There were 2,532 white students enrolled in Waterloo Community Unit School District 5 in the 2024-25 school year, 0.5% fewer than the previous year, according to the Illinois State Board of Education.
Data showed that Waterloo Community Unit School District 5 welcomed 2,715 students during the 2024-25 school year. Among them, white students comprised 93.3% of the student body to be the most represented ethnicity in the district.
Waterloo Community Unit School District 5 roughly covers schools within Monroe County and has a main office in Waterloo.
Among the five schools in Waterloo Community Unit School District 5, Waterloo High School recorded the highest enrollment of white students in the 2024-25 school year, with a total of 781 students.
Nationwide, public K-12 education spending has approached roughly $857 billion, with average per-student spending near $17,000, funded primarily through state and local sources. Spending varies widely by state, and Illinois ranks above the national average, with roughly $22,000 spent per student when state, local, and federal funding are combined.
Illinois public school enrollment continues a long-term downward trend. According to statewide reporting and education data analyses, total enrollment fell to about 1.85 million students as of the 2023-24 school year, and major districts such as Chicago Public Schools saw further declines—for example, CPS reported a drop of more than 9,000 students between the 2024-25 and 2025-26 counts.
| Year | Total District Enrollment | Total of White Students | White students (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 2,715 | 2,532 | 93.3% |
| 2023-24 | 2,701 | 2,544 | 94.2% |
| 2022-23 | 2,715 | 2,556 | 94.1% |
| 2021-22 | 2,676 | 2,534 | 94.7% |
| 2020-21 | 2,619 | 2,481 | 94.7% |
Information in this article was obtained from the Illinois Report Card. The source data can be found here.
