U.S. Education Data

U.S. Public School Enrollment by State 2026: Statistics & Charts

State enrollment values use NCES Common Core of Data student membership for school year 2024–25, Final Version 1a, covering all 50 states plus the District of Columbia.

The 2026 label marks the publication context. The counts are official 2024–25 membership values, not 2026 actual enrollment.

Data type: Public elementary-secondary student membership Coverage: 50 states + District of Columbia Latest source year: 2024–25 Final Version 1a Unit: Students Chart type: Ranking + regional distribution

Enrollment Statistics

The snapshot uses the same 2024–25 Final Version 1a table as the state ranking, including operating school and district counts.

Total enrollment 49.27M 49,269,882 students

Largest state system 5.81M California, 5,805,510 students

Median state enrollment 684,604 Utah is the median-ranked state by count

Operating public schools 99,073 19,183 operating districts are also reported nationally

Largest Public School Enrollment Systems

Top 15 states by 2024–25 NCES student membership.

The top 15 states account for 32,552,796 students. The full 51-row ranking remains available in the table.

Enrollment Concentration

The top 15 states represent 66.1% of the 2024–25 total.
California and Texas together account for 11,351,150 students, or 23.0% of the total; the enrollment gap between them is 259,870 students.

Full State Enrollment Ranking

Rank is based only on 2024–25 student membership. School, district, teacher, and pupil/teacher values come from the same NCES Final Version 1a table.

Search table

Rank	State	Membership	U.S. share	Schools	Districts	Teachers (FTE)	P/T ratio	Region
1	California	5,805,510	11.78%	10,303	2,099	267,944	21.7	West
2	Texas	5,545,640	11.26%	9,192	1,233	371,144	14.9	South
3	Florida	2,859,600	5.80%	4,186	83	155,946	18.3	South
4	New York	2,527,258	5.13%	4,810	1,077	218,424	11.6	Northeast
5	Illinois	1,842,881	3.74%	4,398	1,029	137,812	13.4	Midwest
6	Georgia	1,744,662	3.54%	2,329	253	124,125	14.1	South
7	Pennsylvania	1,691,456	3.43%	2,932	787	129,658	13.0	Northeast
8	Ohio	1,665,566	3.38%	3,543	1,061	100,363	16.6	Midwest
9	North Carolina	1,555,418	3.16%	2,705	356	97,257	16.0	South
10	Michigan	1,423,933	2.89%	3,468	882	86,462	16.5	Midwest
11	New Jersey	1,394,971	2.83%	2,557	697	117,868	11.8	Northeast
12	Virginia	1,257,315	2.55%	2,126	209	94,345	13.3	South
13	Arizona	1,103,894	2.24%	2,432	686	61,859	17.8	West
14	Washington	1,094,502	2.22%	2,543	341	61,269	17.9	West
15	Indiana	1,040,190	2.11%	1,919	454	67,718	15.4	Midwest
16	Tennessee	1,003,622	2.04%	1,913	149	N/A	N/A	South
17	Massachusetts	915,932	1.86%	1,823	421	77,221	11.9	Northeast
18	Maryland	891,525	1.81%	1,408	25	63,071	14.1	South
19	Missouri	889,059	1.80%	2,451	565	70,411	12.6	Midwest
20	Minnesota	876,182	1.78%	2,741	567	58,560	15.0	Midwest
21	Colorado	865,077	1.76%	1,900	273	53,489	16.2	West
22	Wisconsin	806,065	1.64%	2,190	465	59,308	13.6	Midwest
23	South Carolina	796,780	1.62%	1,277	94	57,886	13.8	South
24	Alabama	751,060	1.52%	1,532	159	43,161	17.4	South
25	Oklahoma	697,358	1.42%	1,781	579	43,050	16.2	South
26	Utah	684,604	1.39%	1,097	155	31,705	21.6	West
27	Louisiana	666,840	1.35%	1,308	189	48,637	13.7	South
28	Kentucky	657,263	1.33%	1,550	177	42,762	15.4	South
29	Oregon	545,088	1.11%	1,291	223	31,294	17.4	West
30	Connecticut	508,402	1.03%	1,007	207	43,004	11.8	Northeast
31	Iowa	504,292	1.02%	1,318	344	36,217	13.9	Midwest
32	Arkansas	491,239	1.00%	1,106	307	39,398	12.5	South
33	Kansas	481,626	0.98%	1,341	337	36,411	13.2	Midwest
34	Nevada	477,563	0.97%	735	20	24,465	19.5	West
35	Mississippi	431,864	0.88%	1,019	152	32,037	13.5	South
36	Nebraska	330,622	0.67%	1,097	280	24,201	13.7	Midwest
37	Idaho	315,626	0.64%	796	191	17,787	17.7	West
38	New Mexico	307,110	0.62%	879	154	24,781	12.4	West
39	West Virginia	242,155	0.49%	676	66	18,077	13.4	South
40	Maine	167,309	0.34%	589	275	15,162	11.0	Northeast
41	Hawaii	167,071	0.34%	296	1	12,215	13.7	West
42	New Hampshire	164,153	0.33%	501	212	14,438	11.4	Northeast
43	Montana	147,208	0.30%	842	476	10,726	13.7	West
44	Delaware	142,156	0.29%	236	46	9,627	14.8	South
45	South Dakota	141,065	0.29%	706	165	10,227	13.8	Midwest
46	Rhode Island	135,978	0.28%	313	67	10,557	12.9	Northeast
47	Alaska	129,876	0.26%	488	53	6,858	18.9	West
48	North Dakota	119,792	0.24%	514	221	10,411	11.5	Midwest
49	District of Columbia	94,211	0.19%	245	71	8,607	10.9	South
50	Wyoming	89,915	0.18%	360	62	7,427	12.1	West
51	Vermont	81,398	0.17%	304	188	7,882	10.3	Northeast

