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Chico, California - 22 schools
An equity score of 43/100 ranks Chico Unified #931 of 1517 districts in California (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $15,280 per pupil, Chico Unified ranks #904 of 1862 California districts by per-pupil spending (California districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
12,088
Total Enrollment
22
Schools
$15,280
Per-Pupil Spending
Elementary, Combined
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Chico Unified operates 22 public schools serving 12,088 students, placing it in the mid-size range in California. The school portfolio breaks down into 12 elementary, 4 combined, 3 high, 3 middle schools, giving families a clear picture of grade-band coverage 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 Alameda County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $15,280 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the upper half of 1862 California districts by per-pupil spending. See how California compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 35.8% local, 51.0% state, and 13.3% 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 43/100, ranked #931 of 1517 in California against a state average of 50, in line with the typical spread seen across the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
Academic infrastructure includes 3 of 22 schools offering Advanced Placement (29 AP courses district-wide), a 326.5:1 student-counselor ratio, well above the ASCA benchmark though still under the roughly 408:1 national average, and 30.3% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 48.2% White, 31.5% Hispanic or Latino, 4.1% Asian across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Little Chico Creek Elementary, with a diversity index of 73.1/100.
Its largest campus is Pleasant Valley High, enrolling 1,978 students (16% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Academy for Change, at 31 students, a 64x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Pleasant Valley High accounts for 16.1% of all Chico Unified student enrollment
That concentration means Chico Unified-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the dominant entity. Grade band: high. 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.
Chico Unified school enrollment varies 64× across entities
Chico Unified school enrollment ranges from 31 students (lowest) to 1,978 students (highest), a spread of 1,947 students. That ratio is an extreme outlier spread — among the widest gaps observed anywhere in this dataset. Per-school staffing ratios, programme availability, and capital-renovation cycles often diverge inside the same district based on enrollment shape.
Chico Unified has higher-than-average Title I eligibility — 54.9% of the population qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch
free or reduced-price lunch eligibility is the federal threshold for Title I funding allocations, established under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA, 2015). Areas above 75% eligibility receive concentration grants on top of the basic Title I formula. Regions with eligibility this high typically draw a substantially larger federal funding share relative to their local tax base, which can either offset or reinforce existing gaps depending on allocation policy.
Chico Unified student-counselor ratio is 327:1 — near the typical range (US average ~408) — within the typical range for U.S. public districts
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 Variation between sub-units within Chico Unified is typically wider than the Chico Unified-aggregate figure suggests.
Chico Unified chronic absenteeism rate is 30.3% — high (typically associated with higher-than-average disruption; recent CRDC data showed elevated rates persisting after pandemic-era schooling changes)
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 Higher values may reflect larger urban scale or recent resource constraints that have widened the gap.