{"chart":{"slug":"school-spending-per-student-largest-districts","title":"Which big school districts spend the most per student?","takeaway":"In the school year that ended in 2024, New York City, New York spent $35,796 per student, the most of the nation's 100 largest public school districts, followed by District of Columbia ($31,529) and Atlanta, Georgia ($26,117). Alpine, Utah spent the least, $10,044, against $17,619 for all U.S. public schools. This is day-to-day spending on teachers, staff, supplies and buses, not on buildings or debt, and it isn't adjusted for local prices, which differ widely.","topic":"Schools","chart_type":"bar","ranking":true,"x_label":"School district","y_label":"Spending per student, dollars a year","unit":"dollars","points_count":101,"source":{"name":"U.S. Census Bureau, Annual Survey of School System Finances","url":"https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/school-finances/data/tables.html"},"license":{"name":"Public domain (U.S. government work)","url":"https://www.usa.gov/government-copyright"},"data_as_of":"2024-06-30","updated_at":"2026-11-04T16:29:21.416Z","url":"https://chart.ly/charts/school-spending-per-student-largest-districts","api_url":"https://chart.ly/api/v1/charts/school-spending-per-student-largest-districts","csv_url":"https://chart.ly/charts/school-spending-per-student-largest-districts/data.csv","image_url":"https://chart.ly/charts/school-spending-per-student-largest-districts/image.png","embed_url":"https://chart.ly/charts/school-spending-per-student-largest-districts/embed","credit":"U.S. Census Bureau, Annual Survey of School System Finances, via Chartly (https://chart.ly/charts/school-spending-per-student-largest-districts)","credit_html":"U.S. Census Bureau, Annual Survey of School System Finances, via \u003ca href=\"https://chart.ly/charts/school-spending-per-student-largest-districts\"\u003eChartly\u003c/a\u003e","average_label":"United States","zero_axis":true,"data":[{"label":"New York City, New York","value":35796},{"label":"District of Columbia","value":31529},{"label":"Atlanta, Georgia","value":26117},{"label":"Los Angeles Unified, California","value":25631},{"label":"San Francisco Unified, California","value":25173},{"label":"Chicago, Illinois","value":24330},{"label":"San Diego Unified, California","value":24330},{"label":"Baltimore, Maryland","value":24053},{"label":"Hawaii Public Schools, Hawaii","value":23878},{"label":"Fresno Unified, California","value":23550},{"label":"Seattle, Washington","value":22227},{"label":"Prince Georges County, Maryland","value":21592},{"label":"Detroit, Michigan","value":21406},{"label":"Loudoun County, Virginia","value":21242},{"label":"Long Beach Unified, California","value":21011},{"label":"Milwaukee, Wisconsin","value":20815},{"label":"Howard County, Maryland","value":20296},{"label":"Montgomery County, Maryland","value":20107},{"label":"Fairfax County, Virginia","value":20064},{"label":"Philadelphia, Pennsylvania","value":19525},{"label":"Baltimore County, Maryland","value":19356},{"label":"Anne Arundel County, Maryland","value":19124},{"label":"Jefferson County, Kentucky","value":18730},{"label":"Corona-Norco Unified, California","value":18315},{"label":"Charleston County, South Carolina","value":18199},{"label":"Denver, Colorado","value":17972},{"label":"Omaha, Nebraska","value":17744},{"label":"DeKalb County, Georgia","value":17739},{"label":"United States","value":17619},{"label":"Fulton County, Georgia","value":17609},{"label":"Albuquerque, New Mexico","value":17449},{"label":"Elk Grove Unified, California","value":17432},{"label":"Nashville-Davidson County, Tennessee","value":17314},{"label":"Frederick County, Maryland","value":17172},{"label":"Cherry Creek, Colorado","value":17160},{"label":"Prince William County, Virginia","value":16472},{"label":"Clayton County, Georgia","value":16377},{"label":"Cobb County, Georgia","value":16151},{"label":"Virginia Beach, Virginia","value":15699},{"label":"Gwinnett County, Georgia","value":15623},{"label":"Jefferson County, Colorado","value":15276},{"label":"Palm Beach County, Florida","value":15224},{"label":"Dallas, Texas","value":15160},{"label":"Collier County, Florida","value":15064},{"label":"Mobile County, Alabama","value":14984},{"label":"Clark County, Nevada","value":14774},{"label":"Jefferson Parish, Louisiana","value":14671},{"label":"Douglas County, Colorado","value":14658},{"label":"Shelby County, Tennessee","value":14576},{"label":"Henrico County, Virginia","value":14356},{"label":"Horry County, South Carolina","value":14340},{"label":"Guilford County, North Carolina","value":14307},{"label":"Aldine, Texas","value":14243},{"label":"Austin, Texas","value":14133},{"label":"Chesterfield County, Virginia","value":13976},{"label":"Houston, Texas","value":13950},{"label":"Miami-Dade County, Florida","value":13931},{"label":"Washoe County, Nevada","value":13902},{"label":"Fort Worth, Texas","value":13777},{"label":"El Paso, Texas","value":13564},{"label":"Winston-Salem/Forsyth, North Carolina","value":13477},{"label":"North East, Texas","value":13459},{"label":"Garland, Texas","value":13440},{"label":"Broward County, Florida","value":13412},{"label":"Greenville County, South Carolina","value":13376},{"label":"Pinellas County, Florida","value":13166},{"label":"Lewisville, Texas","value":13147},{"label":"Charlotte/Mecklenburg, North Carolina","value":13065},{"label":"Forsyth County, Georgia","value":13015},{"label":"Arlington, Texas","value":12690},{"label":"Orange County, Florida","value":12678},{"label":"Polk County, Florida","value":12447},{"label":"Lee County, Florida","value":12384},{"label":"Manatee County, Florida","value":12296},{"label":"Duval County, Florida","value":12290},{"label":"Wake County, North Carolina","value":12279},{"label":"Knox County, Tennessee","value":12234},{"label":"Plano, Texas","value":12149},{"label":"Cumberland County, North Carolina","value":12145},{"label":"Northside, Texas","value":12126},{"label":"Mesa Unified, Arizona","value":12066},{"label":"Granite, Utah","value":12019},{"label":"Brevard County, Florida","value":11956},{"label":"Katy, Texas","value":11756},{"label":"Pasco County, Florida","value":11574},{"label":"Klein, Texas","value":11512},{"label":"Hillsborough County, Florida","value":11431},{"label":"Humble, Texas","value":11419},{"label":"Davis County, Utah","value":11329},{"label":"Rutherford County, Tennessee","value":11309},{"label":"Lake County, Florida","value":11288},{"label":"Volusia County, Florida","value":11204},{"label":"Fort Bend, Texas","value":11182},{"label":"Cypress-Fairbanks, Texas","value":11072},{"label":"Osceola County, Florida","value":10868},{"label":"Seminole County, Florida","value":10857},{"label":"Conroe, Texas","value":10753},{"label":"Frisco, Texas","value":10604},{"label":"Jordan, Utah","value":10309},{"label":"St Johns County, Florida","value":10280},{"label":"Alpine, Utah","value":10044}],"annotations":[]},"docs":"https://chart.ly/developers","terms":"Free to use with credit: wherever you show or quote a chart's data, name Chartly with a link to that chart's url (each chart's credit line does both) and credit its source as its license asks.","credit":"U.S. Census Bureau, Annual Survey of School System Finances, via Chartly (https://chart.ly/charts/school-spending-per-student-largest-districts)"}