San Francisco County autism and special education data
Public figures from California's schools, its regional center system, and the Census Bureau. Each number shows who counted it, when, and what it does not tell you.
What public schools report
On Census Day each October, California public schools report how many students have an active IEP, grouped by each student's primary disability category. Each student is counted once.
1,411 in 2022-23
California Department of Education7,496 in 2022-23
California Department of EducationCalifornia overall: 23.3%
California Department of EducationWhat this measures: Counts students whose primary special-education eligibility category is reported by public schools on Census Day. It is not a count of all autistic children, not a clinical diagnosis count, and not a prevalence rate.
Show the numbers
| Period | San Francisco County |
|---|---|
| 2022-23 | 1,411 |
| 2023-24 | 1,537 |
| 2024-25 | 1,944 |
| 2025-26 | 2,253 |
Show the numbers
| Period | San Francisco County | California |
|---|---|---|
| 2022-23 | 18.8% | 18.5% |
| 2023-24 | 19.9% | 20.0% |
| 2024-25 | 22.6% | 21.7% |
| 2025-26 | 24.0% | 23.3% |
For scale: 56,149 students were enrolled in San Francisco County public schools (TK–12) on Census Day 2025-26. We don't divide one figure by the other, because special education also serves preschool and adult students and is not a measure of how common autism is.
School districts and local education agencies, 2025-26
CDE publishes district figures separately. They are not designed to add up to the county figure. Cells marked suppressed were withheld by CDE to protect student privacy.
“Evaluations on time” is the share of initial evaluations where the district decided eligibility within 60 days (Indicator 11, target 100%). Reported compliance is not the same as appointment wait time.
| District or agency | Special education | Primary category: autism | Autism share | Evaluations on time (2024-25 report) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Francisco Unified | 8,910 | 2,168 | 24.3% | 72.2% |
| San Francisco County Office of Education | 361 | 65 | 18.0% | 38.8% |
| SBE - The New School of San Francisco | 73 | 18 | 24.7% | Not available |
| SBE - KIPP Bayview Elementary | 33 | Suppressed | Suppressed | Not available |
Regional center serving San Francisco County
Regional centers coordinate state-funded services for people with developmental disabilities. They report figures for their whole catchment area, so these numbers are never split out by county.
What this measures: Counts people served by a regional center, not everyone with the condition. One person can have several diagnoses, so these counts cannot be added together. Figures cover the center's whole catchment area and are not split by county.
Licensed professionals with an address in San Francisco County
The state licenses the people who can test a child outside school: psychologists, licensed educational psychologists and occupational therapists. These are counts of active licenses by the address each person registered with the state, not a count of evaluators taking new families.
About 95.2 per 10,000 children here; California: 20.7
California Department of Consumer AffairsAbout 2.6 per 10,000 children here; California: 2.0
California Department of Consumer AffairsAbout 33.0 per 10,000 children here; California: 18.2
California Department of Consumer AffairsWhat this measures: Counts licenses with status Current whose public address of record is in the area. The address of record can be a home or a business and is not necessarily where the person practices; it includes people who are retired from clinical work, work only with adults, or are not taking new clients. This is a count of licenses, not of evaluators available to families. Speech-language pathologists are not included because DCA's public file for that board has not been updated since 2019.
“Per 10,000 children” divides the license count by the Census estimate of children ages 0–17 living in the county. Many of these professionals work only with adults, and families often travel across county lines, so read it as a rough sense of scale.
Children living in San Francisco County
Census Bureau survey estimates give a sense of how many children live here. They come with margins of error and are not diagnosis counts.
Margin of error ±1,539
U.S. Census BureauNone of these is an autism rate for San Francisco County.
Count students whose IEP lists autism as the primary category. Students served under another category, or without an IEP, are not included.
Count people receiving services across a multi-county area. Not every autistic person is served by a regional center.
The figures designed to estimate how common autism is come from CDC surveillance of specific monitored communities. They are not rates for any single county.
Evaluation guides near San Francisco County
Data can describe a community. It cannot tell you whether your child needs an evaluation. Our guides explain the options.
San Francisco
Search child evaluation options across San Francisco and nearby communities, including private practices, medical centers, and multidisciplinary clinics.
Open the city guideAutism evaluation
What an autism evaluation looks at, who can perform one, and what families can expect.
Read the guideBay Area evaluation guide
Browse evaluation types and city guides across the region.
Explore the Bay AreaWhere these numbers come from
Figures are copied from public files without adjustment. Suppressed cells stay blank. Each source's own definitions apply.
Read the methodology- Public schools · CDECensus Day EnrollmentCalifornia Department of Education, Census Day Enrollment downloadable files
- Editions used
- 2023-24, 2024-25, 2025-26
- Retrieved
- Oct 16, 2026
- License
- Public data; CDE conditions of use
- Pipeline run
cde-enroll-20261016180006-882e, cde-enroll-20261016180012-3b68 +1
- Public schools · CDESpecial Education Enrollment by Program SettingCalifornia Department of Education, DataQuest Special Education Enrollment by Program Setting downloadable files
- Editions used
- 2022-23, 2023-24, 2024-25, 2025-26
- Retrieved
- Oct 17, 2026
- License
- Public data; CDE conditions of use
- Pipeline run
cde-sped-20261017224215-ef97, cde-sped-20261017224216-97df +6
- Population · Census ACSAmerican Community Survey 5-year estimates, table B01001 (Sex by Age)U.S. Census Bureau, 2020–2024 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, Table B01001
- Editions used
- acs5-2024
- Retrieved
- Oct 16, 2026
- License
- Public domain (U.S. Government work)
- Pipeline run
census-acs-20261016183714-a710
- Licenses · CA Consumer AffairsDCA public licensee lists (Psychology, Behavioral Sciences, Occupational Therapy)California Department of Consumer Affairs, public licensee lists
- Editions used
- behavioral-sciences-2026-10, occupational-therapy-2026-10, psychology-2026-10
- Retrieved
- Oct 17, 2026
- License
- Public records (California Public Records Act); DCA public information
- Pipeline run
dca-licensees-20261017225803-9cf0, dca-licensees-20261017225748-f9c3 +1
- Regional centers · DDSDDS Consumers by Diagnosis, Early Start Consumers, and Regional CenterCalifornia Department of Developmental Services, via the California Open Data Portal (CC BY)
- Editions used
- ckan-2026-10-08
- Retrieved
- Oct 16, 2026
- License
- Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
- Pipeline run
dds-diagnosis-20261016180057-88f1