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U.S. Education Data

U.S. Student-Teacher Ratio by State 2026: Rankings & Charts

State ranking is based on the NCES Common Core of Data public elementary and secondary pupil/teacher ratio for school year 2024–25, Final Version 1a. The ratio uses student membership divided by full-time-equivalent teachers.

Rank 1 means the lowest reported student-to-teacher ratio. Tennessee is not ranked because NCES does not publish a 2024–25 teacher FTE count or pupil/teacher ratio for the state.

Data type: Public school pupil/teacher ratio Coverage: 50 states + District of Columbia Reported 2024–25 ratios: 50 jurisdictions Latest source year: 2024–25 Final Version 1a Unit: Students per FTE teacher

Student-Teacher Ratio Statistics

NCES publishes 2024–25 ratios for 50 of the 51 jurisdictions in the state table. The national 2024–25 teacher total and pupil/teacher ratio are not reported because Tennessee teacher data are unavailable.

2023–24 U.S. benchmark
15.2
Previous-year national ratio; no 2024–25 U.S. ratio is published
Lowest reported ratio
10.3
Vermont, rank 1
Highest reported ratio
21.7
California, rank 50
Median reported ratio
13.8
Median across 50 published jurisdiction ratios
Published Ratio Coverage
  • The arithmetic mean across the 50 reported jurisdiction ratios is 14.6; it is not a U.S. pupil/teacher ratio.
  • The reported 2024–25 range spans 10.3 to 21.7 students per FTE teacher.
  • Tennessee remains in the 51-row table with membership reported, while teacher FTE, ratio, rank, and one-year ratio change are shown as unavailable.

State Ratio Map Grid

The map grid groups published 2024–25 state ratios into five bands. Tennessee is shown without a ratio because its teacher FTE value is unavailable in the NCES final table.

AL17.4 AK18.9 AZ17.8 AR12.5 CA21.7 CO16.2 CT11.8 DE14.8 DC10.9 FL18.3 GA14.1 HI13.7 ID17.7 IL13.4 IN15.4 IA13.9 KS13.2 KY15.4 LA13.7 ME11.0 MD14.1 MA11.9 MI16.5 MN15.0 MS13.5 MO12.6 MT13.7 NE13.7 NV19.5 NH11.4 NJ11.8 NM12.4 NY11.6 NC16.0 ND11.5 OH16.6 OK16.2 OR17.4 PA13.0 RI12.9 SC13.8 SD13.8 TN— TX14.9 UT21.6 VT10.3 VA13.3 WA17.9 WV13.4 WI13.6 WY12.1
  • 10.0–12.0
  • 12.1–14.0
  • 14.1–16.0
  • 16.1–18.0
  • 18.1+
  • — ratio not available

Nine jurisdictions fall in the 10.0–12.0 band, while five states have published ratios above 18.0.

Ratio Band Distribution
  • The 12.1–14.0 band contains the largest group, with 19 jurisdictions.
  • The 18.1+ band contains Florida, Alaska, Nevada, Utah, and California.
  • Tennessee is excluded from the band counts because no 2024–25 ratio is published.

Full Published State Ranking Chart

Fifty jurisdictions with reported 2024–25 ratios, ranked from lower ratio to higher ratio.

Tennessee is omitted from the ranking bars because the 2024–25 teacher FTE and pupil/teacher ratio are unavailable.

Ranking Spread
  • Vermont, District of Columbia, and Maine have the three lowest published ratios.
  • California, Utah, and Nevada have the three highest published ratios.
  • The lowest-to-highest spread is 11.4 students per FTE teacher.

Full State Student-Teacher Ratio Ranking

The table includes all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Change is the published 2024–25 ratio minus the published 2023–24 ratio; Tennessee has no 2024–25 ratio and is not ranked.

