Montana · NCES F-33 finance data

Highest Spending Districts in Montana

The 50 Montana 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

Poplar Elem spends $22,549 per student, the most of any Montana district listed, against an average of $13,407 across the top 50.

$22,549
top spend (Poplar Elem): $11,122
lowest on this list: 2.0×
spread across the listed districts: 596
students in the top district

#	District	Enrollment	Schools	Per-Pupil $
1	Poplar ElemPoplar	596	3	$22,549
2	Browning ElemBrowning	1,266	7	$21,449
3	Hardin ElemHardin	1,284	5	$17,138
4	Browning H SBrowning	563	1	$17,004
5	Wolf Point ElemWolf Point	511	3	$16,053
6	Anaconda ElemAnaconda	740	3	$15,789
7	Huntley Project K-12 SchoolsWorden	773	3	$15,530
8	Evergreen ElemKalispell	651	2	$15,048
9	Glendive ElemGlendive	782	3	$14,702
10	Livingston ElemLivingston	837	3	$14,667
11	Whitefish H SWhitefish	581	1	$14,611
12	Butte H SButte	1,317	1	$14,554
13	Polson H SPolson	524	1	$14,395
14	Bozeman H SBozeman	2,631	2	$13,794
15	Helena ElemHelena	5,225	13	$13,752
16	Glasgow K-12 SchoolsGlasgow	769	3	$13,532
17	Hardin H SHardin	512	1	$13,494
18	Columbia Falls H SColumbia Falls	687	1	$13,421
19	Missoula ElemMissoula	5,280	12	$13,401
20	Malta K-12 SchoolsMalta	519	4	$13,218
21	Missoula H SMissoula	3,966	4	$13,142
22	Helena H SHelena	2,514	2	$13,044
23	Polson ElemPolson	1,173	3	$12,918
24	Havre H SHavre	531	1	$12,893
25	Lolo ElemLolo	507	2	$12,874
26	Cut Bank ElemCut Bank	551	7	$12,822
27	Whitefish ElemWhitefish	1,313	2	$12,488
28	Laurel ElemLaurel	1,272	4	$12,438
29	Libby K-12 SchoolsLibby	1,164	3	$12,407
30	Townsend K-12 SchoolsTownsend	706	3	$12,363
31	Miles City ElemMiles City	953	5	$12,293
32	Billings H SBillings	5,610	3	$12,233
33	Ronan ElemRonan	1,105	3	$12,176
34	Great Falls ElemGreat Falls	7,032	17	$12,146
35	Havre ElemHavre	1,199	4	$12,094
36	Kalispell ElemKalispell	3,095	7	$12,053
37	Billings ElemBillings	10,988	28	$12,015
38	Sidney ElemSidney	856	3	$12,008
39	Columbia Falls ElemColumbia Falls	1,562	3	$11,977
40	Florence-Carlton K-12 SchlsFlorence	790	3	$11,908
41	Lockwood K-12Lockwood	1,718	4	$11,727
42	Flathead H SKalispell	3,101	2	$11,591
43	Belgrade ElemBelgrade	2,374	4	$11,571
44	Laurel H SLaurel	619	1	$11,553
45	Lewistown ElemLewistown	888	4	$11,521
46	Frenchtown K-12 SchoolsFrenchtown	1,443	4	$11,281
47	Hamilton K-12 SchoolsHamilton	1,666	4	$11,260
48	Hellgate ElemMissoula	1,498	4	$11,166
49	Three Forks ElemThree Forks	523	2	$11,141
50	Dillon ElemDillon	780	2	$11,122

Explore More for Montana

All Districts → Largest Schools → National Spending Ranking →

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.