Per-Pupil Spending

How It Works

Per-pupil spending in the United States averages approximately $16,000 per student per year but varies enormously, from under $9,000 in some states to over $25,000 in others. Spending comes from three sources: local funding (primarily property taxes, averaging about 45% of revenue), state funding (about 47%), and federal funding (about 8%). The heavy reliance on local property taxes is a major driver of funding inequality, since wealthier communities generate more property tax revenue per student. States attempt to equalize funding through state aid formulas that direct more money to lower-wealth districts, but significant disparities persist both between and within states. Research on the relationship between spending and outcomes is nuanced. Recent rigorous studies have found that increased funding does improve student outcomes, particularly for low-income students, but the size of the effect depends on how the money is spent. Spending on smaller class sizes, higher teacher salaries (to attract and retain better teachers), and support services shows the strongest returns. On OpenSchoolData, per-pupil spending is not directly displayed because NCES school-level spending data has significant reporting gaps. Instead, we focus on presenting the outcomes data that is consistently available: enrollment, proficiency rates, and graduation rates.

Related Terms

• Title I, A federal program providing supplemental funding to schools with high percentages of students from low-income families, serving approximately 25 million students in over 56,000 schools.
• Free and Reduced-Price Lunch (FRL), A federal program providing subsidized meals to students from low-income families, widely used as a proxy measure for school-level poverty rates.
• Teacher-Student Ratio, The number of students per full-time-equivalent teacher at a school, often used as a proxy for class size and resource allocation, though the two measures are not identical.