Rank State Code Ratio 2023–24 Change Membership Teachers FTE Region Source year
1VermontVT10.310.4-0.181,3987,882Northeast2024–25
2District of ColumbiaDC10.911.1-0.294,2118,607South2024–25
3MaineME11.011.3-0.3167,30915,162Northeast2024–25
4New HampshireNH11.411.5-0.1164,15314,438Northeast2024–25
5North DakotaND11.512.3-0.8119,79210,411Midwest2024–25
6New YorkNY11.611.60.02,527,258218,424Northeast2024–25
7ConnecticutCT11.811.9-0.1508,40243,004Northeast2024–25
8New JerseyNJ11.811.80.01,394,971117,868Northeast2024–25
9MassachusettsMA11.911.8+0.1915,93277,221Northeast2024–25
10WyomingWY12.112.2-0.189,9157,427West2024–25
11New MexicoNM12.414.4-2.0307,11024,781West2024–25
12ArkansasAR12.512.50.0491,23939,398South2024–25
13MissouriMO12.612.8-0.2889,05970,411Midwest2024–25
14Rhode IslandRI12.912.7+0.2135,97810,557Northeast2024–25
15PennsylvaniaPA13.013.1-0.11,691,456129,658Northeast2024–25
16KansasKS13.213.0+0.2481,62636,411Midwest2024–25
17VirginiaVA13.313.4-0.11,257,31594,345South2024–25
18IllinoisIL13.413.5-0.11,842,881137,812Midwest2024–25
19West VirginiaWV13.413.2+0.2242,15518,077South2024–25
20MississippiMS13.513.0+0.5431,86432,037South2024–25
21WisconsinWI13.613.7-0.1806,06559,308Midwest2024–25
22HawaiiHI13.714.0-0.3167,07112,215West2024–25
23LouisianaLA13.714.5-0.8666,84048,637South2024–25
24MontanaMT13.713.8-0.1147,20810,726West2024–25
25NebraskaNE13.713.70.0330,62224,201Midwest2024–25
26South CarolinaSC13.813.9-0.1796,78057,886South2024–25
27South DakotaSD13.813.7+0.1141,06510,227Midwest2024–25
28IowaIA13.914.1-0.2504,29236,217Midwest2024–25
29GeorgiaGA14.114.2-0.11,744,662124,125South2024–25
30MarylandMD14.114.2-0.1891,52563,071South2024–25
31DelawareDE14.814.3+0.5142,1569,627South2024–25
32TexasTX14.914.7+0.25,545,640371,144South2024–25
33MinnesotaMN15.014.7+0.3876,18258,560Midwest2024–25
34IndianaIN15.415.3+0.11,040,19067,718Midwest2024–25
35KentuckyKY15.415.3+0.1657,26342,762South2024–25
36North CarolinaNC16.015.3+0.71,555,41897,257South2024–25
37ColoradoCO16.216.1+0.1865,07753,489West2024–25
38OklahomaOK16.216.3-0.1697,35843,050South2024–25
39MichiganMI16.516.6-0.11,423,93386,462Midwest2024–25
40OhioOH16.616.60.01,665,566100,363Midwest2024–25
41AlabamaAL17.417.5-0.1751,06043,161South2024–25
42OregonOR17.417.6-0.2545,08831,294West2024–25
43IdahoID17.717.6+0.1315,62617,787West2024–25
44ArizonaAZ17.822.7-4.91,103,89461,859West2024–25
45WashingtonWA17.917.5+0.41,094,50261,269West2024–25
46FloridaFL18.318.4-0.12,859,600155,946South2024–25
47AlaskaAK18.918.2+0.7129,8766,858West2024–25
48NevadaNV19.521.3-1.8477,56324,465West2024–25
49UtahUT21.620.6+1.0684,60431,705West2024–25
50CaliforniaCA21.721.8-0.15,805,510267,944West2024–25
—TennesseeTN—15.1—1,003,622—South2024–25
One-Year State Movement
  • The table contains 51 rows, with 50 published 2024–25 ratios and one unavailable ratio for Tennessee.
  • 28 jurisdictions reported a lower ratio than in 2023–24, 17 reported a higher ratio, and 5 were unchanged after one-decimal rounding.
  • Arizona has the largest published one-year decline, from 22.7 to 17.8.
  • Utah has the largest published increase, from 20.6 to 21.6.
  • Teacher counts are reported as full-time equivalents.