State Distribution

The average state-or-DC enrollment is 966,076, while the median is 684,604. The higher average reflects the weight of the largest state systems.
Teacher and pupil/teacher values are unavailable for Tennessee in the NCES table, so NCES does not publish a 50-state-plus-DC teacher total or national pupil/teacher ratio for 2024–25.

Enrollment by Census Region

Regional totals sum the 51 state and District of Columbia membership values using U.S. Census Bureau region definitions.

Regional Enrollment Totals

2024–25 public school student membership by Census region.

The South contains 40.2% of the national total; the Northeast contains 15.4%.

Regional Concentration

The South and West together account for 31,561,752 students, or 64.1% of the 2024–25 total.
Regional totals describe enrollment scale and are affected by both the number of states in each region and the size of their school-age populations.

Search table

Region	States / DC	Enrollment	U.S. share	Median state	Largest system	Smallest system
Midwest	12	10,121,273	20.5%	841,124	Illinois	North Dakota
Northeast	9	7,586,857	15.4%	508,402	New York	Vermont
South	17	19,828,708	40.2%	751,060	Texas	District of Columbia
West	13	11,733,044	23.8%	477,563	California	Wyoming

Enrollment and System Structure

Similar enrollment totals can sit inside very different school and district structures.

Maryland and Missouri

Maryland reports 891,525 students across 25 operating districts. Missouri reports 889,059 students across 565 operating districts.

Massachusetts and Minnesota

Massachusetts reports 915,932 students in 1,823 operating schools. Minnesota reports 876,182 students in 2,741 operating schools.

Membership coverage

NCES membership includes prekindergarten through grade 13 and excludes adult education students. The 2024–25 U.S. total includes 1,483,492 prekindergarten students.

Source and Methodology

Data sourceNCES Common Core of Data, Table 2, school year 2024–25, Final Version 1a

SurveysPublic Elementary/Secondary School Universe, Local Education Agency Universe, and State Nonfiscal Survey

Latest available yearSchool year 2024–25, Final Version 1a

Coverage50 states + District of Columbia

Unit of measureStudent membership; teachers reported as FTE

Operating countsSchools and districts providing services as of the start of the reported school year

Regional definitionU.S. Census Bureau Northeast, Midwest, South, and West regions

Missing teacher dataTennessee teacher and pupil/teacher values are not available in the NCES table

Ranks sort 2024–25 student membership in descending order. State shares divide each state or District of Columbia membership count by the NCES U.S. total of 49,269,882. Regional totals are sums of the state rows; regional shares use the same national denominator. The national median is the 26th value in the 51-row ranking. Regional medians use the middle value, or the midpoint of the two middle values when a region contains an even number of states, rounded to the nearest student.

NCES states that membership and teacher counts are drawn from state education agency data files. Membership and staff counts include prekindergarten through grade 13, while adult education students are excluded. Because Tennessee teacher data are unavailable, the U.S. teacher total and overall pupil/teacher ratio are not reported. For New York district counts, NCES reports member LEAs within the New York City supervisory union as a single LEA.

Official source links: NCES 2024–25 CCD Table 2, NCES Excel download, and U.S. Census Bureau regions and divisions.