Every public school, district, and the headline NCES measures for Mississippi - 152 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 877 scored Mississippi schools. Full methodology →
The state in one line
Mississippi runs 877 public schools across 152 districts, with a 13.3:1 average classroom and 80.5% of students on subsidized lunch.
877
public schools
152
school districts
13.3:1
avg student–teacher
80.5%
free/reduced lunch
How Mississippi ranks nationally
Per-pupil spending
$13,683
#40of 51 · highest-spending
Average student-teacher ratio
13.3:1
#14of 51 · lowest ratios
Public schools
877
#35of 51 · most schools
On subsidized lunch
80.5%
#2of 43 · highest share
Mississippi ranks #40 of 51 nationally on per-pupil spending and #14 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 Mississippi Schools
Mississippi operates 877 public K-12 schools organised into 152 independent school districts serving 436,122 students, per the National Center for Education Statistics Common Core of Data 2024-25. The largest district, Desoto Co School Dist, enrolls 35,003 pupils across 42 schools at $9,525 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 13.3:1, a useful benchmark for comparing any individual district or school on PlainSchools. Free-lunch eligibility averages 80.5% across Mississippi 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.
Mississippi's average student-teacher ratio vs. every US state
Average students per teacher, state by state (lower means more staffing per student)
13Among the lowest ratioslower student-teacher ratio than 73% 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.
Mississippi per-pupil spending varies 9.1× across districts
Per-pupil spending in Mississippi ranges from $9,525 (lowest district) to $86,787 (highest), a spread of $77,262. That ratio is among the widest in the country and predicts large gaps in class size, programme availability, and counselor:student ratios that compound across a 12-year K-12 career. 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.
Mississippi has higher-than-average Title I eligibility - 80.5% of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch
Free-lunch eligibility is the federal threshold for Title I funding allocations under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA, 2015), which replaced No Child Left Behind in defining how the federal government distributes K-12 supplemental funding. Districts above 75% eligibility receive concentration grants on top of the basic Title I formula. States with eligibility this high typically draw a substantially larger federal funding share relative to their local property tax base, which can either offset spending gaps or reinforce them depending on state allocation policy.
Average Mississippi student-teacher ratio is 13.3:1 - low (typically associated with smaller schools or state-funded class-size reduction)
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. Lower ratios in this state often correlate with smaller per-school enrollments and rural geography rather than higher staffing budgets per se. Class-load comparisons are most meaningful at the district or school level, not the state aggregate.
Mississippi's public schools average a Simpson diversity index of 41.1/100, below 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 Mississippi ranks in our national school-diversity analysis.
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 Mississippi data
Mississippi's 877 schools sit inside 152 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 Mississippi 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 Mississippi?
Mississippi has 877 public schools across 152 school districts, serving 436,122 students.
What is the average student-teacher ratio in Mississippi?
The average student-teacher ratio in Mississippi public schools is 13.3:1. This varies by district, use the district table below to compare.
What percentage of Mississippi students qualify for free lunch?
80.5% of students in Mississippi qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, an indicator of economic need used for Title I funding.
What is the largest school district in Mississippi?
The largest school district in Mississippi is Desoto Co School Dist with 35,003 students across 42 schools.
Why does per-pupil spending vary so much across Mississippi districts?
Mississippi districts spend between $9,525 and $86,787 per pupil, a 9.1× range. This is a notable but not extreme spread. Most U.S. states fund schools through a mix of state aid (typically 40-60%), local property tax (30-50%), and federal Title I (5-15%); districts in higher property-value areas raise more per pupil from local taxes, while state aid is intended to partially equalise funding across districts. The federal F-33 finance survey reports actual current expenditures including instructional and support services.
Largest K-12 public schools by total students enrolled
students
Tupelo High School
2,123
Tupelo High School
2,123 students
100.0% of the leader · rank #1 · Tupelo, MS
Grenada Elementary Sch…
2,044
Grenada Elementary School
2,044 students
96.3% of the leader · rank #2 · Grenada, MS
Desoto Central High Sc…
2,004
Desoto Central High School
2,004 students
94.4% of the leader · rank #3 · Southaven, MS
Ocean Springs High Sch…
1,928
Ocean Springs High School
1,928 students
90.8% of the leader · rank #4 · Ocean Springs, MS
Southaven High School
1,876
Southaven High School
1,876 students
88.4% of the leader · rank #5 · Southaven, MS
Northwest Rankin High …
1,855
Northwest Rankin High School
1,855 students
87.4% of the leader · rank #6 · Flowood, MS
Oak Grove High School
1,750
Oak Grove High School
1,750 students
82.4% of the leader · rank #7 · Hattiesburg, MS
Gulfport High School
1,702
Gulfport High School
1,702 students
80.2% of the leader · rank #8 · Gulfport, MS
What this shows The largest public schools in Mississippi 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.