Ratio Spread, Regions, and One-Year Movement

Supporting modules use the 2024–25 reported ratios and the 2023–24 published ratios for year-over-year comparisons. Tennessee is excluded from calculations that require a 2024–25 ratio.

Lowest and Highest Reported Ratio Groups

Ten lowest-ratio jurisdictions compared with ten highest-ratio states.

The group chart summarizes the two ends of the published 2024–25 ranking.

Distribution by Ratio Band

Count of jurisdictions in each published 2024–25 ratio band.

The largest band is 12.1–14.0, with 19 jurisdictions.

Distribution Comparison
  • The lowest ten reported ratios run from 10.3 to 12.1.
  • The highest ten reported ratios run from 17.4 to 21.7.
  • The 12.1–14.0 band contains 38.0% of the 50 published ratios.
Lower-ratio state Lower ratio Higher-ratio state Higher ratio Gap
Vermont10.3California21.711.4
District of Columbia10.9Utah21.610.7
Maine11.0Nevada19.58.5
New Hampshire11.4Alaska18.97.5
North Dakota11.5Florida18.36.8
New York11.6Washington17.96.3
Connecticut11.8Arizona17.86.0
New Jersey11.8Idaho17.75.9
Massachusetts11.9Oregon17.45.5
Wyoming12.1Alabama17.45.3
Group Pairing
  • The widest paired gap is 11.4 ratio points between Vermont and California.
  • The ten lower-ratio entries are at or below 12.1.
  • The ten higher-ratio entries are at or above 17.4.

Regional Spread

Range bars show low-to-high published values by Census region; markers show the regional median.

Northeast10.3–13.0
Median 11.8Avg 11.7
Midwest11.5–16.6
Median 13.8Avg 14.1
South10.9–18.3
Median 14.1Avg 14.5
West12.1–21.7
Median 17.7Avg 17.0

The West has the widest regional range, from 12.1 in Wyoming to 21.7 in California. The South summary excludes Tennessee from ratio calculations.

Region Jurisdictions Reported ratios Average ratio Median ratio Low High Range Avg change
Northeast9911.711.810.313.02.7-0.04
Midwest121214.113.811.516.65.1-0.07
South171614.514.110.918.37.4+0.03
West131317.017.712.121.79.6-0.55
Regional Ratio Spread
  • Northeast has the lowest arithmetic mean of the four regions at 11.7.
  • West has the highest arithmetic mean at 17.0 and the widest range at 9.6 ratio points.
  • The South contains 17 jurisdictions but only 16 published 2024–25 ratios because Tennessee is unavailable.
Ratio band Jurisdictions Share of reported States
10.0–12.0918.0%Vermont, District of Columbia, Maine, New Hampshire, North Dakota, New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Massachusetts
12.1–14.01938.0%Wyoming, New Mexico, Arkansas, Missouri, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Kansas, Virginia, Illinois, West Virginia, Mississippi, Wisconsin, Hawaii, Louisiana, Montana, Nebraska, South Carolina, South Dakota, Iowa
14.1–16.0816.0%Georgia, Maryland, Delaware, Texas, Minnesota, Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina
16.1–18.0918.0%Colorado, Oklahoma, Michigan, Ohio, Alabama, Oregon, Idaho, Arizona, Washington
18.1+510.0%Florida, Alaska, Nevada, Utah, California
Band Counts
  • The 12.1–14.0 band contains 19 jurisdictions, or 38.0% of published ratios.
  • The 18.1+ band contains 5 states, or 10.0% of published ratios.
  • The middle three bands contain 36 jurisdictions.

