Every figure on PlainSchools is rendered directly from the source NCES, CRDC and F-33 federal
records, no number is typed in by an editor. District totals are aggregated directly from the schools reporting under this district in the source records. See our
editorial standards & corrections policy, the
methodology behind these numbers, or
report a data error. Data current as of June 2026.
Hamilton City, California - 3 schools
An equity score of 50/100 ranks Hamilton Unified #761 of 1517 districts in California (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $13,867 per pupil, Hamilton Unified ranks #1238 of 1862 California districts by per-pupil spending (California districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
711
Total Enrollment
3
Schools
$13,867
Per-Pupil Spending
High, Elementary
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Hamilton Unified operates 3 public schools serving 711 students, placing it among the smallest districts in California. The school portfolio breaks down into 2 high, 1 elementary 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 Glenn County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $13,867 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 22.8% local, 65.4% state, and 11.8% 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 50/100, ranked #761 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 3 schools offering Advanced Placement (2 AP courses district-wide), a 94.5:1 student-counselor ratio, that meets the ASCA-recommended benchmark, and 20.5% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 87.6% Hispanic or Latino, 5.3% White, 0.9% Asian across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Hamilton High, with a diversity index of 46.5/100.
Its largest campus is Hamilton Elementary, enrolling 393 students (56% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Ella Barkley High, at 9 students, a 44x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Hamilton Elementary accounts for 55.3% of all Hamilton Unified student enrollment
That is an overwhelming concentration, leaving the rest of Hamilton Unified a distant remainder — means Hamilton 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.
Hamilton Unified school enrollment varies 44× across entities
Hamilton Unified school enrollment ranges from 9 students (lowest) to 393 students (highest), a spread of 384 students. That ratio is among the widest observed and reflects extreme enrollment heterogeneity, the district operates both small specialty programs and large comprehensive campuses inside a single budgeting unit. Per-school staffing ratios, programme availability, and capital-renovation cycles often diverge inside the same district based on enrollment shape.
Hamilton Unified has higher-than-average Title I eligibility — 67.7% 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). Eligibility here is approaching the 75% concentration-grant threshold; it does not yet unlock the extra funding tier but sits meaningfully above the baseline 50% majority mark. 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.
Hamilton Unified student-counselor ratio is 95:1 — 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.
Hamilton Unified chronic absenteeism rate is 20.5% — 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 Hamilton Unified is typically wider than the Hamilton Unified-aggregate figure suggests.