How much does each state spend per public school student?

In the school year that ended in 2024, New York spent the most per public school student, $31,918, followed by District of Columbia ($31,529) and Vermont ($28,818). Idaho spent the least, $11,060, and the figure for the whole U.S. was $17,619. This is day-to-day spending on teachers, staff, supplies and buses, not on buildings or debt, and it isn't adjusted for each state's prices.

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Key facts

Measure: Spending per student, dollars a year. Written from the data below.

  • New York has the highest figure, $31,918, followed by District of Columbia ($31,529) and Vermont ($28,818).
  • Idaho has the lowest figure, $11,060, followed by Utah ($11,347) and Arizona ($12,003).
  • The highest is 2.9 times the lowest.
  • United States: $17,619. Of the 51 compared, 21 are above it and 30 below.

Each of the 100 largest school districts has its own page: find your school district to see its spending per student and students next to its state's and the U.S. figures.

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Source and date

Source
U.S. Census Bureau, Annual Survey of School System Finances
License
Public domain (U.S. government work)
Data as of
Published

Citation

Chartly. “How much does each state spend per public school student?” Chart. Data: U.S. Census Bureau, Annual Survey of School System Finances, https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/school-finances/data/tables.html (data as of June 30, 2024). https://chart.ly/charts/school-spending-per-student-by-state (accessed November 4, 2026).

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The data

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The file has the numbers in this table, with the source, license and date. Please credit the source and Chartly. Developers can also get them as JSON (how).

State Spending per student, dollars a year
New York 31,918
District of Columbia 31,529
Vermont 28,818
New Jersey 27,234
Connecticut 26,316
Massachusetts 24,429
Hawaii 23,878
New Hampshire 22,978
Delaware 22,201
Rhode Island 22,110
Illinois 21,776
Pennsylvania 21,091
Alaska 21,004
California 20,791
Wyoming 20,521
Maryland 20,208
Maine 19,962
Washington 18,564
Michigan 18,314
Oregon 18,083
New Mexico 17,664
United States 17,619
Ohio 17,257
Virginia 17,104
North Dakota 17,102
Minnesota 17,098
Nebraska 16,147
Wisconsin 15,952
Colorado 15,908
Georgia 15,833
West Virginia 15,640
Louisiana 15,581
Kansas 15,558
South Carolina 15,060
Nevada 14,812
Kentucky 14,596
Iowa 14,369
Missouri 14,241
Arkansas 13,873
Montana 13,656
Alabama 13,627
Indiana 13,622
North Carolina 12,995
Texas 12,895
Tennessee 12,882
South Dakota 12,828
Florida 12,693
Mississippi 12,324
Oklahoma 12,162
Arizona 12,003
Utah 11,347
Idaho 11,060

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