Maryland runs 1,383 public schools across 25 districts, with a 14.4:1 average classroom and 49.0% of students on subsidized lunch.
1,383
public schools
25
school districts
14.4:1
avg student–teacher
49.0%
free/reduced lunch
How Maryland ranks nationally
Per-pupil spending
$20,446
#9of 51 · highest-spending
Average class size
14.4:1
#24of 51 · smallest classes
Public schools
1,383
#24of 51 · most schools
On subsidized lunch
49.0%
#21of 43 · highest share
Maryland ranks #9 of 51 nationally on per-pupil spending and #24 of 51 on average class size, 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 $18,101 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 14.4:1, 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, class size, 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 (typically FY 2021-22). 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 class size vs. every US state
Average students per teacher, state by state (lower means smaller classes)
14smaller classes than 49% 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 — no proprietary formula.
PlainSchools publishes the actual federal survey data — enrollment, staffing, finance, and demographics from NCES — without a composite rating on top. The insights below are computed directly from those datasets; every number traces to a cited source.
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 $18,101 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 3.5× across districts
Per-pupil spending in Maryland ranges from $14,943 (lowest district) to $52,174 (highest), a spread of $37,231. 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 14.4:1 — 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.
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 2021-22, CRDC 2021-22) — they lag the current school year and describe reported data, not school quality. PlainSchools does not rate or rank schools.
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 14.4:1. 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.