Wyoming runs 351 public schools across 56 districts, with a 11.7:1 average classroom and 27.4% of students on subsidized lunch.
351
public schools
56
school districts
11.7:1
avg student–teacher
27.4%
free/reduced lunch
How Wyoming ranks nationally
Per-pupil spending
$22,313
#8of 51 · highest-spending
Average student-teacher ratio
11.7:1
#4of 51 · lowest ratios
Public schools
351
#46of 51 · most schools
On subsidized lunch
27.4%
#42of 43 · highest share
Wyoming ranks #8 of 51 nationally on per-pupil spending and #4 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 Wyoming Schools
Wyoming operates 351 public K-12 schools organised into 56 independent school districts serving 89,452 students, per the National Center for Education Statistics Common Core of Data 2024-25. The largest district, Laramie County School District #1, enrolls 13,821 pupils across 38 schools at $17,457 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 27.4% across Wyoming 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 (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.
Wyoming's average student-teacher ratio vs. every US state
Average students per teacher, state by state (lower means more staffing per student)
12Among the lowest ratioslower student-teacher ratio than 88% 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.
Laramie County School District #1 accounts for 15.5% of all Wyoming K-12 enrollment
That concentration, well above the 8.4% national median for largest-district share, means state-level averages can mask substantial variation outside the dominant district. Laramie County School District #1 operates 38 schools serving 13,821 students, spending $17,457 per pupil. When one district dominates a state's K-12 footprint, its programmatic and budget decisions effectively set policy for a majority of the state's students.
Wyoming per-pupil spending varies 3.2× across districts
Per-pupil spending in Wyoming ranges from $13,854 (lowest district) to $44,448 (highest), a spread of $30,594. That relatively narrow ratio reflects an unusually equalised funding system, most states have wider gaps. 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.
Wyoming operates only 56 school districts, among the most consolidated K-12 governance structures in the country
Most Wyoming districts are countywide or multi-county systems. Consolidation produces narrower per-pupil spending variance because resources pool across larger student populations, but it can also mask intra-district inequities, school-by-school differences within a single district are not visible at the state-aggregation level. Consolidated states typically rely more heavily on state-level funding formulas than on local property tax variability.
Average Wyoming 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.
Wyoming's public schools average a Simpson diversity index of 33.2/100, 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 Wyoming 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 Wyoming data
Wyoming's 351 schools sit inside 56 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 Wyoming 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 2021-22, 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 Wyoming?
Wyoming has 351 public schools across 56 school districts, serving 89,452 students.
What is the average student-teacher ratio in Wyoming?
The average student-teacher ratio in Wyoming public schools is 11.7:1. This varies by district, use the district table below to compare.
What percentage of Wyoming students qualify for free lunch?
27.4% of students in Wyoming qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, an indicator of economic need used for Title I funding.
What is the largest school district in Wyoming?
The largest school district in Wyoming is Laramie County School District #1 with 13,821 students across 38 schools.
Largest K-12 public schools by total students enrolled
students
Kelly Walsh High School
2,002
Kelly Walsh High School
2,002 students
100.0% of the leader · rank #1 · Casper, WY
Natrona County High Sc…
1,703
Natrona County High School
1,703 students
85.1% of the leader · rank #2 · Casper, WY
East High School
1,566
East High School
1,566 students
78.2% of the leader · rank #3 · Cheyenne, WY
Rock Springs High School
1,393
Rock Springs High School
1,393 students
69.6% of the leader · rank #4 · Rock Springs, WY
Central High School
1,270
Central High School
1,270 students
63.4% of the leader · rank #5 · Cheyenne, WY
Campbell County High S…
1,212
Campbell County High School
1,212 students
60.5% of the leader · rank #6 · Gillette, WY
Thunder Basin High Sch…
1,206
Thunder Basin High School
1,206 students
60.2% of the leader · rank #7 · Gillette, WY
South High School
1,112
South High School
1,112 students
55.5% of the leader · rank #8 · Cheyenne, WY
What this shows The largest public schools in Wyoming 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.