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Wayne County · Michigan

Detroit, MI public schools

Enrollment, school count, staffing and per-pupil spending for Detroit Public Schools Community District — federal education data, not a star rating.

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

Quick answer

Detroit Public Schools Community District is the primary public district for Detroit, MI. It enrolls 48,548 students in 107 schools with 3,019 full-time-equivalent teachers, and spends $17,882 per pupil, 3% above the $17,320 median across the metros covered here.

Students enrolled
48,548NCES Common Core of Data, 2021-22
Schools in the district
107Operating school count
Students per teacher
16.1Enrollment ÷ FTE teachers, not class size
Spending per pupil
$17,882Total current expenditure, FY2020

Who pays for schools in Detroit

Where the district's money comes from, FY2020.

Local revenue
8.7%
$80,687,000
State revenue
58.9%
$549,237,000
Federal revenue
32.5%
$302,788,000

Local revenue is mostly property tax, which is why the Detroit property tax rate and school funding move together. Of every dollar spent, about 46 cents reaches instruction — teacher salaries, benefits and classroom materials — with the rest covering transport, buildings, food service and administration.

Reading the Detroit numbers

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

Spending of $17,882 per pupil sits close to the $17,320 metro median — within 3 percent of it, so budget is not what sets this district apart. Only 46 cents of each dollar ($8,227 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 — 8.7% local, 58.9% state — so both the local tax base and the MI aid formula matter to what this district can spend. Federal dollars are an outsized 32.5% of revenue, a share that tracks concentrated student poverty (Title I) and special-education enrollment.

48,548 students across 107 schools averages 454 students per building, and the district is larger than the typical district covered here (44,998 students). The 16.1:1 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.

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.

Figures cover Detroit Public Schools Community District (LEAID 2601103) as one unit, not any single school in Detroit. 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 Detroit datasets on this site.

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

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

NCES LEAID 2601103. Finance figures are Census Annual Survey of School System Finances (F-33) totals as redistributed by the Urban Institute Education Data API.