The U.S. education system allows students to attend either public or private schools, both for K-12 and post secondary education. While public education is the most common choice for parents and students, there are a large number of students who attend private schools. In Southeastern Michigan, the percentage of students within public school distract boundaries who attend private schools varies between 1 and 24 percent.

In the Southeastern Michigan region there are 110 public school districts, and within each of those districts some portion of students are sent to private schools. Of the 110 public school districts, 30 have more than 10 percent of students who attend a school operated by a private entity. Furthermore, there are five districts in the region where more than 20 percent of students in each district attend a private school. Of these five school districts, four are in Oakland County and one is in Wayne County. According to data from the American Community Survey, both Birmingham Public Schools and the Bloomfield Hills School District  (both in Oakland County) have the highest percentage of students who attend private schools at 24 percent.  The other two school districts in Oakland County where more than 20 percent of students are attending private schools are Berkley and Royal Oak public schools (21 and 23 percent, respectively). The Garden City public school district in Wayne County is the other district where more than 20 percent of students attend private schools (22 percent).

Conversely, Van Dyke Public Schools (Macomb County) and the Hazel Park Public School District (Oakland County) have the lowest percentage of students attending private schools in Southeastern Michigan at 1 percent. In Detroit, 6 percent of students in the Detroit Public Schools district attend private schools.

While there are various reasons for students to attend private schools, which include religious preferences, classroom sizes and access to specific resources, the districts with the two highest percentages of students attending private schools also are amongst those with the highest median incomes for parents in the region, according to the American Community Survey. In Birmingham Public Schools the median income of families with children is $175,132, and in the Bloomfield Hills public school district the median income for families with children is $159,441. Conversely, the median income for families with children in Van Dyke Public Schools district is $27,125, and in the Hazel Park Public School District the median income is $44,093.

Private school in Michigan, as it currently stands, do not receive any public funding. With tuition costs to fund the operation of these private schools, it is not surprising that the districts with higher median incomes have higher percentages of students attending private schools.