Suffolk County · Massachusetts
Boston, MA public schools
Enrollment, school count, staffing and per-pupil spending for Boston — federal education data, not a star rating.
Quick answer
Boston is the primary public district for Boston, MA. It enrolls 46,367 students in 109 schools with 4,311 full-time-equivalent teachers, and spends $39,887 per pupil, 130% above the $17,320 median across the metros covered here.
- Students enrolled
- 46,367NCES Common Core of Data, 2021-22
- Schools in the district
- 109Operating school count
- Students per teacher
- 10.8Enrollment ÷ FTE teachers, not class size
- Spending per pupil
- $39,887Total current expenditure, FY2020
Who pays for schools in Boston
Where the district's money comes from, FY2020.
- Local revenue
- 68.4%
- $1,132,582,000
- State revenue
- 26.2%
- $434,145,000
- Federal revenue
- 5.3%
- $87,942,000
Local revenue is mostly property tax, which is why the Boston 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.
What this data covers
Read this before comparing districts.
Figures describe Boston (LEAID 2502790) as a whole, not any individual school. Charter schools authorised outside the district, private schools and regional vocational schools are not included. Where a city is served by a county-wide district, the county district is used and its catchment is wider than the city limits. Enrollment is from the 2021-22 NCES collection; money is from the FY2020 Census school finance survey, which is the most recent complete national release — the two years do not line up exactly, so per-pupil spending is a stable indicator rather than a current budget line.
Keep going
Other Boston data on this site.
NCES LEAID 2502790. Finance figures are Census Annual Survey of School System Finances (F-33) totals as redistributed by the Urban Institute Education Data API.