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Public schools in Mississippi

431,206 pupils attended 1,019 public schools in Mississippi in 2024–25, in 152 school districts. Its districts spent $12,123 per pupil in fiscal year 2023, against $16,398 nationally.

Mississippi, 2024–25

431.2 thousand
Pupils
431,206
0.9% of the nation's public school pupils.
1,019
Public schools
Operational public schools in NCES’s 2024–⁠25 directory.
13.9
Pupils per teacher
Over the 854 schools that report both counts; nationally 15.2.
10
Charter schools
0.9% of pupils.
$12,123
Spending per pupil
Current spending over fall membership, fiscal year 2023.

Mississippi over time

Mississippi's public school enrollment excluding pre-kindergarten fell by 65,288 from its peak in 2014–⁠15 to 2024–⁠25

Public school membership in Mississippi 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

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The figures

Mississippi's public school enrollment excluding pre-kindergarten fell by 65,288 from its peak in 2014–15 to 2024–25. Public school membership in Mississippi 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
2014–⁠15490,917486,5084,409
2015–⁠16487,200482,3334,867
2016–⁠17483,150477,7895,361
2017–⁠18478,321472,5895,732
2018–⁠19471,298464,8946,404
2019–⁠20466,002458,8417,161
2020–⁠21442,627436,6146,013
2021–⁠22442,000434,4017,599
2022–⁠23440,285431,9458,340
2023–⁠24436,523427,1859,338
2024–⁠25431,864421,22010,644

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Mississippi's school districts spent $12,123 per pupil in fiscal year 2023, against $6,575 in 2005, in each year's dollars

Current spending per pupil in Mississippi, 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

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The figures

Mississippi's school districts spent $12,123 per pupil in fiscal year 2023, against $6,575 in 2005, in each year's dollars. Current spending per pupil in Mississippi, 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$6,575494,382Provisional
FY2006$7,221493,952Provisional
FY2007$7,473494,135Provisional
FY2008$7,901493,302Provisional
FY2009$8,075491,194Provisional
FY2010$8,105492,481Provisional
FY2011$7,928490,526Provisional
FY2012$8,164490,619Provisional
FY2013$8,117493,650Provisional
FY2014$8,268492,953Provisional
FY2015$8,482490,863Provisional
FY2016$8,685487,166Provisional
FY2017$8,760483,150Provisional
FY2018$8,954478,272Provisional
FY2019$9,300471,298Final
FY2020$9,666466,002Final
FY2021$10,179442,627Final
FY2022$11,034442,000Final
FY2023$12,123440,285Provisional

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Where Mississippi’s districts got their money, fiscal year 2023

Revenue of all 153 districts in NCES’s finance file, by source. Nationally, 12.6% came from federal sources.

State sources gave Mississippi's school districts 45.0% of their revenue in fiscal year 2023

Revenue of Mississippi'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

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The figures

State sources gave Mississippi's school districts 45.0% of their revenue in fiscal year 2023. Revenue of Mississippi's public school districts by source, fiscal year 2023, as a share of their total revenue.
SourceRevenueShare of revenue
Federal$1.5 billion23.4%
State$2.9 billion45.0%
Local$2.0 billion31.7%

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The largest districts in Mississippi

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 Mississippi, 2024–25
DistrictPupilsSchools
DeSoto County School District34,93442
Rankin County School District18,19628
Jackson Public Schools17,42941
Harrison County School District14,25324
Madison County Schools12,92623
Lamar County School District10,31817
Jackson County School District8,84514
Jones County School District8,69311
Tupelo Public School District7,19214
Vicksburg Warren School District6,61015

City, suburb, town and rural schools in Mississippi

55.6% of Mississippi's public school pupils attended rural schools in 2024–⁠25

Pupils in Mississippi'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

About this chart

The figures

55.6% of Mississippi's public school pupils attended rural schools in 2024–25. Pupils in Mississippi'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
City878.5%39,5569.2%
Suburb10410.2%66,48715.4%
Town22121.7%85,38119.8%
Rural60759.6%239,78255.6%

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Colleges in Mississippi that take federal student aid

49 colleges in Mississippi are in NCES’s IPEDS universe for 2025–26: 23 public, 9 private nonprofit and 17 private for-profit. They enrolled 208,953 students over twelve months and awarded 15,280 bachelor’s degrees.

Mississippi elsewhere on the Factbook

  • Reported crimeCrime and justice

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

  • Most dangerous cities in MississippiCrime 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 Mississippi 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