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Public schools in Kentucky

655,997 pupils attended 1,550 public schools in Kentucky in 2024–25, in 177 school districts. Its districts spent $14,613 per pupil in fiscal year 2023, against $16,398 nationally.

Kentucky, 2024–25

656.0 thousand
Pupils
655,997
1.3% of the nation's public school pupils.
1,550
Public schools
Operational public schools in NCES’s 2024–25 directory.
15.3
Pupils per teacher
Over the 1,427 schools that report both counts; nationally 15.2.
0
Charter schools
No charter schools in 2024–25.
$14,613
Spending per pupil
Current spending over fall membership, fiscal year 2023.

Kentucky over time

Kentucky's public school enrollment excluding pre-kindergarten fell by 29,280 from its peak in 2014–⁠15 to 2024–⁠25

Public school membership in Kentucky each fall, 2014–⁠15 to 2024–⁠25: all grades, and excluding pre-kindergarten, which is the line the title reads.

Membership is the October 1 count of pupils on a school’s rolls, as the state reported it to NCES.

Every year here reports its pre-kindergarten pupils.

National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education — NCES Common Core of Data — public school membership by state, 2014–15 onwards

The figures behind this chart
Kentucky's public school enrollment excluding pre-kindergarten fell by 29,280 from its peak in 2014–15 to 2024–25. Public school membership in Kentucky each fall, 2014–15 to 2024–25: all grades, and excluding pre-kindergarten, which is the line the title reads.
School yearAll gradesExcluding pre-kindergartenPre-kindergarten
2014–⁠15688,640661,29527,345
2015–⁠16686,598659,45427,144
2016–⁠17684,017657,11526,902
2017–⁠18680,978651,48529,493
2018–⁠19677,821649,35628,465
2019–⁠20691,996659,91932,077
2020–⁠21658,809638,55120,258
2021–⁠22654,239631,01923,220
2022–⁠23660,029634,04425,985
2023–⁠24657,520631,69125,829
2024–⁠25657,263632,01525,248
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Kentucky's school districts spent $14,613 per pupil in fiscal year 2023, against $7,121 in 2005, in each year's dollars

Current spending per pupil in Kentucky, fiscal years 2005 to 2023: current spending over fall membership, summed over every district. In each year’s dollars, not adjusted for inflation.

Not adjusted for inflation: a dollar in 2005 bought more than a dollar in 2023, and this chart does not say how much more.

Each year is the release NCES has published for it: provisional for most, final for fiscal years 2019 to 2022. A final release revises the provisional one by well under 1% nationally.

National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education — NCES School District Finance Survey (F-33) — every fiscal year in the current format

The figures behind this chart
Kentucky's school districts spent $14,613 per pupil in fiscal year 2023, against $7,121 in 2005, in each year's dollars. Current spending per pupil in Kentucky, fiscal years 2005 to 2023: current spending over fall membership, summed over every district. In each year’s dollars, not adjusted for inflation.
Fiscal yearPer pupilPupilsRelease
FY2005$7,121674,502Provisional
FY2006$7,662679,621Provisional
FY2007$8,309646,360Provisional
FY2008$8,686666,019Provisional
FY2009$8,756669,858Provisional
FY2010$8,945680,088Provisional
FY2011$9,307673,128Provisional
FY2012$9,389681,987Provisional
FY2013$9,331685,167Provisional
FY2014$9,443677,389Provisional
FY2015$9,628688,640Provisional
FY2016$9,861686,598Provisional
FY2017$10,119684,017Provisional
FY2018$11,107680,978Provisional
FY2019$11,288677,821Final
FY2020$11,394691,996Final
FY2021$12,123658,809Final
FY2022$13,576654,239Final
FY2023$14,613660,029Provisional
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Where Kentucky’s districts got their money, fiscal year 2023

Revenue of all 185 districts in NCES’s finance file, by source. Nationally, 12.6% came from federal sources.

State sources gave Kentucky's school districts 49.3% of their revenue in fiscal year 2023

Revenue of Kentucky's public school districts by source, fiscal year 2023, as a share of their total revenue.

