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Ferndale, California - 2 schools
An equity score of 55/100 ranks Ferndale Unified #641 of 1517 districts in California (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $14,689 per pupil, Ferndale Unified ranks #1030 of 1862 California districts by per-pupil spending (California districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
469
Total Enrollment
2
Schools
$14,689
Per-Pupil Spending
Elementary, High
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Ferndale Unified operates 2 public schools serving 469 students, placing it among the smallest districts in California. The school portfolio breaks down into 1 elementary, 1 high 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 Humboldt County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $14,689 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the lower half of 1862 California districts by per-pupil spending. See how California compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 31.0% local, 56.5% state, and 12.5% 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 55/100, ranked #641 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 1 of 2 schools offering Advanced Placement (4 AP courses district-wide), a 197.6:1 student-counselor ratio, that meets the ASCA-recommended benchmark, and 22.4% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 71.9% White, 20.5% Hispanic or Latino, 0.3% African American across the district's schools.
Its largest campus is Ferndale Elementary, enrolling 338 students (70% of the district's total enrollment).
Ferndale Elementary accounts for 70.0% of all Ferndale Unified student enrollment
That is an overwhelming concentration, leaving the rest of Ferndale Unified a distant remainder — means Ferndale Unified-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.
Ferndale Unified student-counselor ratio is 198:1 — low (typically associated with meeting or exceeding the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) recommended 250:1 benchmark, which correlates with stronger college and career counseling capacity)
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 Lower values often correlate with smaller scale and population characteristics rather than higher resource budgets per se.
Ferndale Unified chronic absenteeism rate is 22.4% — 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 Ferndale Unified is typically wider than the Ferndale Unified-aggregate figure suggests.