Per-Pupil Spending by State (NCES F-33)
US public-school current per-pupil spending ranges from a state average of $27,472 in District of Columbia to $9,450 in Utah, against a national enrollment-weighted average of $14,797. PlainSchools ranks all 50 state systems from the federal F-33 School District Finance Survey.
Research period:
Key finding
Across the 17,041 US school districts reporting current spending to the federal F-33 finance survey, the enrollment-weighted average is $14,797 per student per year. But the state averages span a wide range.
Spending per student is highest on average in District of Columbia, at $27,472, and lowest in Utah, at $9,450, about 2.9× 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)
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 | $27,472 | 57 |
| 2 | New York | $25,910 | 996 |
| 3 | New Jersey | $24,238 | 649 |
| 4 | Connecticut | $23,282 | 188 |
| 5 | Massachusetts | $21,827 | 396 |
| 6 | New Hampshire | $21,543 | 160 |
| 7 | Vermont | $20,963 | 102 |
| 8 | Alaska | $20,203 | 53 |
| 9 | Rhode Island | $19,699 | 60 |
| 10 | Delaware | $18,635 | 42 |
| 11 | Wyoming | $18,504 | 48 |
| 12 | Illinois | $18,455 | 848 |
| 13 | Maryland | $17,745 | 24 |
| 14 | Maine | $17,554 | 202 |
| 15 | Pennsylvania | $17,407 | 671 |
| 16 | Washington | $16,830 | 309 |
| 17 | California | $16,143 | 1,856 |
| 18 | North Dakota | $15,222 | 168 |
| 19 | Virginia | $15,056 | 131 |
| 20 | Louisiana | $14,941 | 188 |
| 21 | Oregon | $14,868 | 193 |
| 22 | Minnesota | $14,590 | 504 |
| 23 | Ohio | $14,494 | 966 |
| 24 | Wisconsin | $14,473 | 422 |
| 25 | Kansas | $13,840 | 284 |
| 26 | Michigan | $13,798 | 820 |
| 27 | Nebraska | $13,781 | 244 |
| 28 | West Virginia | $13,778 | 56 |
| 29 | Kentucky | $13,548 | 171 |
| 30 | Georgia | $13,479 | 219 |
| 31 | Montana | $13,395 | 390 |
| 32 | Colorado | $13,249 | 180 |
| 33 | South Carolina | $13,224 | 74 |
| 34 | New Mexico | $13,223 | 141 |
| 35 | Iowa | $12,560 | 327 |
| 36 | Missouri | $12,225 | 549 |
| 37 | Indiana | $12,130 | 406 |
| 38 | North Carolina | $12,102 | 322 |
| 39 | Alabama | $11,829 | 146 |
| 40 | Arkansas | $11,769 | 255 |
| 41 | Texas | $11,642 | 1,202 |
| 42 | South Dakota | $11,564 | 149 |
| 43 | Tennessee | $11,328 | 141 |
| 44 | Nevada | $11,212 | 19 |
| 45 | Florida | $11,075 | 67 |
| 46 | Mississippi | $10,985 | 147 |
| 47 | Oklahoma | $10,659 | 540 |
| 48 | Arizona | $10,295 | 633 |
| 49 | Idaho | $9,555 | 170 |
| 50 | Utah | $9,450 | 155 |
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. 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 $27,472, spend well over what the lowest, including Utah at $9,450, 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)
Sources
- U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, F-33 School District Finance Survey: https://nces.ed.gov/ccd/f33agency.asp
Cite this analysis
PlainSchools. (2026). Per-Pupil Spending by State (NCES F-33). https://plainschools.com/research/per-pupil-spending-by-state/