Skip Navigation
Digest of Education Statistics
2021 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest


Table 236.85. Unadjusted and geographically adjusted current expenditure per pupil in fall enrollment in public elementary and secondary schools, by function, district poverty level, and locale: 2018-19
School district locale Current expenditures, by function Current expenditures, by district poverty level1
Total Instruc- tion Student support2 Instruc- tional
staff support3
General adminis-tration School adminis-tration Operation and maintenance Student trans- portation Other support services4 Food services Enterprise opera- tions5 Other Low-poverty districts Middle-
low-
poverty districts
Middle-
high-
poverty districts
High-poverty districts
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
  Current expenditure per pupil in unadjusted dollars
Total $13,037 $7,854 $802 $629 $265 $744 $1,198 $551 $480 $490 $24 $1 $13,866 $12,614 $11,793 $13,854
City, total 13,493 8,126 794 708 217 799 1,238 514 559 518 18 1 12,593 12,510 11,564 15,304
Large 14,156 8,653 733 688 221 838 1,323 550 594 535 18 2 11,701 12,258 11,066 16,357
Midsize 12,582 7,339 874 769 196 770 1,102 474 544 500 13 # 12,382 12,637 11,970 13,146
Small 12,802 7,639 860 698 230 735 1,169 465 488 494 24 # 13,635 12,598 12,419 12,847
Suburban, total 13,231 8,062 881 627 233 743 1,194 554 464 442 30 # 14,326 12,674 11,990 13,077
Large 13,372 8,165 897 631 235 750 1,201 559 468 436 30 # 14,464 12,675 12,156 13,387
Midsize 12,195 7,347 762 605 190 690 1,144 510 435 479 33 # 13,283 12,853 10,757 11,742
Small 12,570 7,516 824 603 279 705 1,148 547 453 468 25 1 12,860 12,383 12,179 12,930
Town, total 11,912 7,064 705 543 342 666 1,123 508 421 529 12 1 12,508 12,361 11,932 11,235
Fringe 12,374 7,449 716 547 326 684 1,143 556 455 483 15 # 12,568 12,259 12,273 12,379
Distant 11,937 7,071 701 550 340 674 1,113 521 415 544 8 1 12,049 12,412 12,157 11,295
Remote 11,504 6,746 702 530 359 637 1,123 449 404 539 14 3 13,340 12,374 11,367 10,698
Rural, total 12,335 7,263 667 529 395 687 1,179 647 405 540 24 1 13,371 12,729 11,734 11,699
Fringe 12,093 7,207 718 538 300 675 1,121 616 398 497 23 1 13,482 12,371 11,087 11,060
Distant 12,194 7,157 605 492 454 680 1,171 674 385 559 16 1 12,720 12,764 11,996 11,527
Remote 13,716 7,784 621 587 628 755 1,439 701 487 663 50 2 15,171 14,253 13,545 13,242
  Current expenditure per pupil adjusted for geographic cost differences6
Total $13,561 $8,154 $830 $650 $282 $773 $1,250 $579 $495 $523 $24 $1 $13,788 $13,291 $12,672 $14,473
City, total 13,478 8,092 800 707 219 800 1,241 517 555 529 18 1 12,061 12,565 11,943 15,145
Large 13,595 8,276 712 661 214 809 1,276 531 574 523 17 2 11,082 11,883 10,973 15,534
Midsize 13,023 7,594 901 784 205 796 1,146 498 556 529 14 # 11,953 12,443 12,648 14,209
Small 13,653 8,144 912 738 246 780 1,253 502 510 542 24 # 13,099 13,200 13,705 14,403
Suburban, total 13,289 8,093 880 629 235 744 1,200 561 466 452 29 # 14,036 12,899 12,351 13,415
Large 13,281 8,104 885 626 235 743 1,194 559 465 441 29 # 14,084 12,800 12,287 13,413
Midsize 13,193 7,954 818 650 204 745 1,239 554 468 527 33 # 13,687 13,776 12,315 12,966
Small 13,634 8,153 888 644 306 761 1,246 609 484 518 25 1 13,505 13,415 13,529 14,531
Town, total 13,792 8,183 809 624 396 770 1,304 592 477 621 13 1 13,595 14,264 14,018 13,238
Fringe 13,528 8,148 779 593 359 747 1,250 613 490 534 16 # 13,341 13,516 13,867 13,490
Distant 13,902 8,241 808 636 397 785 1,300 611 472 642 10 1 13,380 14,378 14,267 13,294
Remote 13,818 8,113 837 630 425 766 1,353 543 475 655 17 3 14,952 14,830 13,661 13,057
Rural, total 14,312 8,426 766 610 461 796 1,370 753 464 639 26 1 14,464 14,609 13,958 14,224
Fringe 13,635 8,125 803 605 338 760 1,266 695 443 574 24 1 14,203 13,853 13,046 13,278
Distant 14,456 8,486 715 582 536 806 1,389 800 450 672 18 2 14,530 14,963 14,315 14,030
Remote 16,713 9,500 753 703 767 919 1,750 859 586 815 58 2 18,103 16,986 16,550 16,404
#Rounds to zero.
1 Excludes data for school districts with missing poverty information. To determine district poverty levels, all public school districts were first ranked by the percentage of their 5- to 17-year-old residents whose families had incomes below the Census Bureau’s poverty threshold (for details about poverty status, see https://www.census.gov/topics/income-poverty/poverty/guidance/poverty-measures.html). The districts were then divided into four levels, each containing 25 percent of the total enrolled students. The low-poverty level consists of districts with the lowest percentages of poor 5- to 17-year-olds (9.4 percent or less); the middle-low-poverty level consists of districts with 9.4 percent to 15.8 percent of poor 5- to 17-year-olds; the middle-high-poverty level consists of districts with 15.8 percent to 22.4 percent of poor 5- to 17-year-olds; and the high-poverty level consists of districts with the highest percentages of poor 5- to 17-year-olds (22.4 percent or more). District poverty levels were determined based on family incomes in unadjusted dollars.
2 Includes expenditures for guidance, health, attendance, social work, student accounting, counseling, student appraisal, information, record maintenance, placement services, and medical, dental, nursing, psychological, and speech pathology services.
3 Includes expenditures for curriculum development, staff training, supervision of instruction service improvements, academic assessment, and media, library, and instruction-related technology services.
4 Includes business support services concerned with paying, transporting, exchanging, and maintaining goods and services for local education agencies; central support services, including planning, research, evaluation, information, staff, and data processing services; and other support services.
5 Includes expenditures for operations funded by sales of products or services (e.g., school bookstore or computer time).
6 Data have been adjusted using the American Community Survey-Comparable Wage Index for Teachers (ACS-CWIFT), an experimental index created by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) to measure wage differences across geographic areas. ACS-CWIFT can facilitate comparisons of school district-level finance data across geographic areas. For more information, see https://nces.ed.gov/programs/edge/docs/EDGE_ACS_CWIFT_FILEDOC.pdf.
NOTE: Data in this table represent the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Totals include data for school districts with missing locale information. Includes only current expenditures for schools. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data (CCD), "Local Education Agency (School District) Finance Survey (F-33)," 2018-19; Education Demographic and Geographic Estimates (EDGE) Program, "Public Local Education Agency Geocode File," 2018-19; and American Community Survey-Comparable Wage Index for Teachers (ACS-CSWFT), Local Education Agency file, 2018-19, and State file, 2018-19. U.S. Department of Commerce, Census Bureau, Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates (SAIPE) Program, 2018 Poverty Estimates for School Districts and 2018 Poverty Estimates for States and Counties. (This table was prepared January 2022.)

2021 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest