North Dakota runs 499 public schools across 170 districts, with a 11.7:1 average classroom and 28.2% of students on subsidized lunch.
499
public schools
170
school districts
11.7:1
avg student–teacher
28.2%
free/reduced lunch
What the NCES Data Says About North Dakota Schools
North Dakota operates 499 public K-12 schools organised into 170 independent school districts serving 118,286 students, per the National Center for Education Statistics Common Core of Data 2022-23. The largest district, BISMARCK 1, enrolls 13,976 pupils across 29 schools at $17,656 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 11.7:1, a useful benchmark for comparing any individual district or school on PlainSchools. Free-lunch eligibility averages 28.2% across North Dakota 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 2022-23 (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.
North Dakota's average class size vs. every US state
Average students per teacher, state by state (lower means smaller classes)
12Among the smallest classessmaller classes than 90% 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.
North Dakota per-pupil spending varies 5.9× across districts
Per-pupil spending in North Dakota ranges from $12,333 (lowest district) to $73,000 (highest), a spread of $60,667. That spread reflects typical state-level variation between high-property-value suburbs and rural or low-tax-base districts. 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.
Average North Dakota student-teacher ratio is 11.7:1 — 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.
Largest K-12 public schools by total students enrolled
students
Legacy High School
1,419
Legacy High School
1,419 students
100.0% of the leader · rank #1 · Bismarck, ND
Century High School
1,406
Century High School
1,406 students
99.1% of the leader · rank #2 · Bismarck, ND
West Fargo Sheyenne Hi…
1,400
West Fargo Sheyenne High School
1,400 students
98.7% of the leader · rank #3 · West Fargo, ND
West Fargo High School
1,380
West Fargo High School
1,380 students
97.3% of the leader · rank #4 · West Fargo, ND
Williston High School
1,370
Williston High School
1,370 students
96.5% of the leader · rank #5 · Williston, ND
Bismarck High School
1,367
Bismarck High School
1,367 students
96.3% of the leader · rank #6 · Bismarck, ND
Fargo Davies High School
1,277
Fargo Davies High School
1,277 students
90.0% of the leader · rank #7 · Fargo, ND
Red River High School
1,190
Red River High School
1,190 students
83.9% of the leader · rank #8 · Grand Forks, ND
What this shows The largest public schools in North Dakota 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.