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San Diego County · California

San Diego, CA public schools

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

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

Quick answer

San Diego Unified is the primary public district for San Diego, CA. It enrolls 93,893 students in 175 schools with 4,290 full-time-equivalent teachers, and spends $22,937 per pupil, 32% above the $17,320 median across the metros covered here.

Students enrolled
93,893NCES Common Core of Data, 2021-22
Schools in the district
175Operating school count
Students per teacher
21.9Enrollment ÷ FTE teachers, not class size
Spending per pupil
$22,937Total current expenditure, FY2020

Who pays for schools in San Diego

Where the district's money comes from, FY2020.

Local revenue
65.2%
$1,461,028,000
State revenue
24.2%
$541,110,000
Federal revenue
10.6%
$237,580,000

Local revenue is mostly property tax, which is why the San Diego property tax rate and school funding move together. Of every dollar spent, about 42 cents reaches instruction — teacher salaries, benefits and classroom materials — with the rest covering transport, buildings, food service and administration.

Reading the San Diego numbers

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

At $22,937 per pupil the district spends 32% more than the $17,320 metro median, outspending 84% of the districts covered. Only 42 cents of each dollar ($9,592 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.

Money is raised locally: 65.2% of revenue comes from local sources — overwhelmingly property tax — against 24.2% from the state. That makes the district's budget move with San Diego property values and levy votes rather than with the CA legislature. Federal aid contributes 10.6%, near the typical share for a large urban district.

93,893 students across 175 schools averages 537 students per building, and the district is larger than the typical district covered here (44,998 students). Staffing is thin relative to peers: 21.9 students per FTE teacher against a 15.2 median, 6.7 students more per teacher.

Worth flagging: high spending here is bought locally. A property-tax-funded budget at this level means school quality and San Diego housing costs are tightly coupled — the tax bill on a home is effectively the school funding mechanism.

What this data covers

Read this before comparing districts.

San Diego Unified is a county-scale district, so its catchment reaches well past the San Diego 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 San Diego 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 0634320. Finance figures are Census Annual Survey of School System Finances (F-33) totals as redistributed by the Urban Institute Education Data API.