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St Joseph, Missouri - 22 schools
An equity score of 45/100 ranks St. Joseph #255 of 432 districts in Missouri (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $11,308 per pupil, St. Joseph ranks #329 of 549 Missouri districts by per-pupil spending (Missouri districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
10,568
Total Enrollment
22
Schools
$11,308
Per-Pupil Spending
Elementary, Combined
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
St. Joseph operates 22 public schools serving 10,568 students, placing it in the mid-size range in Missouri. The school portfolio breaks down into 10 elementary, 5 combined, 4 middle, 3 high 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 Buchanan County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $11,308 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the lower half of 549 Missouri districts by per-pupil spending. See how Missouri compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 50.8% local, 30.4% state, and 18.8% federal, a local-revenue-heavy mix that leaves the district more exposed to property-tax swings and local ballot measures than state-funded peers. The district's equity score is 45/100, ranked #255 of 432 in Missouri 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 (23 AP courses district-wide), a 357.2:1 student-counselor ratio, well above the ASCA benchmark though still under the roughly 408:1 national average, and 25.1% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 62.2% White, 13.9% Hispanic or Latino, 6.2% African American across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Coleman Elem., with a diversity index of 68.9/100.
Its largest campus is Central High, enrolling 1,733 students (17% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Virtual Academy, at 13 students, a 133x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Central High accounts for 16.4% of all St. Joseph student enrollment
That concentration means St. Joseph-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.
St. Joseph school enrollment varies 133× across entities
St. Joseph school enrollment ranges from 13 students (lowest) to 1,733 students (highest), a spread of 1,720 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.
St. Joseph has higher-than-average Title I eligibility — 77.0% 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 — including this one — 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.
St. Joseph student-counselor ratio is 357:1 — high (typically associated with staffing constraints that limit per-student counselor time; CRDC data shows higher ratios cluster in larger urban systems)
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 Higher values may reflect larger urban scale or recent resource constraints that have widened the gap.
St. Joseph chronic absenteeism rate is 25.1% — 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 St. Joseph is typically wider than the St. Joseph-aggregate figure suggests.
St. Joseph has 22 schools, including 3 high, 10 elementary, 5 combined, 4 middle. Total enrollment is 10,568 students.
How much does St. Joseph spend per student?
St. Joseph spends $11,308 per student. The district has an equity score of 45/100, ranking #255 in Missouri.
What is the demographic composition of St. Joseph?
St. Joseph students are 62.2% White, 13.9% Hispanic or Latino, 6.2% African American, 1.8% Asian, averaged across 22 schools. Source: NCES CCD Membership 2024-25.
What is the equity score for St. Joseph?
St. Joseph has an equity score of 45/100, ranking #255 out of 432 districts in Missouri.