U.S. Public School District Size 2026: Enrollment Statistics & Charts
Public school district enrollment is distributed unevenly across the United States. The latest complete national size-band table for regular districts covers school year 2021–22, while the 2024–25 Common Core of Data supplies newer state totals for all operating districts.
District counts and student counts answer different questions. Small systems form a large share of district organizations, while most students attend districts with enrollment above 2,500.
District Enrollment Statistics
National size bands use regular public school districts reported in the NCES Local Education Agency Universe Survey.
District Count and Student Enrollment Follow Different Distributions
Share of regular districts and students by district enrollment band, school year 2021–22
The bars compare organizational frequency with student concentration. The full band totals remain available in the table.
Enrollment is concentrated in larger systems
- Districts enrolling at least 10,000 students accounted for 54.3% of students but only 6.6% of regular districts.
- Districts below 1,000 students made up 47.2% of regular districts and served 5.7% of students.
Regular Public School Districts by Enrollment Band
District and student shares are NCES values. Average enrollment is derived by dividing students by districts within each reported band.
| Enrollment band | Districts | District share | Students | Student share | Average enrollment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 13,318 | 100.0% | 46,395,290 | 100.0% | 3,484 |
| 25,000 or more | 266 | 2.0% | 15,917,377 | 34.3% | 59,840 |
| 10,000 to 24,999 | 610 | 4.6% | 9,291,454 | 20.0% | 15,232 |
| 5,000 to 9,999 | 996 | 7.5% | 6,909,401 | 14.9% | 6,937 |
| 2,500 to 4,999 | 1,854 | 13.9% | 6,511,272 | 14.0% | 3,512 |
| 1,000 to 2,499 | 3,185 | 23.9% | 5,110,369 | 11.0% | 1,605 |
| 600 to 999 | 1,810 | 13.6% | 1,426,664 | 3.1% | 788 |
| 300 to 599 | 1,922 | 14.4% | 843,156 | 1.8% | 439 |
| 1 to 299 | 2,558 | 19.2% | 385,597 | 0.8% | 151 |
| Size not reported | 117 | 0.9% | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable |
The middle bands contain most district organizations
- 71.1% of regular districts enrolled fewer than 2,500 students, yet those bands served 16.7% of students.
- The simple national ratio was 3,484 students per regular district; that ratio is pulled upward by the highest enrollment bands.
State Administrative Scale in 2024–25
The state measure divides total student membership by all operating districts reported by NCES. It describes system structure rather than a median district.
Highest State Ratios of Students per Operating District
Top 15 states based on 2024–25 student membership divided by operating district count
Statewide and county-based systems can produce high ratios, while states with many operating agencies can produce low ratios. The full 51-jurisdiction table follows.
Students per Operating District by State
Ranking is based only on the derived students-per-operating-district ratio.
| Rank | State | Operating districts | Student membership | Students per district |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hawaii | 1 | 167,071 | 167,071 |
| 2 | Maryland | 25 | 891,525 | 35,661 |
| 3 | Florida | 83 | 2,859,600 | 34,453 |
| 4 | Nevada | 20 | 477,563 | 23,878 |
| 5 | South Carolina | 94 | 796,780 | 8,476 |
| 6 | Georgia | 253 | 1,744,662 | 6,896 |
| 7 | Tennessee | 149 | 1,003,622 | 6,736 |
| 8 | Virginia | 209 | 1,257,315 | 6,016 |
| 9 | Alabama | 159 | 751,060 | 4,724 |
| 10 | Texas | 1,233 | 5,545,640 | 4,498 |
| 11 | Utah | 155 | 684,604 | 4,417 |
| 12 | North Carolina | 356 | 1,555,418 | 4,369 |
| 13 | Kentucky | 177 | 657,263 | 3,713 |
| 14 | West Virginia | 66 | 242,155 | 3,669 |
| 15 | Louisiana | 189 | 666,840 | 3,528 |
| 16 | Washington | 341 | 1,094,502 | 3,210 |
| 17 | Colorado | 273 | 865,077 | 3,169 |
| 18 | Delaware | 46 | 142,156 | 3,090 |
| 19 | Mississippi | 152 | 431,864 | 2,841 |
| 20 | California | 2,099 | 5,805,510 | 2,766 |
| 21 | Connecticut | 207 | 508,402 | 2,456 |
| 22 | Alaska | 53 | 129,876 | 2,450 |
| 23 | Oregon | 223 | 545,088 | 2,444 |
| 24 | New York | 1,077 | 2,527,258 | 2,347 |
| 25 | Indiana | 454 | 1,040,190 | 2,291 |
| 26 | Massachusetts | 421 | 915,932 | 2,176 |
| 27 | Pennsylvania | 787 | 1,691,456 | 2,149 |
| 28 | Rhode Island | 67 | 135,978 | 2,030 |
| 29 | New Jersey | 697 | 1,394,971 | 2,001 |
| 30 | New Mexico | 154 | 307,110 | 1,994 |
| 31 | Illinois | 1,029 | 1,842,881 | 1,791 |
| 32 | Wisconsin | 465 | 806,065 | 1,733 |
| 33 | Idaho | 191 | 315,626 | 1,652 |
| 34 | Michigan | 882 | 1,423,933 | 1,614 |
| 35 | Arizona | 686 | 1,103,894 | 1,609 |
| 36 | Arkansas | 307 | 491,239 | 1,600 |
| 37 | Missouri | 565 | 889,059 | 1,574 |
| 38 | Ohio | 1,061 | 1,665,566 | 1,570 |
| 39 | Minnesota | 567 | 876,182 | 1,545 |
| 40 | Iowa | 344 | 504,292 | 1,466 |
| 41 | Wyoming | 62 | 89,915 | 1,450 |
| 42 | Kansas | 337 | 481,626 | 1,429 |
| 43 | District of Columbia | 71 | 94,211 | 1,327 |
| 44 | Oklahoma | 579 | 697,358 | 1,204 |
| 45 | Nebraska | 280 | 330,622 | 1,181 |
| 46 | South Dakota | 165 | 141,065 | 855 |
| 47 | New Hampshire | 212 | 164,153 | 774 |
| 48 | Maine | 275 | 167,309 | 608 |
| 49 | North Dakota | 221 | 119,792 | 542 |
| 50 | Vermont | 188 | 81,398 | 433 |
| 51 | Montana | 476 | 147,208 | 309 |
District Size Movement Since 1979–80
The long series tracks regular districts using the same NCES enrollment bands across selected school years.
