National ranking · NCES F-33

School Funding Equity by State

Average equity scores for 51 U.S. states, comparing how fairly each state distributes education funding across its districts.

Compiled from official source data by .
49
National avg score
51
States ranked
38
States above average

The ranking in one line

Hawaii distributes school funding most equitably, averaging 100/100 across 1 ranked districts.

100/100
top state average (Hawaii)
A
top state grade
1
high-equity districts in Hawaii
13
states below the national average

State Equity Rankings

All 51 states, ranked by average district equity score (0-100). The shaded bar behind each score shows its magnitude; see our methodology.

# State Avg Score
1 Hawaii 100
2 Nevada 53
3 Maryland 52
4 Alabama 51
5 Florida 51
6 Mississippi 51
7 New Hampshire 51
8 North Dakota 51
9 Rhode Island 51
10 South Carolina 51
11 South Dakota 51
12 Vermont 51
13 Wyoming 51
14 Alaska 50
15 Arkansas 50
16 California 50
17 Colorado 50
18 Connecticut 50
19 Georgia 50
20 Indiana 50
21 Iowa 50
22 Kansas 50
23 Kentucky 50
24 Louisiana 50
25 Maine 50
26 Michigan 50
27 Minnesota 50
28 Missouri 50
29 Nebraska 50
30 New Jersey 50
31 New Mexico 50
32 Oregon 50
33 Texas 50
34 Utah 50
35 Virginia 50
36 Washington 50
37 Wisconsin 50
38 Pennsylvania 49
39 Idaho 48
40 Ohio 46
41 New York 45
42 North Carolina 45
43 Delaware 39
44 Arizona 38
45 District of Columbia 38
46 Illinois 38
47 Massachusetts 38
48 Montana 38
49 Oklahoma 38
50 Tennessee 38
51 West Virginia 38

Understanding State Equity Grades

Each state's equity score is the average of all qualifying district scores within that state. Districts must have at least 200 students and reported spending data.

The grade scale reflects how equitably a state distributes resources:

  • A (70+): Highly equitable, strong progressive funding
  • B (60-69): Above average equity
  • C (50-59): Average, room for improvement
  • D (40-49): Below average, significant gaps
  • F (<40): Poor equity, heavy reliance on local taxes

About the Equity Score

The equity score (0-100) evaluates funding fairness across four dimensions, each worth up to 25 points:

  • Per-pupil spending - higher spending relative to peers
  • Need-adjusted spending - spending weighted by poverty (rewards investing where need is greatest)
  • Funding diversity - less reliance on local property taxes
  • Resource access - lower student-teacher ratios

Data source: NCES Common Core of Data. See also: District-level equity rankings.

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. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of June 2026.