How Much Does The US Spend On Education?

The education spending by the United States covers all the expenses of Universities, schools, private and public educational institutions etc. 

Around $752.3 billion was spent on the education of about 48 million students in the public school for the year 2019, which demonstrated about 4.7% increase as compared to the previous year. 

To get a deep insight into the relevant facts and statistics on education financing and spending, go through the below article.  

Before diving deep into the article, below are some of the key findings for you. 

Key Findings

  1. In the United States, $612.7 billion are spent yearly by K-12 schools, i.e., $12,612 per pupil. 
  1. In the United States, the total expenditure for public elementary and secondary schools was $800 billion for the year 2018-19.
  1. The United States department of education spent $260.45 billion in the year 2021. 
  1. Education spending by the United States for the year 2020 was 12.65% and demonstrated around 0.73% decline from the year 2019, which was 13.38%.
  1. The District of Columbia spent around $22,832 on K-12 education and $27,142 on postsecondary education. 
  1. The local, federal, and state government outlays around $764.7 billion, i.e., $15,120 per student for their K-12 education. 

Public Educational Spending Per Pupil

The given below is the data representing the spending on K-12 and Postsecondary education by different States of the U.S. 

How Much Does The U.S. Spend On Education - Overview
StatesK-12 Spending Postsecondary Spending
District of Columbia$22,832$27,142
Connecticut $21,146$20,284
New York $24,881$33,760
Vermont $21,219$31,103
New Jersey$21,334$32,421
Pennsylvania $16,897$18,141
Oregon $12,460$33,289
Hawaii $16,128$39,372
Alaska $18,392$27,266
Washington $14,348$38,416

Source: Education Data Initiative.

  1. Washington spent about $14,348 on K-12 education and $38,416 on postsecondary education. 

Expenditure On Education As Per States 

A significant variation is seen in the spending on education between different States of the United States. 

  1. As per the U.S. Census Bureau, the per pupil spending for public elementary and secondary education increased by 3.4% during the year 2018

To learn more about how much amount spent on education by different states of the U.S., go through the following data. 

States With Highest Public Spending

Given below are the top 10 states with the highest spending on education. 

StatesSpendings
New York$24,040
DC $22,759
Connecticut $20,635
New Jersey$20,021
Alaska$17,726
Massachusetts$17,058
New Hampshire$16,893
Pennsylvania$16,395
Wyoming$16,224
Rhode Island $16,121

Source: World Population Review.

  1. New York is the State with the highest spending of $24,040 on education which makes 90% of the above national average.

States With Lowest Public Spending

The following are the states with the lowest spending on education. 

StatesSpending
Utah$7,628
Idaho$7,771
Oklahoma$8,239
Arizona $8,239
Mississippi $8,935
Vermont$9,340
Florida $9,346
North Carolina$9,377
Nevada$9,417
Tennessee$9,544

Source: World Population Review. 

  1. Utah is the state with the lowest spending of $7,628 on education. 
  1. The expenditures by Utah are equivalent to 3.37% of the taxpayer’s income. 

Education Spending By Government

Every year, federal agencies receive funding from budgetary resources.

Education Spending By Government. 
  1. The department of education distributed around $94.06 billion between the ten sub-components. To know more, go through the following table. 
Sub-ComponentsOutlays 
Office of federal student aid. $28.43 billion.
Office of Elementary and Secondary education.  $21.61 billion.
Office of special education and rehabilitative services. $4.41 billion. 
Office of Postsecondary education. $737.19 million. 
Disaster education recovery. $16.36 million. 
Office of career, technical, and adult education. $483.30 million. 
Office of innovation and improvement. $240.40 million. 
Institute of education sciences. $161.65 million. 
Departmental Management. $180.26 million. 
Office of English language acquisition. $197.50 million. 

Source: USASPENDING.gov.

The below data represents the outlays of the United States department of education from the year 2010 to 2027. 

Year Outlays (In Billion U.S. Dollars)
2010$93.74
2011$65.48
2012$57.25
2013$40.91
2014$59.61
2015$90.03
2016$76.98
2017$111.7
2018$63.71
2019$104.37
2020$204.42
2021$260.45
2022$222.48
2023$185.63
2024$164.64
2025$147.16
2026$154.98
2027$163.54

Source: Statista

  1. The United States department of education spent $222.48 billion in the year 2022

Spending On Education As Per Different Years 

Following is the expenditure on education as per different years.  

Years Spending On Education (%Of GDP)Annual Change 
201015.57%-0.06%
201115.51%-0.06%
201215.60%0.09%
201316.02%0.42%
201416.00% -0.02%
201513.55%-2.46%
201613.15%-0.39%
201713.86%0.71%
201813.15%-0.72%
201913.38%0.23%
202012.65%-0.73%

Source: macrotrends

  1. The United States spending on education for the year 2015 was demonstrated to be 13.55%. 

Expenditure On Education As Per The Level Of Institution

The below data represents some crucial Statistics about the expenditure on education based on the level of the Institution.

Expenditure On Education
  1. As per the National Center for Education Statistics, the overall expenditure of the United States for the years 2017 and 2018 on secondary and elementary education was found to be $762 billion. 
  1. From the total revenue of $762 billion, out of which $59 billion is from federal resources, $357 billion is from State resources and $345 billion from local resources. 
  1. The overall expenditure and revenue for the public postsecondary Institutions were found to be $386,707,398 and $408,931,242 for the years 2017 and 2018.
  1.  The ESEA (Title I of the elementary and secondary education act) provides financial help to schools and agencies with a significant percentage of students from low-income families. 
  1. According to NCES 2019, Contribution by parent government and property tax is determined based on the dependence and independence of the local school system.
  1.  Preschools and early educational programs spent around $11,956 per pupil, while elementary schools spent about $11,849 per student. 

Revenue Source Of U.S. Public Education

The public school systems in different states of the United States vary with regard to the distribution of sources of revenue. 

To learn about the revenue source of the United States Public Education, scroll down to the below data. 

Sources% Of Revenue Provided. 
State sources46.8%
Local sources45.4%
Federal sources7.8%

Source: National Center for Education Statistics.  

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The overall enrollment in secondary and public schools is expected to reach around 51.419 million in the fall of the year 2028, where per-student expenditure is projected to be $13,800.  

From the data mentioned above, it can be demonstrated that the spending on education varies considerably based on the district, State, level of education, etc. 

Here’s a wrap on How much does the U.S. spend on education? Go through the article and let us know your thoughts and queries in the comments section below. 

FAQs:

How much does the U.S. spend on education? 

The local, state and federal funding for K-12 public schools in California was around $136 billion in the year 2021-22, and for the year 2020-21, it was demonstrated to be $135 billion. 

How does the U.S. rank in expenditure on education? 

The United States ranked 6th on the list of OECD countries for spending a high percentage of GDP on education and reported 3.6% GDP spent on elementary and secondary level education. 

Which state spends the most and least amount on education? 

New York spends the most ($24,040), whereas Utah spends the least ($7,628) on education.

Ryan Harris

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