Hardin County schools enrolled 2,865 students in the 2024-25 school year, an increase of 1.3% from the previous year, according to the Iowa Department of Education.
Of those students, 50.5% identified as male, 49.2% as female and 0.3% either identified as non-binary or did not specify a gender.
The racial and ethnic breakdown showed white students accounted for 85.7% of the student body, followed by Hispanic students at 8.9%, multiracial students at 3%, Black students at 1.5%, Asian students at 0.5%, Native American students at 0.2% and Hawaiian or Pacific Islander students at 0.1%.
Iowa Falls – Alden High School recorded the largest enrollment among Hardin County’s 14 schools in the 2024-25 school year, with 398 students.
Iowa’s certified K-12 enrollment declined slightly in the 2025-26 school year, according to the Iowa Department of Education. Total certified enrollment across public and accredited nonpublic schools fell 0.9% to 515,221 students. Enrollment in public district and charter schools declined 1.53% to 473,329, while accredited nonpublic school enrollment increased 6.4% to 41,892.
The department reported that 41,044 students used Students First Education Savings Accounts at accredited nonpublic schools as of the Oct. 1 certified enrollment date.
| Rank | School name | School district | Total enrollment in 2023-24 | Total enrollment in 2024-25 | % change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Iowa Falls – Alden High School | Iowa Falls Comm | 420 | 398 | -5.2% |
| 2 | Rock Run Elementary School | Iowa Falls Comm | 297 | 292 | -1.7% |
| 3 | Choice Charter School | Choice Charter Schools | 167 | 257 | 53.9% |
| 3 | Riverbend Middle School | Iowa Falls Comm | 284 | 257 | -9.5% |
| 5 | South Hardin High School | Eldora-New Providence Comm | 236 | 237 | 0.4% |
| 6 | Eldora-New Providence Elementary School | Eldora-New Providence Comm | 232 | 228 | -1.7% |
| 7 | AGWSR Elementary School | AGWSR Comm | 204 | 227 | 11.3% |
| 8 | South Hardin Middle School | Hubbard-Radcliffe Comm | 194 | 196 | 1% |
| 9 | AGWSR High School | AGWSR Comm | 192 | 190 | -1% |
| 10 | Pineview Elementary School | Iowa Falls Comm | 168 | 167 | -0.6% |
| 11 | Hubbard-Radcliffe Elementary School | Hubbard-Radcliffe Comm | 165 | 161 | -2.4% |
| 12 | BCLUW Middle School | BCLUW Comm | 133 | 132 | -0.8% |
| 13 | Alden Elementary School | Alden Comm | 123 | 119 | -3.3% |
| 14 | The Cougars Den | AGWSR Comm | 14 | 4 | -71.4% |
Information in this article was obtained from the Iowa Department of Education. The source data can be found here.