This somewhat old data from the NHES:1999 indicates that the average household income of homeschooling families at that time was not substantially different from that of nonhomeschooling families. The main differences appeared to be in single-income/two-parent households (for obvious reasons), higher parental educational attainment, higher number of children in the home, and ethnicity (more white), although the trends for ethnicity (in comparison to previous work) appeared to be shifting to reflect the general population more.
http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2001/homeschool/chara.aspOne might speculate, though income
per se does not appear to be that different, that the average homeschooling family might feel fewer effects from income insecurity, as there is still a backup plan of sending the schooling parent (who may be better educated than the average person, possibly with more marketable skills) to work, if need be.
Elsewhere on this forum, we have previously discussed free or extremely low-cost options for homeschooling (strictly from a curricular or educational experience perspective, leaving aside the important issue of impact on parental employment or earning potential).