National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education — NCES School District Finance Survey (F-33) — newest fiscal year

The figures behind this chart
State sources gave Kentucky's school districts 49.3% of their revenue in fiscal year 2023. Revenue of Kentucky's public school districts by source, fiscal year 2023, as a share of their total revenue.
SourceRevenueShare of revenue
Federal$2.0 billion17.2%
State$5.7 billion49.3%
Local$3.9 billion33.5%
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The largest districts in Kentucky

By fall membership in 2024–25. Spending per pupil is the same district’s fiscal year 2023 figure from NCES’s finance file, where it reports one.

2 more columns on a wider screen

The 10 largest public school districts in Kentucky, 2024–25
DistrictPupilsSchools
Jefferson County95,180172
Fayette County42,13880
Boone County20,51428
Warren County18,55934
Hardin County14,58327
Kenton County13,83422
Bullitt County13,00725
Oldham County12,03823
Madison County11,13222
Daviess County10,94824

City, suburb, town and rural schools in Kentucky

36.8% of Kentucky's public school pupils attended rural schools in 2024–⁠25

Pupils in Kentucky's operational public schools by the kind of place each school is in, 2024–⁠25: NCES's twelve locales grouped into city, suburb, town and rural.

National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education — NCES Common Core of Data — public schools, newest full school year

The figures behind this chart
36.8% of Kentucky's public school pupils attended rural schools in 2024–25. Pupils in Kentucky's operational public schools by the kind of place each school is in, 2024–25: NCES's twelve locales grouped into city, suburb, town and rural.
LocaleSchoolsShare of schoolsPupilsShare of pupils
City29619.1%149,59322.8%
Suburb19712.7%98,83315.1%
Town40125.9%166,32525.4%
Rural65642.3%241,24636.8%
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Colleges in Kentucky that take federal student aid

84 colleges in Kentucky are in NCES’s IPEDS universe for 2025–26: 24 public, 27 private nonprofit and 33 private for-profit. They enrolled 361,538 students over twelve months and awarded 24,921 bachelor’s degrees.

Kentucky elsewhere on the Factbook

  • Reported crimeCrime and justice

    Offenses reported to police by type, the trend, and the reporting coverage.

  • Most dangerous cities in KentuckyCrime and justice

    What each agency serving 25,000 or more reported, ranked. Agency populations overlap, so these do not add up to the state.

  • Prison populationCrime and justice

    People held under the state’s correctional authority, and the imprisonment rate. A different publisher counting a different thing.

  • Arrests by race, sex and ageCrime and justice

    Arrests as the FBI’s participating agencies reported them, with what the figures can and cannot support at the top.

  • Hate crimeCrime and justice

    Incidents reported to the FBI by bias motivation, as counts — the collection publishes no participation share, so there is no rate to compare states on.

  • Federal obligationsFederal spending

    What federal agencies obligated against a place of performance in the state, per resident and by agency.

  • Registered nonprofitsNonprofits

    How many organizations the IRS lists in the state, what they report as revenue, and which kinds of work they do.

  • Payments to doctorsHealth

    What drug and device companies reported paying doctors with a practice address in the state, and the largest recipients.

  • Farm program paymentsFarm subsidies

    What the Farm Service Agency paid through the state’s county offices, by program and by recipient. The offices that administered the payments, not a count of farms: a recipient addressed elsewhere is counted where they were paid.

  • Paycheck Protection Program loansPPP loans

    The PPP loans SBA guaranteed to businesses operating in the state, by county, with how many carry a forgiveness amount and how many were charged off. Loans, not businesses: a business with two draws is two loans.

  • Federal civilian workforceFederal salaries

    Federal civilian employees stationed in the state by agency and occupation, with the pay OPM publishes and the share it withholds.

  • The Kentucky Factbook entryAcross the Factbook

    Every measure the Factbook publishes for this state in one place, each with where it ranks among the others and the record it came from.

The immigration hub has no page for this state: EOIR runs no immigration court here, and CBP publishes by sector and field office, which are its own areas of responsibility rather than a geography. Immigration and the border.

Sources

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data (CCD), 2024–25; “School District Finance Survey (F-33),” fiscal year 2023; Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS).

Data retrieved