In this paper significant demographic trends in the United States are described and anlyzed in relation to their implications for education. Focus is placed on six major trends. (1) The United States is moving toward zero population growth, and the long term prospect for school enrollment is for decline. (2) The age structure of the population is changing. The population is aging, and this may result in higher tax revenues but increasing competition for social service funds. (3) Household and family size is shrinking, and the kinds of households that are increasing most rapidly are distinctly untraditional (e.g., one-parent families and nonfamily households). Children may bring emotional, psychological, and even logistical problems to school. (4) The number of working mothers is increasing dramatically, and most children now have working mothers. There is a growing need for institutional care for pre-school aged children. (5) A new wave of immigration, almost as large as those of the early 1900s, is occurring, and this changes the characteristics and needs of student populations. (6) New settlement and migration patterns are emerging. The basic movement is now toward smaller communities, leaving major problems behind in the large metropolitan centers, and this will complicate the distribution of state educational funds to districts with very different problems. (KH)