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Cook County · Illinois

Chicago, IL public schools

Enrollment, school count, staffing and per-pupil spending for City of Chicago SD 299 — federal education data, not a star rating.

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

Quick answer

City of Chicago SD 299 is the primary public district for Chicago, IL. It enrolls 321,666 students in 644 schools with 22,932 full-time-equivalent teachers, and spends $21,914 per pupil, 27% above the $17,320 median across the metros covered here.

Students enrolled
321,666NCES Common Core of Data, 2021-22
Schools in the district
644Operating school count
Students per teacher
14Enrollment ÷ FTE teachers, not class size
Spending per pupil
$21,914Total current expenditure, FY2020

Who pays for schools in Chicago

Where the district's money comes from, FY2020.

Local revenue
52.2%
$3,886,753,000
State revenue
32.6%
$2,429,260,000
Federal revenue
15.2%
$1,130,495,000

Local revenue is mostly property tax, which is why the Chicago property tax rate and school funding move together. Of every dollar spent, about 55 cents reaches instruction — teacher salaries, benefits and classroom materials — with the rest covering transport, buildings, food service and administration.

Reading the Chicago numbers

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

At $21,914 per pupil the district spends 27% more than the $17,320 metro median, outspending 79% of the districts covered. Instruction takes 55 cents of each dollar — $12,088 per student — with the remainder on transport, buildings, food service and administration.

Funding is split roughly evenly — 52.2% local, 32.6% state — so both the local tax base and the IL aid formula matter to what this district can spend. Federal dollars are an outsized 15.2% of revenue, a share that tracks concentrated student poverty (Title I) and special-education enrollment.

321,666 students across 644 schools averages 499 students per building, and the district is larger than the typical district covered here (44,998 students). The 14:1 student-to-teacher ratio is ordinary for this set of districts (median 15.2:1). It counts all FTE teachers district-wide, so actual class sizes run higher.

What this data covers

Read this before comparing districts.

City of Chicago SD 299 is a large city district; figures are the district total (LEAID 1709930) and individual schools inside it vary widely. 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 Chicago datasets on this site.

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

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

NCES LEAID 1709930. Finance figures are Census Annual Survey of School System Finances (F-33) totals as redistributed by the Urban Institute Education Data API.