One-Year Ratio Movement

State cells show ratio-point change from 2023–24 to 2024–25 using published one-decimal ratios.

AL-0.1
AK+0.7
AZ-4.9
AR0.0
CA-0.1
CO+0.1
CT-0.1
DE+0.5
DC-0.2
FL-0.1
GA-0.1
HI-0.3
ID+0.1
IL-0.1
IN+0.1
IA-0.2
KS+0.2
KY+0.1
LA-0.8
ME-0.3
MD-0.1
MA+0.1
MI-0.1
MN+0.3
MS+0.5
MO-0.2
MT-0.1
NE0.0
NV-1.8
NH-0.1
NJ0.0
NM-2.0
NY0.0
NC+0.7
ND-0.8
OH0.0
OK-0.1
OR-0.2
PA-0.1
RI+0.2
SC-0.1
SD+0.1
TN—
TX+0.2
UT+1.0
VT-0.1
VA-0.1
WA+0.4
WV+0.2
WI-0.1
WY-0.1

Negative values indicate a lower published ratio than in 2023–24. Tennessee has no comparable 2024–25 ratio.

Year-over-Year Movement
  • Arizona has the largest decline at -4.9 ratio points.
  • New Mexico and Nevada also declined by more than one ratio point, at -2.0 and -1.8.
  • Utah has the largest increase at +1.0; Alaska and North Carolina each increased by +0.7.
  • The previous U.S. benchmark remains 15.2 for 2023–24; no 2024–25 national ratio is published.

Ratio Ranking Notes

The ranking shows staffing concentration relative to reported membership. It does not rate school quality or measure classroom size.

Ranking basis

Rank order uses the 2024–25 CCD pupil/teacher ratio. Lower ratios appear first, equal one-decimal values are ordered by state name, and Tennessee is not ranked.

State size effect

Large enrollment states can have high or low ratios depending on reported teacher FTE counts.

National comparison

The 15.2 U.S. value is retained only as a 2023–24 benchmark. NCES does not publish a 2024–25 U.S. pupil/teacher ratio because Tennessee teacher data are missing.

Outcome pairing

Graduation rates are not merged into the ranking because ACGR and CCD use separate reporting cycles.

Source and Methodology

Data source NCES Common Core of Data, Table 2, school year 2024–25, Final Version 1a.
Supporting federal files NCES Public Elementary/Secondary School Universe Survey, Local Education Agency Universe Survey, and State Nonfiscal Survey.
Latest available year 2024–25, Final Version 1a.
Unit of measure Students per full-time-equivalent teacher.
Coverage The state table covers the 50 states and District of Columbia; 2024–25 ratios are available for 50 jurisdictions.
Prior-year comparison 2023–24 NCES CCD Table 2 provides the prior ratio used for one-year movement and the 15.2 U.S. benchmark.

The pupil/teacher ratio equals student membership divided by teacher full-time equivalents as reported in CCD summary tables. Student membership excludes adult education students. Teacher counts are FTE counts. Published state ratios are shown to one decimal place.

NCES reports 49,269,882 students for the 50 states and District of Columbia in 2024–25, but it does not publish the corresponding U.S. teacher total or pupil/teacher ratio because Tennessee teacher data are unavailable. No national 2024–25 ratio is calculated from the remaining states.

Arithmetic means, medians, regional summaries, distribution bands, and one-year changes on this page use only jurisdictions with a published 2024–25 ratio. They are descriptive calculations and are not substitutes for the unavailable U.S. ratio.

Official source links: NCES CCD Table 2, 2024–25 and NCES CCD Table 2, 2023–24.

Measurement Note

Pupil/teacher ratio is a staffing indicator, not average class size. It includes teachers counted in full-time-equivalent staffing and should not be read as direct evidence of outcomes, instructional quality, class size, or school performance.