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Public schools in North Dakota

119,656 pupils attended 514 public schools in North Dakota in 2024–25, in 221 school districts. Its districts spent $16,125 per pupil in fiscal year 2023, against $16,398 nationally.

North Dakota, 2024–25

119.7 thousand
Pupils
119,656
0.2% of the nation's public school pupils.
514
Public schools
Operational public schools in NCES’s 2024–⁠25 directory.
11.5
Pupils per teacher
Over the 491 schools that report both counts; nationally 15.2.
0
Charter schools
No charter schools in 2024–⁠25.
$16,125
Spending per pupil
Current spending over fall membership, fiscal year 2023.

North Dakota over time

North Dakota's public schools enrolled 116,762 pupils excluding pre-kindergarten in 2024–⁠25, the most in the 11 years NCES's state file holds

Public school membership in North Dakota 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

North Dakota's public schools enrolled 116,762 pupils excluding pre-kindergarten in 2024–25, the most in the 11 years NCES's state file holds. Public school membership in North Dakota 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
2014–⁠15106,586104,5232,063
2015–⁠16108,644106,4312,213
2016–⁠17109,706107,0412,665
2017–⁠18111,920109,1422,778
2018–⁠19113,845111,0372,808
2019–⁠20116,185113,0563,129
2020–⁠21114,955112,1732,782
2021–⁠22116,864114,0272,837
2022–⁠23118,513115,5582,955
2023–⁠24119,033115,9143,119
2024–⁠25119,792116,7623,030

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North Dakota's school districts spent $16,125 per pupil in fiscal year 2023, against $8,154 in 2005, in each year's dollars

Current spending per pupil in North Dakota, 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

About this chart

The figures

North Dakota's school districts spent $16,125 per pupil in fiscal year 2023, against $8,154 in 2005, in each year's dollars. Current spending per pupil in North Dakota, 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$8,154100,413Provisional
FY2006$8,60398,172Provisional
FY2007$9,02296,577Provisional
FY2008$9,67594,959Provisional
FY2009$10,15694,653Provisional
FY2010$10,98395,073Provisional
FY2011$11,41296,323Provisional
FY2012$11,66897,645Provisional
FY2013$11,969101,111Provisional
FY2014$12,339103,786Provisional
FY2015$13,301106,579Provisional
FY2016$13,343108,630Provisional
FY2017$13,755109,703Provisional
FY2018$13,753111,920Provisional
FY2019$13,999113,845Final
FY2020$14,235116,185Final
FY2021$15,138114,955Final
FY2022$15,849116,864Final
FY2023$16,125118,513Provisional

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Where North Dakota’s districts got their money, fiscal year 2023

Revenue of all 223 districts in NCES’s finance file, by source. Nationally, 12.6% came from federal sources.

State sources gave North Dakota's school districts 45.5% of their revenue in fiscal year 2023

Revenue of North Dakota'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 North Dakota's school districts 45.5% of their revenue in fiscal year 2023. Revenue of North Dakota's public school districts by source, fiscal year 2023, as a share of their total revenue.
SourceRevenueShare of revenue
Federal$406.6 million17.1%
State$1.1 billion45.5%
Local$892.6 million37.4%

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The largest districts in North Dakota

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 North Dakota, 2024–25
DistrictPupilsSchools
Bismarck 114,09829
West Fargo 613,19126
Fargo 111,44426
Grand Forks 17,82218
Minot 17,68321
Williston Basin 75,41411
Mandan 14,45612
Dickinson 14,18312
McKenzie Co 12,3517
Jamestown 12,0427

City, suburb, town and rural schools in North Dakota

40.2% of North Dakota's public school pupils attended rural schools in 2024–⁠25

Pupils in North Dakota'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

40.2% of North Dakota's public school pupils attended rural schools in 2024–25. Pupils in North Dakota'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
City9117.7%40,78134.1%
Suburb336.4%14,32012.0%
Town489.3%16,41813.7%
Rural34266.5%48,13740.2%

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Colleges in North Dakota that take federal student aid

25 colleges in North Dakota are in NCES’s IPEDS universe for 2025–26: 14 public, 5 private nonprofit and 6 private for-profit. They enrolled 67,940 students over twelve months and awarded 6,301 bachelor’s degrees.

North Dakota elsewhere on the Factbook

  • Reported crimeCrime and justice

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

  • Most dangerous cities in North DakotaCrime 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 North Dakota 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