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Los Angeles County · California

Los Angeles, CA public schools

Enrollment, school count, staffing and per-pupil spending for Los Angeles Unified — federal education data, not a star rating.

Yellow public school bus parked at dusk, illustrating local school district data

Quick answer

Los Angeles Unified is the primary public district for Los Angeles, CA. It enrolls 427,795 students in 785 schools with 21,760 full-time-equivalent teachers, and spends $21,493 per pupil, 24% above the $17,320 median across the metros covered here.

Students enrolled
427,795NCES Common Core of Data, 2021-22
Schools in the district
785Operating school count
Students per teacher
19.7Enrollment ÷ FTE teachers, not class size
Spending per pupil
$21,493Total current expenditure, FY2020

Who pays for schools in Los Angeles

Where the district's money comes from, FY2020.

Local revenue
29.8%
$3,308,348,000
State revenue
51.7%
$5,747,927,000
Federal revenue
18.5%
$2,056,204,000

Local revenue is mostly property tax, which is why the Los Angeles property tax rate and school funding move together. Of every dollar spent, about 47 cents reaches instruction — teacher salaries, benefits and classroom materials — with the rest covering transport, buildings, food service and administration.

Reading the Los Angeles numbers

What the 2021-22 NCES and FY2020 Census finance numbers say about this district.

At $21,493 per pupil the district spends 24% more than the $17,320 metro median, outspending 73% of the districts covered. Only 47 cents of each dollar ($10,062 per student) is classified as instruction, so a large share goes to support services, facilities and transport — common in districts with long bus routes or older buildings.

Funding is split roughly evenly — 29.8% local, 51.7% state — so both the local tax base and the CA aid formula matter to what this district can spend. Federal dollars are an outsized 18.5% of revenue, a share that tracks concentrated student poverty (Title I) and special-education enrollment.

427,795 students across 785 schools averages 545 students per building, and the district is larger than the typical district covered here (44,998 students). Staffing is thin relative to peers: 19.7 students per FTE teacher against a 15.2 median, 4.5 students more per teacher.

Worth flagging: a federal share this large means the district is exposed to grant cycles. Title I and pandemic-era relief awards can move the per-pupil figure between survey years without any change in local taxation.

What this data covers

Read this before comparing districts.

Los Angeles Unified is a county-scale district, so its catchment reaches well past the Los Angeles city limits and these figures describe that wider area. Independently authorised charter schools, private schools and regional vocational programs are counted separately by NCES and are not in these totals. Enrollment is the 2021-22 NCES collection; dollars are the FY2020 Census F-33 survey, the latest complete national release. The two years differ, so per-pupil spending is a stable indicator rather than a live budget line.

Other Los Angeles datasets on this site.

Statewide: California cities · California ZIP codes · California sales tax · California counties

Source: NCES Common Core of Data + Census F-33, via Urban Institute Education Data · rates as published for 2021-22 / FY2020

NCES LEAID 0622710. Finance figures are Census Annual Survey of School System Finances (F-33) totals as redistributed by the Urban Institute Education Data API.