percentage of economically disadvantaged students in the 2024-25 school year are:
The districts with the smallest percentage of economically disadvantaged students in the 2024-25 school year are:The districts with the largest changes in economically disadvantaged students over the last five years—from 2020-25—are:
  • CISD with an increase of 42.5 percentage points
  • Splendora ISD with a decrease of 23.4 percentage points
  • HISD with an increase of 10 percentage points
  • KISD with an increase of 8.3 percentage points
  • CCISD with an increase of 7.8 percentage points