The DC Office of Planning forecasts that the child population (ages 0-17) will continue to grow in the next 15 years but at a declining rate. The Office of Planning estimates that children ages 0-17 will account for 18.4% of the total population in 2025 and decrease to an estimated 17.6% in 2035 compared to 18.2% as of 2020.
The DC Office of Planning forecasts that the number of infants and toddlers (ages 0-2) to be lower in 2025 compared to 2020 and then stay relatively flat until 2035. The forecasts estimate that elementary age children (ages 3-10) will increase slightly between 2020 and 2025 (0.6% annual increase) and then stay within a similar range until 2035. Conversely, the middle school age category (ages 11-13) has the greatest estimated growth between 2020 and 2025 (2.7% annually) and then the growth slows to a 1.4% anual increase between 2025 and 2030. The high school age category (ages 14-17) is forecasted to have steady growth up until 2030 (0.9% annual growth) and then almost double to 1.9% growth between 2030 and 2035.
Sources: US Census Bureau and DC Office of Planning Forecasts
