In 2021, about 174.9 billion U.S. dollars were funded by the government for postsecondary education programs in the United States. A further 92.07 billion U.S. dollars were funded by the government for elementary and secondary education in that year.

Public schools have managed to maintain revenue growth despite significant shifts in funding, enrollment and parental preferences. Class sizes are shrinking every year as birth rates drop and the high school retention rate stagnates, straining revenue as smaller schools see lessened funding from governments. Public schools have contended with heightened competition from alternative education options, especially homeschooling and private institutions, as parents seek more personalized educational experiences. States have increasingly adopted school choice systems, allowing parents to use public funds or tax credits to pay for private schooling. The Trump administration has taken steps to promote these programs even more and has proposed establishing a federal voucher system. Despite heightened competition and a rigorous competitive atmosphere, strong per-pupil funding amid strong state and local budgets has buoyed public schools. Public schools' revenue has been climbing at a CAGR of 1.4% to an estimated $1.0 billion over the five years through 2025, including a rise of 0.9% in 2025 alone. Governments fully fund public schools. Support from state and local governments is especially vital, as they provide nearly nine-tenths of public schools' revenue. Despite a slight dip in 2022, strong tax income pushed up government funding for primary and secondary schools by 6.2% in 2023. These resources are enabling public schools to invest in tutoring and counseling to improve their educational outcomes and better compete with alternative primary and secondary schools. Public schools also used funds to help transition to online and augmented education and have avoided taking on further losses as shrinking class sizes leave them without pressure to continue purchasing new laptops or tablets. Still, public schools are not profitable and largely operate at a loss every year. Public schools are set to face a continued drop in enrollment as well as intensifying competition. To sustain revenue and support, schools will focus on retaining students and improving academic outcomes despite potential federal funding changes. The expansion of school choice programs will compel public schools to enhance their quality and offer additional services like after-school programs to sustain enrollment and win parental support as families gain more access to private schools. Still, charter schools will leverage their unique value propositions to remain competitive and buoy enrollment in the public school system. Public schools' revenue is set to stagnate, swelling at a CAGR of just 0.2% to an estimated $1.0 billion through the end of 2030.

Graph and download economic data for Government current expenditures: Education: Higher (G160311A027NBEA) from 1959 to 2023 about education, expenditures, government, GDP, and USA.

This data provides a list of all the school districts and schools that received funds under section 1003 of ESSA in the 2022-23 school year, including the amount of funds each school received and the types of strategies implemented in each school with using these funds.

This statistic shows the distribution of K-12 public education infrastructure funding in the United States between 1994 and 2013, by source and budget type. Between 1994 and 2013, the federal government contributed about ** percent to the annual operating budget for school construction in the United States.

Graph and download economic data for Federal grants-in-aid to state and local governments: Education (G170691A027NBEA) from 1959 to 2024 about grants, state & local, education, federal, government, GDP, and USA.

In most PISA-participating countries and economies, the average socio-economic background of students who attend privately managed schools is more advantaged than that of those who attend public schools. Yet in some countries, there is little difference in the socio-economic profiles between public and private schools. Why? An analysis of PISA results finds that while the prevalence of privately managed schools in a country is not related to socio-economic stratification within a school system, the level of public funding to privately managed schools is: the higher the proportion of public funding allocated to privately managed schools, the smaller the socio-economic divide between publicly and privately managed schools. This report also shows that those countries with narrow socio-economic stratification in their education systems not only maximise equity and social cohesion, but also perform well in the PISA survey.

In most countries basic education is nowadays perceived not only as a right, but also as a duty – governments are typically expected to ensure access to basic education, while citizens are often required by law to attain education up to a certain basic level.1

This was not always the case: the advancement of these ideas began in the mid-19th century, when most of today’s industrialized countries started expanding primary education, mainly through public finances and government intervention. Data from this early period shows that government funds to finance the expansion of education came from a number of different sources, but taxes at the local level played a crucial role. The historical role of local funding for public schools is important to help us understand changes – or persistence – in regional inequalities.

