Baltimore City Public Schools

District-Level NCES Analysis

Baltimore City Public Schools operates 154 public schools serving 75,995 students, placing it among the largest districts in Maryland. The school portfolio breaks down into 109 combined, 25 high, 16 elementary, 4 middle schools, giving families in a major system a clear picture of grade-band coverage across a large portfolio before they move, rent, or enrol. These enrollment and school figures come from the NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) 2024-25 release, and the district is based in Baltimore City.

Per-pupil expenditure runs $18,272 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the upper half of 24 Maryland districts by per-pupil spending. See how Maryland compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 33.3% local, 51.4% state, and 15.3% 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 54/100, ranked #11 of 24 in Maryland against a state average of 52, in line with the typical spread seen across the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.

Academic infrastructure includes 28 of 154 schools offering Advanced Placement (164 AP courses district-wide), a 595.6:1 student-counselor ratio, above both the ASCA benchmark and the roughly 408:1 national average, and 57.8% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 74.1% African American, 16.5% Hispanic or Latino, 6.2% White across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Hampstead Hill Academy, with a diversity index of 70.3/100.

Its largest campus is Mergenthaler Vocational-Technical High, enrolling 1,714 students (2% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Sharp-Leadenhall Elementary/Middle, at 23 students, a 75x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.