Alabama · NCES F-33 finance data

Highest Spending Districts in Alabama

The 50 Alabama districts that spend the most per student, ranked from NCES F-33 finance data (2022-23). Only districts enrolling 500 or more students are included.

Compiled from official source data by PlainSchools. · Updated August 2026

The spending picture in one line

Lowndes County spends $23,179 per student, the most of any Alabama district listed, against an average of $15,443 across the top 50.

$23,179
top spend (Lowndes County): $13,300
lowest on this list: 1.7×
spread across the listed districts: 1,176
students in the top district

#	District	Enrollment	Schools	Per-Pupil $
1	Lowndes CountyHayneville	1,176	9	$23,179
2	Perry CountyMarion	935	2	$21,181
3	I3 AcademyBirmingham	625	2	$19,848
4	Sumter CountyLivingston	1,006	5	$19,216
5	Greene CountyEutaw	913	5	$19,154
6	Wilcox CountyCamden	1,240	6	$18,907
7	Barbour CountyClayton	715	3	$18,210
8	Mountain Brook CityMountain Brook	4,409	6	$17,829
9	Dallas CountySelma	2,488	12	$17,801
10	Macon CountyTuskegee	1,790	7	$17,599
11	Conecuh CountyEvergreen	1,487	9	$17,062
12	Choctaw CountyButler	1,097	4	$16,901
13	Marengo CountyLinden	953	3	$16,598
14	Birmingham CityBirmingham	21,130	49	$16,201
15	Talladega CityTalladega	1,560	6	$15,560
16	Fairfield CityFairfield	1,476	6	$15,550
17	Anniston CityAnniston	1,892	6	$15,450
18	Bessemer CityBessemer	3,246	9	$15,437
19	Coosa CountyRockford	805	2	$15,257
20	Bullock CountyUnion Springs	1,397	4	$15,226
21	Colbert CountyTuscumbia	2,621	8	$15,018
22	Homewood CityHomewood	4,371	5	$14,899
23	Decatur CityDecatur	8,745	20	$14,832
24	Vestavia Hills CityVestavia Hills	7,069	9	$14,810
25	Winston CountyDouble Springs	2,302	10	$14,792
26	Pike CountyTroy	2,155	7	$14,708
27	Escambia CountyBrewton	4,208	12	$14,614
28	Tarrant CityTarrant	1,271	3	$14,515
29	Clarke CountyGrove Hill	2,171	7	$14,384
30	Florence CityFlorence	4,645	9	$14,378
31	Hoover CityHoover	13,557	18	$14,273
32	Selma CitySelma	2,587	11	$14,254
33	Tuscaloosa CityTuscaloosa	11,186	20	$14,227
34	Sheffield CitySheffield	1,043	4	$14,219
35	Thomasville CityThomasville	1,056	3	$14,125
36	Elba CityElba	685	3	$13,777
37	Dothan CityDothan	8,254	18	$13,750
38	Ozark CityOzark	2,054	6	$13,561
39	Bibb CountyCentreville	3,098	9	$13,558
40	Oxford CityOxford	4,203	7	$13,519
41	Gadsden CityGadsden	4,939	15	$13,509
42	Fayette CountyFayette	2,163	6	$13,423
43	Franklin CountyRussellville	3,637	10	$13,421
44	Lawrence CountyMoulton	4,698	14	$13,382
45	Alabaster CityAlabaster	6,425	5	$13,376
46	Monroe CountyMonroeville	3,077	9	$13,365
47	Tallassee CityTallassee	1,536	3	$13,365
48	Midfield CityMidfield	1,045	4	$13,341
49	Guntersville CityGuntersville	1,851	4	$13,313
50	Gulf Shores CityGulf Shores	2,450	3	$13,300

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Methodology

Per-pupil expenditure data comes from the NCES F-33 Finance Survey. Only districts with 500 or more students are included to ensure meaningful comparisons. Spending figures include all current operational expenditures divided by total enrollment.

Per-pupil spending figures come from the National Center for Education Statistics F-33 School District Finance Survey for fiscal year 2022-23, the federal government's annual census of revenues and expenditures across more than 13,000 public school districts. Only districts enrolling 500 or more students are ranked, to keep small-district outliers from distorting the comparison.

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.