Large-District Student Share Rose as Very Small District Share Fell
District and student shares for the 25,000+ and 1–299 enrollment bands
The lines use selected years published in NCES Digest Table 214.20; annual observations are available from 2005–06 onward in the table.
The long-run distribution shifted toward larger systems
- The student share in districts with at least 25,000 students rose from 27.3% in 1979–80 to 34.3% in 2021–22.
- The share of districts enrolling 1–299 students fell from 26.5% to 19.2% across the same endpoints.
- Total regular district count declined from 15,944 to 13,318.
Regular District Size Trend Table
The smallest and largest published bands show changes in organizational count and student concentration.
| School year | Regular districts | 25,000+ districts | 25,000+ district share | 25,000+ student share | 1–299 districts | 1–299 district share | 1–299 student share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1979-80 | 15,944 | 181 | 1.1% | 27.3% | 4,223 | 26.5% | 1.2% |
| 1989-90 | 15,367 | 179 | 1.2% | 28.0% | 3,910 | 25.4% | 1.3% |
| 1999-2000 | 14,928 | 238 | 1.6% | 32.1% | 3,298 | 22.1% | 1.0% |
| 2005-06 | 14,166 | 269 | 1.9% | 34.1% | 2,857 | 20.2% | 0.8% |
| 2006-07 | 13,856 | 275 | 2.0% | 34.3% | 2,685 | 19.4% | 0.8% |
| 2007-08 | 13,838 | 281 | 2.0% | 34.7% | 2,692 | 19.5% | 0.8% |
| 2008-09 | 13,809 | 280 | 2.0% | 34.6% | 2,721 | 19.7% | 0.8% |
| 2009-10 | 13,625 | 284 | 2.1% | 35.0% | 2,707 | 19.9% | 0.8% |
| 2010-11 | 13,588 | 282 | 2.1% | 35.0% | 2,687 | 19.8% | 0.8% |
| 2011-12 | 13,567 | 286 | 2.1% | 35.3% | 2,676 | 19.7% | 0.8% |
| 2012-13 | 13,515 | 290 | 2.1% | 35.6% | 2,678 | 19.8% | 0.8% |
| 2013-14 | 13,491 | 286 | 2.1% | 35.6% | 2,668 | 19.8% | 0.8% |
| 2014-15 | 13,601 | 288 | 2.1% | 35.7% | 2,687 | 19.8% | 0.8% |
| 2015-16 | 13,584 | 287 | 2.1% | 35.7% | 2,643 | 19.5% | 0.8% |
| 2016-17 | 13,598 | 287 | 2.1% | 35.7% | 2,647 | 19.5% | 0.8% |
| 2017-18 | 13,551 | 288 | 2.1% | 35.8% | 2,561 | 18.9% | 0.8% |
| 2018-19 | 13,452 | 286 | 2.1% | 35.6% | 2,589 | 19.2% | 0.8% |
| 2019-20 | 13,349 | 288 | 2.2% | 35.7% | 2,532 | 19.0% | 0.8% |
| 2020-21 | 13,335 | 268 | 2.0% | 34.6% | 2,597 | 19.5% | 0.8% |
| 2021-22 | 13,318 | 266 | 2.0% | 34.3% | 2,558 | 19.2% | 0.8% |
What District Size Measures Reveal
Enrollment scale, agency structure, and school size are related measures but not interchangeable.
Average Is Not Typical
The national students-per-district ratio sits above many enrollment bands because a small group of very large systems raises the mean.
State Ratios Reflect Organization
Statewide, countywide, municipal, charter-agency, and regional arrangements change the denominator used in state comparisons.
District Size Is Not School Size
A district can operate one school or hundreds of schools. District enrollment does not measure campus enrollment or classroom size.
Rank Does Not Measure Quality
The state ranking orders one administrative-scale ratio. It does not compare academic outcomes, finance, staffing, or service quality.
Data Coverage and Measurement
NCES Digest of Education Statistics, Table 214.20, based on the Local Education Agency Universe Survey through 2021–22.
NCES Common Core of Data 2024–25 Summary Table 2, Final Version 1a.
Excludes regional service agencies, supervisory union administrative centers, state and federal agencies, and independent charter agencies.
Includes districts providing services at the start of the reported school year, regardless of agency type.
Includes prekindergarten through grade 13 and excludes adult education students.
Published shares retain one decimal place. Derived ratios and band averages are rounded to the nearest whole student.
Official sources: NCES district enrollment-size distribution and NCES 2024–25 state CCD summary. The 2021–22 table reports 117 regular districts with zero or suppressed enrollment in the size-not-reported category.
The 2021–22 national distribution and the 2024–25 state ratio use different district definitions and reporting years. The state ratio is an administrative-scale indicator and should not be read as the median enrollment of a regular district.