States That Spend the Most on Education

At Learner, we believe education is one of the most important things we invest in throughout out lives. Most of us spend at least thirteen years in school, starting from age five, and some will even extend their educational period into their late twenties and beyond.

Investing in the future of our children via their education can help them build the lives they want. But education comes at a price—and a high one, at that. And some states invest more in their students than others. Find out which states have the highest spending per student in our map and table below!

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Facts and Findings

• Alaska spends the most on students overall at a total of $53,124 per student between K-12 and postsecondary education
• Idaho spends the least amount on education overall at $19,661 per student
• Between the highest-spending state (Alaska) and the lowest-spending (Idaho), the spending gap is $33,463
• New York invests the most on K-12 education, spending $25,520 on each student
• For postsecondary spending, New Mexico leads the nation at a spend of $35,730 per pupil
• Five of the bottom eleven states for education spending also ranked in the bottom eleven states for math scores in the nation. These states are: District of Columbia, Rhode Island, Idaho, Florida, West Virginia

Methodology

We analyzed various data sets surrounding education spending in each state from the U.S. Public Education Spending Statistics report provided by EducationData.org. The data sets we used to create this report are:

• Public K-12 Spending Per Student
• Public Education Spending by State
• Public K-12 Spending as a Percentage of State Taxpayer Income
• Public Education Funding by State