National city placement
One campus shapes the city average
According to NCES CCD 2024-25, Ludington has more public-school enrollment than 16% of the 4,487 US cities in this directory. Ludington Elementary School enrolls 41.3% of Ludington's public-school students. That is enough concentration for one institution to pull the citywide enrollment, staffing, and Resource Index averages toward its own profile. The smaller campuses below should therefore be compared directly rather than inferred from the headline mean; their grade configurations and program footprints can be materially different even inside the same district.
Combined-grade campuses shape the local portfolio
2 of Ludington's 5 listed schools use NCES's combined or “other” grade-level classification. Citywide averages therefore blend campuses serving unusually broad or nonstandard grade spans with conventional elementary, middle, and high schools. Grade configuration is a first-order comparison here, not a minor label.
A small portfolio contains radically different campus scales
Ludington lists only 5 schools, yet reported enrollment runs from 45 to 911 students, a 20-fold range. In a portfolio this compact, the smallest record may be a specialized or nonstandard setting rather than a miniature version of the largest campus. That distinction affects how ratios and program fields should be read. Compare similarly configured grade levels first; combining the extremes into one city average conceals more than it explains.
