Every public school, district, and the headline NCES measures for Maryland - 25 districts, drawn straight from federal records.
Compiled by PlainSchools, Education-data publisher
Scored 0-100 from federal NCES and CRDC indicators, resource allocation, not test scores - the same index shown on every school page, averaged across 1,382 scored Maryland schools. Full methodology →
The state in one line
Maryland runs 1,383 public schools across 25 districts, with a 14.5:1 average classroom and 49.0% of students on subsidized lunch.
1,383
public schools
25
school districts
14.5:1
avg student–teacher
49.0%
free/reduced lunch
How Maryland ranks nationally
Per-pupil spending
$18,753
#18of 51 · highest-spending
Average student-teacher ratio
14.5:1
#29of 51 · lowest ratios
Public schools
1,383
#24of 51 · most schools
On subsidized lunch
49.0%
#21of 43 · highest share
Maryland ranks #18 of 51 nationally on per-pupil spending and #29 of 51 on average student-teacher ratio, derived live by comparing it against every other state. Ranked among all 50 states + DC from NCES enrollment/staffing and the F-33 finance survey. Lunch share is an indicator of student need, not of quality.
What the NCES Data Says About Maryland Schools
Maryland operates 1,383 public K-12 schools organised into 25 independent school districts serving 885,796 students, per the National Center for Education Statistics Common Core of Data 2024-25. The largest district, Montgomery County Public Schools, enrolls 160,554 pupils across 210 schools at $19,456 per student, while smaller rural districts can run fewer than a dozen campuses. This fragmentation, inherited from century-old township governance patterns in many states, is why per-pupil spending, class sizes, and programme availability vary dramatically inside a single state boundary.
Statewide, the average student-teacher ratio is 14.5:1, a useful benchmark for comparing any individual district or school on PlainSchools. Free-lunch eligibility averages 49.0% across Maryland public schools, a federal indicator of economic need that drives Title I funding allocations. The district table below is sortable by enrollment, school count, and per-pupil expenditure, the three fields that best predict a district's financial and demographic profile. For schools specifically, use the rankings links above to view per-category leaderboards covering spending, student-teacher ratio, best schools by composite quality score, chronic absenteeism, and funding-equity distribution within the state.
Every district figure here pulls from two distinct federal surveys: enrollment and demographic data come from the NCES Common Core of Data 2024-25 (school membership and directory), while per-pupil spending, teacher salaries, and federal/state/local revenue shares originate in the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey (FY 2022-23). Civil-rights indicators, gifted enrollment, AP course counts, counselor staffing, chronic absenteeism, in- and out-of-school suspensions, come from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Cross-referencing these three sources is what lets PlainSchools produce composite scores and equity rankings that single-source tools cannot.
Maryland's average student-teacher ratio vs. every US state
Average students per teacher, state by state (lower means more staffing per student)
15lower student-teacher ratio than 43% of 51 US states
Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more US states. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Department of Education, NCES Common Core of Data · 2024-25
Federal data, transparent formula.
PlainSchools publishes the actual federal survey data - enrollment, staffing, finance, and demographics from NCES. The diversity index and composite quality scores referenced on this page are PlainSchools' own transparent derived indices (not an official NCES rating), computed directly from those datasets with the exact formula disclosed on our methodology page; every input number traces to a cited source. These figures describe reported resource allocation across a large, varied state - a starting point for comparing districts and schools, not a substitute for reviewing a specific school's own record.
Montgomery County Public Schools accounts for 18.1% of all Maryland K-12 enrollment
That concentration, well above the 8.4% national median for largest-district share, means state-level averages can mask substantial variation outside the dominant district. Montgomery County Public Schools operates 210 schools serving 160,554 students, spending $19,456 per pupil. When one district dominates a state's K-12 footprint, its programmatic and budget decisions effectively set policy for a majority of the state's students.
Maryland per-pupil spending varies 1.7× across districts
Per-pupil spending in Maryland ranges from $14,606 (lowest district) to $24,750 (highest), a spread of $10,144. That relatively narrow ratio reflects an unusually equalised funding system, most states have wider gaps. High-spending districts typically draw on higher property tax bases, a structural feature of state education finance under the federal Title I framework that sets the floor but not the ceiling.
Maryland operates only 25 school districts, among the most consolidated K-12 governance structures in the country
Most Maryland districts are countywide or multi-county systems. Consolidation produces narrower per-pupil spending variance because resources pool across larger student populations, but it can also mask intra-district inequities, school-by-school differences within a single district are not visible at the state-aggregation level. Consolidated states typically rely more heavily on state-level funding formulas than on local property tax variability.
