Maryland · NCES F-33 finance data

Highest Spending Districts in Maryland

The 24 Maryland 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

Somerset County Public Schools spends $24,750 per student, the most of any Maryland district listed, against an average of $18,753 across the top 24.

$24,750
top spend (Somerset County Public Schools): $14,606
lowest on this list: 1.7×
spread across the listed districts: 2,773
students in the top district

#	District	Enrollment	Schools	Per-Pupil $
1	Somerset County Public SchoolsWestover	2,773	9	$24,750
2	Baltimore City Public SchoolsBaltimore	75,995	154	$22,977
3	Worcester County Public SchoolsNewark	6,841	14	$22,643
4	Kent County Public SchoolsRock Hall	1,751	5	$22,237
5	Dorchester County Public SchoolsCambridge	4,523	13	$21,340
6	Prince George's County Public SchoolsUpper Marlboro	131,133	199	$19,789
7	Garrett County Public SchoolsOakland	3,500	12	$19,520
8	Montgomery County Public SchoolsRockville	160,554	210	$19,456
9	Howard County Public SchoolsEllicott City	57,676	77	$19,256
10	Baltimore County Public SchoolsTowson	111,082	178	$18,666
11	Wicomico County Public SchoolsSalisbury	14,900	25	$18,486
12	Allegany County Public SchoolsCumberland	8,181	22	$18,290
13	Washington County Public SchoolsHagerstown	22,297	44	$17,937
14	Anne Arundel County Public SchoolsAnnapolis	84,452	126	$17,624
15	Queen Anne's County Public SchoolsCentreville	7,387	14	$17,540
16	Harford County Public SchoolsBel Air	38,037	55	$17,493
17	Charles County Public SchoolsLa Plata	27,598	39	$17,415
18	Caroline County Public SchoolsDenton	5,667	10	$17,385
19	St. Mary's County Public SchoolsLeonardtown	17,493	28	$17,088
20	Cecil County Public SchoolsElkton	15,047	29	$16,748
21	Carroll County Public SchoolsWestminster	25,787	44	$16,548
22	Frederick County Public SchoolsFrederick	46,899	69	$16,233
23	Talbot County Public SchoolsEaston	4,523	8	$16,056
24	Calvert County Public SchoolsPrince Frederick	15,461	25	$14,606

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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.