Rankings
Sorted lists built directly from federal data. They describe size, staffing and spending. They do not measure school quality, and we never call a list "best".
Largest school districts
The 100 districts with the most students in 2024-25.
Student-teacher ratio
Districts with the lowest and highest ratios, among districts with 1,000 or more students.
Spending per pupil
Highest and lowest spending per pupil in the 2020 finance data, among districts with 1,000 or more students.
States compared
Schools, districts, students, ratios, charter schools and spending for every state.
Source: NCES Common Core of Data 2024-25 and F-33 finance 2020, via the Urban Institute Education Data Portal. Last reviewed October 2026. Finance figures are 2020 finance data in nominal dollars, not adjusted for inflation. Blank values are not available, not applicable or suppressed in the source. See the methodology.