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Amherst, Massachusetts - 3 schools
An equity score of 70/100 ranks Amherst #1 of 362 districts in Massachusetts (state average 38). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $30,337 per pupil, Amherst ranks #29 of 396 Massachusetts districts by per-pupil spending (Massachusetts districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
1,054
Total Enrollment
3
Schools
$30,337
Per-Pupil Spending
Elementary, Combined
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Amherst operates 3 public schools serving 1,054 students, placing it among the smallest districts in Massachusetts. The school portfolio breaks down into 2 elementary, 1 combined schools, a small enough portfolio that most families will interact with nearly every campus in the district at some point. These enrollment and school figures come from the NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) 2024-25 release, and the district is based in Hampshire County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $30,337 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, among the top 40 of 396 Massachusetts districts by per-pupil spending. See how Massachusetts compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 18.8% local, 65.2% state, and 16.1% federal, a state-revenue-heavy mix that insulates the district somewhat from local property-tax volatility, though it ties funding to state budget cycles. The district's equity score is 70/100, ranked #1 of 362 in Massachusetts against a state average of 38, notably more even than the typical district in the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
a 112.7:1 student-counselor ratio, that meets the ASCA-recommended benchmark, and 21.7% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 44.1% White, 24.8% Hispanic or Latino, 13.2% Asian across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Wildwood Elementary, with a diversity index of 72.5/100.
Its largest campus is Fort River Elementary, enrolling 371 students (36% of the district's total enrollment).
Fort River Elementary accounts for 35.2% of all Amherst student enrollment
That dominant concentration means Amherst-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the dominant entity. Grade band: elementary. A single dominant campus often anchors a district's program offerings and staffing patterns; the share helps explain why district-wide averages may not reflect the typical neighbourhood-school experience. When one entity dominates a region's footprint, its programmatic and budget decisions effectively set policy for a majority of the affected population.
Amherst student-counselor ratio is 113:1 — well below typical (typically associated with unusually small scale or exceptionally high per-unit investment)
student-counselor ratio is the simplest comparative metric but it does not capture the full picture: the ratio counts FTE counselors against total enrollment, districts that contract intervention or social-emotional staff outside the counselor classification may be under-counted Values this far below typical often correlate with unusually small scale or population characteristics rather than higher resource budgets per se — worth checking whether the underlying denominator is itself an outlier.
Amherst chronic absenteeism rate is 21.7% — near the typical range (US average ~28) — aligned with the national post-pandemic baseline of roughly 28% chronic absenteeism
chronic absenteeism rate is the simplest comparative metric but it does not capture the full picture: a student is chronically absent if they miss ≥10% of enrolled days for any reason, illness, family obligations, or disengagement Variation between sub-units within Amherst is typically wider than the Amherst-aggregate figure suggests.