The second half of the 20th century marked the beginning of education expansion as a global phenomenon. Available data shows that by 1990 government spending on education as a share of national income in many developing countries was already close to the average observed in developed countries.2

This global education expansion in the 20th century resulted in a historical reduction in education inequality across the globe: in the period 1960-2010 education inequality went down every year, for all age groups and in all world regions. Recent estimates of education inequality across age groups suggest that further reductions in schooling inequality are still to be expected within developing countries.3

Recent cross-country data from UNESCO tells us that the world is expanding government funding for education today, and these additional public funds for education are not necessarily at the expense of other government sectors. Yet behind these broad global trends, there is substantial cross-country – and cross-regional – heterogeneity. In high-income countries, for instance, households shoulder a larger share of education expenditures at higher education levels than at lower levels – but in low-income countries, this is not the case.

Following the agreement of the Millennium Development Goals, the first decade of the 21st century saw an important increase in international financial flows under the umbrella of development assistance. Recent estimates show that development assistance for education has stopped growing since 2010, with notable aggregate reductions in flows going to primary education. These changes in the prioritization of development assistance for education across levels and regions can have potentially large distributional effects, particularly within low-income countries that depend substantially on this source of funding for basic education.4

When analyzing correlates, determinants and consequences of education consumption, the macro data indicates that national expenditure on education does not explain well cross-country differences in learning outcomes. This suggests that for any given level of expenditure, the output achieved depends crucially on the mix of many inputs.

New Zealand schools are funded primarily by the government. The three main components of government funding are school operations, teacher salaries, and property funding. In addition schools receive various forms of ‘in-kind’ resourcing from the government, including software licensing, laptops for principals, other ICT support and professional development. State and state-integrated schools get funding from all three sources, while private schools only receive School Operations funding.

Financial information of public and private elementary and secondary education expenditures, by direct source of funds and geography.

Compiled school level data for the 2021 - 2022 school year sourced from the Virginia Department of Education.

• State Assessment (SOL) Pass Rates
• Chronic Absenteeism Rates
• Graduation Rates
• Free and Reduced Lunch Eligibility
• State and Federal Funding
• Teacher Quality, Education, and Licensure
• Demographic information

This report analyses government funding for primary and secondary school education. This includes funding from federal, state and local governments for both private and public schools. The data for this report is sourced from the Australian Bureau of Statistics and is measured in billions of current dollars over financial years.

This map displays public school funding adequacy gap across the United States by county, state, and national levels, using the County Health Rankings 2022 layer hosted in the Living Atlas. School funding adequacy is defined as "the average gap in dollars between actual and required spending per pupil among public school districts. Required spending is an estimate of dollars needed to achieve US average test scores in each school district".School funding plays an important role in educational outcomes, and their distribution geographically by race/ethnicity. Research has shown that schools and districts with more funding are better able to provide higher-quality and deeper educational opportunities to students. Explore this map to see what the school funding adequacy gap is in your geography.The County Health Rankings, a collaboration between the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, measure the health of nearly all counties in the nation and rank them within states. This feature layer contains 2022 County Health Rankings data for nation, state, and county levels. The Rankings are compiled using county-level measures from a variety of national and state data sources. According to the County Health Rankings & Roadmaps site "By ranking the health of nearly every county in the nation, the County Health Rankings help communities understand what influences how healthy residents are and how long they will live. These comparisons among counties provide context and demonstrate that where you live, and many other factors including race/ethnicity, can deeply impact your ability to live a healthy life. The Rankings not only provide this snapshot of your county’s health, but also are used to drive conversations and action to address the health challenges and gaps highlighted in these findings."Web Map originally compiled by Summers Cleary

An average of 15,362 U.S. dollars were spent on each pupil in public elementary and secondary schools in the United States in the academic year of 2021. This is an increase from 1980, when 2,272 U.S. dollars were spent per pupil.

During the academic year of 2021, around 18,614 constant 2022-23 U.S. dollars were spent on each pupil in public elementary and secondary schools in the United States. This is an increase from 1990, when 12,206 constant 2022-23 U.S. dollars were spent per pupil.

In the 2024-25 school year, New York spent around ****** U.S. dollars per pupil on public elementary and secondary schools - the most out of any state. Vermont, the District of Columbia, Massachusetts, and New Jersey rounded out the top five states for elementary and secondary school expenditure per pupil.