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Pittsburg, California - 13 schools
An equity score of 56/100 ranks Pittsburg Unified #601 of 1517 districts in California (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $15,451 per pupil, Pittsburg Unified ranks #870 of 1862 California districts by per-pupil spending (California districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
10,665
Total Enrollment
13
Schools
$15,451
Per-Pupil Spending
Elementary, Middle
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Pittsburg Unified operates 13 public schools serving 10,665 students, placing it among the smaller districts in California. The school portfolio breaks down into 8 elementary, 3 middle, 2 high schools, a compact enough portfolio that families can compare every campus directly 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 Contra Costa County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $15,451 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 25.7% local, 65.3% state, and 9.0% 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 56/100, ranked #601 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 13 schools offering Advanced Placement (18 AP courses district-wide), a 723.8:1 student-counselor ratio, above both the ASCA benchmark and the roughly 408:1 national average, and 44.9% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 66.2% Hispanic or Latino, 15.2% African American, 7.7% Asian across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Stoneman Elementary, with a diversity index of 65.9/100.
Its largest campus is Pittsburg Senior High, enrolling 3,403 students (32% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Black Diamond High (Continuation), at 205 students, a 17x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Pittsburg Senior High accounts for 31.9% of all Pittsburg Unified student enrollment
That dominant concentration means Pittsburg 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.
Pittsburg Unified school enrollment varies 17× across entities
Pittsburg Unified school enrollment ranges from 205 students (lowest) to 3,403 students (highest), a spread of 3,198 students. That spread reflects typical mixed-portfolio variation between specialty programs and large neighbourhood schools. Per-school staffing ratios, programme availability, and capital-renovation cycles often diverge inside the same district based on enrollment shape.
Pittsburg Unified has higher-than-average Title I eligibility — 70.1% 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.
Pittsburg Unified student-counselor ratio is 724:1 — well above typical (typically associated with unusually large scale or acute resource constraints)
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 above typical often signal acute resource constraints or a structurally different scale than most peers — worth reading alongside the underlying counts, not the ratio alone.
Pittsburg Unified chronic absenteeism rate is 44.9% — well above typical (typically associated with unusually large scale or acute resource constraints)
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 Values this far above typical often signal acute resource constraints or a structurally different scale than most peers — worth reading alongside the underlying counts, not the ratio alone.