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Public schools in West Virginia

242,155 pupils attended 676 public schools in West Virginia in 2024–25, in 66 school districts. Its districts spent $14,582 per pupil in fiscal year 2023, against $16,398 nationally.

West Virginia, 2024–25

242.2 thousand
Pupils
242,155
0.5% of the nation's public school pupils.
676
Public schools
Operational public schools in NCES’s 2024–25 directory.
13.5
Pupils per teacher
Over the 639 schools that report both counts; nationally 15.2.
6
Charter schools
1.4% of pupils.
$14,582
Spending per pupil
Current spending over fall membership, fiscal year 2023.

West Virginia over time

West Virginia's public school enrollment excluding pre-kindergarten fell by 37,451 from its peak in 2014–⁠15 to 2024–⁠25

Public school membership in West Virginia 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
West Virginia's public school enrollment excluding pre-kindergarten fell by 37,451 from its peak in 2014–15 to 2024–25. Public school membership in West Virginia 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
2014–⁠15280,310265,05715,253
2015–⁠16277,452262,37515,077
2016–⁠17273,855258,90614,949
2017–⁠18272,266255,60116,665
2018–⁠19267,976252,49715,479
2019–⁠20263,486246,80316,683
2020–⁠21253,930241,07912,851
2021–⁠22252,720238,40414,316
2022–⁠23251,224236,57214,652
2023–⁠24246,883231,92914,954
2024–⁠25242,155227,60614,549
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West Virginia's school districts spent $14,582 per pupil in fiscal year 2023, against $9,005 in 2005, in each year's dollars

Current spending per pupil in West Virginia, 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
West Virginia's school districts spent $14,582 per pupil in fiscal year 2023, against $9,005 in 2005, in each year's dollars. Current spending per pupil in West Virginia, 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$9,005279,456Provisional
FY2006$9,352279,788Provisional
FY2007$9,611281,298Provisional
FY2008$9,852281,735Provisional
FY2009$10,367281,908Provisional
FY2010$11,493282,662Provisional
FY2011$11,815282,879Provisional
FY2012$11,413282,870Provisional
FY2013$11,103283,044Provisional
FY2014$11,233280,958Provisional
FY2015$11,430280,310Provisional
FY2016$11,367277,452Provisional
FY2017$11,633273,855Provisional
FY2018$11,442272,266Provisional
FY2019$12,129267,976Final
FY2020$12,492263,486Final
FY2021$13,223253,840Final
FY2022$13,939252,720Final
FY2023$14,582251,224Provisional
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Where West Virginia’s districts got their money, fiscal year 2023

Revenue of all 65 districts in NCES’s finance file, by source. Nationally, 12.6% came from federal sources.

State sources gave West Virginia's school districts 46.9% of their revenue in fiscal year 2023

Revenue of West Virginia'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 West Virginia's school districts 46.9% of their revenue in fiscal year 2023. Revenue of West Virginia's public school districts by source, fiscal year 2023, as a share of their total revenue.
SourceRevenueShare of revenue
Federal$793.9 million18.7%
State$2.0 billion46.9%
Local$1.5 billion34.4%
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The largest districts in West Virginia

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.

The 10 largest public school districts in West Virginia, 2024–25
DistrictPupilsSchoolsPupils per teacherSpending per pupil, fiscal year 2023
Kanawha County Schools23,0856313.6$14,242
Berkeley County Schools20,0063314.9$12,899
Monongalia County Schools11,1931914.3$14,414
Cabell County Schools11,1882612.8$15,473
Wood County Schools11,0982713.5$13,900
Raleigh County Schools10,3502712.7$13,305
Harrison County Schools9,3582512.4$14,396
Putnam County Schools8,5182313.2$13,757
Jefferson County Schools8,3861614.9$14,424
Mercer County Schools8,3102613.6$13,583

City, suburb, town and rural schools in West Virginia

48.5% of West Virginia's public school pupils attended rural schools in 2024–⁠25

Pupils in West Virginia'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
48.5% of West Virginia's public school pupils attended rural schools in 2024–25. Pupils in West Virginia'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
City8512.6%38,76716.0%
Suburb11216.6%48,04119.8%
Town9614.2%37,96615.7%
Rural38356.7%117,38148.5%
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Colleges in West Virginia that take federal student aid

66 colleges in West Virginia are in NCES’s IPEDS universe for 2025–26: 40 public, 13 private nonprofit and 13 private for-profit. They enrolled 198,956 students over twelve months and awarded 18,196 bachelor’s degrees.

West Virginia elsewhere on the Factbook

  • Reported crimeCrime and justice

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

  • Most dangerous cities in West VirginiaCrime 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 West Virginia 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