North Dakota · NCES F-33 finance data

Highest Spending Districts in North Dakota

The 35 North Dakota 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

Dunseith 1 spends $23,276 per student, the most of any North Dakota district listed, against an average of $14,499 across the top 35.

$23,276
top spend (Dunseith 1): $10,067
lowest on this list: 2.3×
spread across the listed districts: 548
students in the top district

#	District	Enrollment	Schools	Per-Pupil $
1	Dunseith 1Dunseith	548	2	$23,276
2	Belcourt 7Belcourt	1,588	7	$22,582
3	Tioga 15Tioga	523	2	$18,145
4	Fargo 1Fargo	11,431	25	$17,740
5	New Town 1New Town	994	3	$17,294
6	Killdeer 16Killdeer	646	2	$16,034
7	Rugby 5Rugby	607	2	$15,723
8	Grand Forks 1Grand Forks	7,604	18	$15,253
9	Minot 1Minot	7,715	22	$15,223
10	Bottineau 1Bottineau	660	2	$15,094
11	Mckenzie Co 1Watford City	2,004	5	$15,006
12	Bismarck 1Bismarck	13,976	29	$14,558
13	Dickinson 1Dickinson	3,954	12	$14,504
14	Devils Lake 1Devils Lake	1,737	5	$14,196
15	Mandan 1Mandan	4,344	11	$14,124
16	Jamestown 1Jamestown	2,167	7	$13,986
17	Wahpeton 37Wahpeton	1,201	4	$13,897
18	Valley City 2Valley City	1,036	4	$13,719
19	Stanley 2Stanley	755	2	$13,713
20	West Fargo 6West Fargo	12,680	25	$13,666
21	United 7Des Lacs	704	2	$13,615
22	Hazen 3Hazen	570	3	$13,607
23	Lisbon 19Lisbon	628	3	$13,573
24	Northern Cass 97Hunter	690	3	$13,433
25	Nedrose 4Minot	601	2	$13,298
26	Hillsboro 9Hillsboro	508	3	$13,293
27	May-Port Cg 14Mayville	508	3	$13,075
28	Williston Basin 7Williston	5,294	13	$13,026
29	South Prairie 70Minot	533	2	$12,756
30	Beulah 27Beulah	761	3	$12,708
31	Central Cass 17Casselton	1,036	3	$12,242
32	Carrington 49Carrington	613	2	$12,062
33	Grafton 18Grafton	949	3	$11,865
34	Kindred 2Kindred	916	2	$11,122
35	Thompson 61Thompson	656	2	$10,067

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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.