Public schools in Montana
147,049 pupils attended 842 public schools in Montana in 2024–25, in 476 school districts. Its districts spent $13,765 per pupil in fiscal year 2023, against $16,398 nationally.
Montana, 2024–25
- 147.0 thousand
- Pupils
- 147,049
- 0.3% of the nation's public school pupils.
- 842
- Public schools
- Operational public schools in NCES’s 2024–25 directory.
- 13.7
- Pupils per teacher
- Over the 838 schools that report both counts; nationally 15.2.
- 0
- Charter schools
- No charter schools in 2024–25.
- $13,765
- Spending per pupil
- Current spending over fall membership, fiscal year 2023.
Montana over time
Montana's public school enrollment excluding pre-kindergarten fell by 5,842 from its peak in 2022–23 to 2024–25
Public school membership in Montana 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
| School year | All grades | Excluding pre-kindergarten | Pre-kindergarten |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014–15 | 144,532 | 143,303 | 1,229 |
| 2015–16 | 145,319 | 144,161 | 1,158 |
| 2016–17 | 146,375 | 145,309 | 1,066 |
| 2017–18 | 149,474 | 147,153 | 2,321 |
| 2018–19 | 148,844 | 146,730 | 2,114 |
| 2019–20 | 149,917 | 148,009 | 1,908 |
| 2020–21 | 146,252 | 144,685 | 1,567 |
| 2021–22 | 150,195 | 148,624 | 1,571 |
| 2022–23 | 150,733 | 149,813 | 920 |
| 2023–24 | 149,291 | 147,840 | 1,451 |
| 2024–25 | 147,208 | 143,971 | 3,237 |
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Montana's school districts spent $13,765 per pupil in fiscal year 2023, against $8,054 in 2005, in each year's dollars
Current spending per pupil in Montana, 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
| Fiscal year | Per pupil | Pupils | Release |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2005 | $8,054 | 146,552 | Provisional |
| FY2006 | $8,581 | 145,259 | Provisional |
| FY2007 | $9,078 | 144,258 | Provisional |
| FY2008 | $9,666 | 142,695 | Provisional |
| FY2009 | $10,047 | 141,782 | Provisional |
| FY2010 | $10,489 | 141,807 | Provisional |
| FY2011 | $10,632 | 141,693 | Provisional |
| FY2012 | $10,456 | 142,349 | Provisional |
| FY2013 | $10,617 | 142,908 | Provisional |
| FY2014 | $11,010 | 144,129 | Provisional |
| FY2015 | $11,025 | 144,488 | Provisional |
| FY2016 | $11,345 | 145,287 | Provisional |
| FY2017 | $11,383 | 146,332 | Provisional |
| FY2018 | $11,675 | 146,668 | Provisional |
| FY2019 | $12,012 | 147,709 | Final |
| FY2020 | $12,096 | 148,598 | Final |
| FY2021 | $13,294 | 145,005 | Final |
| FY2022 | $13,576 | 149,043 | Final |
| FY2023 | $13,765 | 150,098 | Provisional |
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Where Montana’s districts got their money, fiscal year 2023
Revenue of all 485 districts in NCES’s finance file, by source. Nationally, 12.6% came from federal sources.
Local sources gave Montana's school districts 42.1% of their revenue in fiscal year 2023
Revenue of Montana'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
| Source | Revenue | Share of revenue |
|---|---|---|
| Federal | $445.8 million | 18.3% |
| State | $968.4 million | 39.7% |
| Local | $1.0 billion | 42.1% |
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The largest districts in Montana
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
| District | Pupils | Schools |
|---|---|---|
| Billings Elementary | 11,169 | 28 |
| Great Falls Elementary | 6,890 | 17 |
| Billings High School | 5,444 | 6 |
| Missoula Elementary | 5,293 | 14 |
| Helena Elementary | 5,100 | 16 |
| Bozeman Elementary | 4,657 | 10 |
| Missoula High School | 3,959 | 5 |
| Kalispell Elementary | 3,097 | 7 |
| Flathead High School | 2,976 | 4 |
| Great Falls High School | 2,960 | 2 |
City, suburb, town and rural schools in Montana
41.0% of Montana's public school pupils attended rural schools in 2024–25
Pupils in Montana'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
| Locale | Schools | Share of schools | Pupils | Share of pupils |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| City | 108 | 12.8% | 49,117 | 33.4% |
| Suburb | 13 | 1.5% | 4,357 | 3.0% |
| Town | 83 | 9.9% | 33,310 | 22.7% |
| Rural | 638 | 75.8% | 60,265 | 41.0% |
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Colleges in Montana that take federal student aid
26 colleges in Montana are in NCES’s IPEDS universe for 2025–26: 18 public, 4 private nonprofit and 4 private for-profit. They enrolled 60,889 students over twelve months and awarded 5,602 bachelor’s degrees.
Montana elsewhere on the Factbook
- Reported crimeCrime and justice
Offenses reported to police by type, the trend, and the reporting coverage.
- Most dangerous cities in MontanaCrime 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 Montana 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
- NCES School District Finance Survey (F-33) — newest fiscal year — National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education · U.S. Government work · retrieved September 25, 2026
- NCES Common Core of Data — public school membership by state, 2014–15 onwards · U.S. Government work
- NCES Common Core of Data — public school districts, newest full school year
- NCES Common Core of Data — public schools, newest full school year · U.S. Government work
- IPEDS — every postsecondary institution, with NCES's derived headline measures · U.S. Government work
- NCES School District Finance Survey (F-33) — every fiscal year in the current format · U.S. Government work
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