Average Maryland student-teacher ratio is 14.5:1 - near the U.S. average of approximately 16:1
Student-teacher ratio is the simplest staffing metric reported on NCES Common Core of Data, but it does not capture push-in specialists, intervention staff, English Language Learner aides, special education co-teachers, or counseling and support staff. Variation between districts within the state is wider than the state-average figure suggests, large urban districts may run 20:1 while small rural districts run 10:1, both inside the same average. Class-load comparisons are most meaningful at the district or school level, not the state aggregate.
Maryland's public schools average a Simpson diversity index of 52.3/100, above the national average of 43.5. The index runs 0-100 from NCES race and ethnicity data, where higher means a more evenly mixed student body. It measures mix, not quality. See where Maryland ranks in our national school-diversity analysis.
By total K-12 enrollment, NCES Common Core 2024-25
students
Montgomery County Public Schools
160,554
Montgomery County Public Schools
160,554 students
100.0% of the leader · rank #1 · 210 schools
Prince George's County Public …
131,133
Prince George's County Public Schools
131,133 students
81.7% of the leader · rank #2 · 199 schools
Baltimore County Public Schools
111,082
Baltimore County Public Schools
111,082 students
69.2% of the leader · rank #3 · 178 schools
Anne Arundel County Public Sch…
84,452
Anne Arundel County Public Schools
84,452 students
52.6% of the leader · rank #4 · 126 schools
Baltimore City Public Schools
75,995
Baltimore City Public Schools
75,995 students
47.3% of the leader · rank #5 · 154 schools
Howard County Public Schools
57,676
Howard County Public Schools
57,676 students
35.9% of the leader · rank #6 · 77 schools
Frederick County Public Schools
46,899
Frederick County Public Schools
46,899 students
29.2% of the leader · rank #7 · 69 schools
Harford County Public Schools
38,037
Harford County Public Schools
38,037 students
23.7% of the leader · rank #8 · 55 schools
Charles County Public Schools
27,598
Charles County Public Schools
27,598 students
17.2% of the leader · rank #9 · 39 schools
Carroll County Public Schools
25,787
Carroll County Public Schools
25,787 students
16.1% of the leader · rank #10 · 44 schools
What this shows Montgomery County Public Schools is the largest district, with 160,554 students across 210 schools. The full ranked district list follows.
Data sourced from NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) 2024-25, NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, and Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) 2021-22.
Using the Maryland data
Maryland's 1,383 schools sit inside 25 districts - compare at the district level first.
District boundaries decide enrollment: shortlist 2-3 districts on spending, ratio, and size before comparing individual schools. Compare districts →
Check how Maryland distributes money across its districts, funding equity varies more within states than between them. Funding equity →
Verify any school's federal record (enrollment, staffing, CRDC flags) before a visit or enrollment decision. Look up a school →
Figures are the federal record (CCD 2024-25, F-33 FY 2022-23, CRDC 2021-22) - they lag the current school year. PlainSchools assigns no subjective rating; the composite quality score used in our rankings is a transparent, reproducible index computed from this cited federal data.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many public schools are in Maryland?
Maryland has 1,383 public schools across 25 school districts, serving 885,796 students.
What is the average student-teacher ratio in Maryland?
The average student-teacher ratio in Maryland public schools is 14.5:1. This varies by district, use the district table below to compare.
What percentage of Maryland students qualify for free lunch?
49.0% of students in Maryland qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, an indicator of economic need used for Title I funding.
What is the largest school district in Maryland?
The largest school district in Maryland is Montgomery County Public Schools with 160,554 students across 210 schools.
Largest K-12 public schools by total students enrolled
students
Montgomery Blair High
3,266
Montgomery Blair High
3,266 students
100.0% of the leader · rank #1 · Silver Spring, MD
Walter Johnson High
3,016
Walter Johnson High
3,016 students
92.3% of the leader · rank #2 · Bethesda, MD
High Point High
3,012
High Point High
3,012 students
92.2% of the leader · rank #3 · Beltsville, MD
Wheaton High
2,794
Wheaton High
2,794 students
85.5% of the leader · rank #4 · Silver Spring, MD
Charles Herbert Flower…
2,712
Charles Herbert Flowers High
2,712 students
83.0% of the leader · rank #5 · Springdale, MD
Parkdale High
2,588
Parkdale High
2,588 students
79.2% of the leader · rank #6 · Riverdale, MD
Bowie High
2,580
Bowie High
2,580 students
79.0% of the leader · rank #7 · Bowie, MD
Eleanor Roosevelt High
2,544
Eleanor Roosevelt High
2,544 students
77.9% of the leader · rank #8 · Greenbelt, MD
What this shows The largest public schools in Maryland by enrollment, often statewide virtual academies or large consolidated campuses, so size here reflects reach, not quality.
Source: National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Common Core of Data (CCD) - Public school universe · 2023-2024 Public K-12 school enrollment, demographics, and operational data; collected annually by NCES from state education agencies.