Per-Pupil Spending by State (NCES F-33)

Per-Pupil Spending by State (NCES F-33). Computed from federal NCES/CRDC source files; every figure links to its state or school record.

Research period:

Compiled by PlainSchools on 2026-08-11

Key finding

Across the 17,087 US school districts reporting current spending to the federal F-33 finance survey, the enrollment-weighted average is $15,775 per student per year. But the state averages span a wide range.

Spending per student is highest on average in District of Columbia, at $30,303, and lowest in Idaho, at $10,183, about 3.0× the difference. Part of that gap reflects real differences in funding effort and part reflects cost of living, which this figure does not adjust for.

Research question

How much do US public schools spend per student, and how much does that differ by state? Across all 50 reporting state systems, what is the enrollment-weighted average per-pupil expenditure, and where is it highest and lowest?

Methodology

For each state we take every district's current per-pupil expenditure from the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey and average it, weighting each district by its enrollment. Enrollment weighting means the figure reflects what the typical student's district spends rather than the average across districts of all sizes, so a few small high- or low-spending districts do not distort the result. A handful of districts with missing or implausible values are excluded.

This is an input measure, dollars spent, not an outcome measure, and it is not cost-of-living adjusted. The limitation section below explains what per-pupil spending can and cannot tell you. Figures are recomputed live from the database on every request, so nothing here is hand-entered.

See the methodology page for source vintage and full details.

States that spend the most per student

Top 10 by enrollment-weighted current per-pupil expenditure (NCES F-33)

1. District of Columbia$30,3032. New York$27,6033. New Jersey$25,4494. Connecticut$23,9865. Massachusetts$22,9556. Vermont$22,2247. New Hampshire$21,7218. Rhode Island$20,9609. Delaware$20,52510. Alaska$20,325

All 50 state systems, ranked

Enrollment-weighted current per-pupil expenditure, highest first. Every state links to its full profile; figures update with each F-33 release.

# State Per-pupil spending Districts reporting
1 District of Columbia $30,303 60
2 New York $27,603 979
3 New Jersey $25,449 648
4 Connecticut $23,986 189
5 Massachusetts $22,955 396
6 Vermont $22,224 102
7 New Hampshire $21,721 161
8 Rhode Island $20,960 60
9 Delaware $20,525 42
10 Alaska $20,325 53
11 Illinois $19,786 845
12 Wyoming $19,324 48
13 Maryland $18,887 24
14 Maine $18,431 202
15 Pennsylvania $18,243 672
16 California $17,911 1,879
17 Washington $17,898 310
18 Virginia $16,097 131
19 Oregon $16,054 193
20 New Mexico $15,578 143
21 North Dakota $15,506 166
22 Ohio $15,461 981
23 Michigan $15,313 811
24 Minnesota $15,246 509
25 Wisconsin $14,850 423
26 Nebraska $14,675 244
27 Louisiana $14,667 187
28 Colorado $14,664 180
29 Kentucky $14,633 171
30 West Virginia $14,443 55
31 South Carolina $14,349 75
32 Georgia $14,282 219
33 Kansas $14,276 286
34 Montana $13,572 391
35 Missouri $13,105 552
36 Iowa $13,080 327
37 Indiana $12,967 405
38 Alabama $12,772 147
39 Arkansas $12,339 255
40 North Carolina $12,306 328
41 Tennessee $12,198 142
42 Texas $12,148 1,206
43 Mississippi $12,108 147
44 South Dakota $12,005 149
45 Florida $11,861 67
46 Nevada $11,226 19
47 Arizona $11,193 632
48 Oklahoma $10,981 540
49 Utah $10,232 156
50 Idaho $10,183 179

Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, F-33 School District Finance Survey. State averages computed by PlainSchools by enrollment-weighting district per-pupil expenditure.

What the data shows

The spending gap between states is large

The highest-spending state systems, led by District of Columbia at $30,303, spend well over what the lowest, including Idaho at $10,183, spend per student. The states at the top tend to be in the Northeast, where state and local funding effort is high and labor costs are steep; the states at the bottom tend to be in the West and South, where both are lower. Some of the gap is real difference in resources, and some is the cost of delivering schooling in different places.

Spending is an input, not an outcome

More money does not automatically produce better results, and less money does not guarantee worse ones. How a district spends, on teachers, support staff, programs, or buildings, can matter as much as how much it spends. Read this as a measure of resources committed, not of school quality.

Why this matters

Per-pupil spending shapes class sizes, staffing, and the programs a school can offer, and it is one of the things families and taxpayers weigh alongside the enrollment, demographics, and resource data on each profile. It is context, not a verdict. Use each district and school page to see how local spending compares within a state.

What this analysis cannot tell us

This is current per-pupil expenditure as reported to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, aggregated to the state by weighting each district by its enrollment. It is an input measure of dollars spent, not an outcome measure: higher spending does not by itself mean better schools, and dollars buy different amounts in different places. It is not cost-of-living adjusted, so a dollar in a high-cost state stretches less far than the same dollar in a low-cost one, which explains part of the gap. The figure covers current operating spending and excludes most capital and debt-service costs. Districts that do not report finance data, and a small number with implausible values, are excluded. Spending is one lens on a school system, not a measure of how good its schools are.

States that spend the least per student

The 10 states with the lowest enrollment-weighted per-pupil expenditure (NCES F-33)

Idaho$10,183Utah$10,232Oklahoma$10,981Arizona$11,193Nevada$11,226Florida$11,861South Dakota$12,005Mississippi$12,108Texas$12,148Tennessee$12,198

Related data

Sources

Cite this analysis

PlainSchools. (2026). Per-Pupil Spending by State (NCES F-33). https://plainschools.com/research/per-pupil-spending-by-state