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Mecklenburg County · North Carolina

Charlotte, NC public schools

Enrollment, school count, staffing and per-pupil spending for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools — federal education data, not a star rating.

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

Quick answer

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools is the primary public district for Charlotte, NC. It enrolls 144,197 students in 180 schools with 8,663 full-time-equivalent teachers, and spends $14,569 per pupil, 16% below the $17,320 median across the metros covered here.

Students enrolled
144,197NCES Common Core of Data, 2021-22
Schools in the district
180Operating school count
Students per teacher
16.6Enrollment ÷ FTE teachers, not class size
Spending per pupil
$14,569Total current expenditure, FY2020

Who pays for schools in Charlotte

Where the district's money comes from, FY2020.

Local revenue
33.9%
$569,195,000
State revenue
55.7%
$933,614,000
Federal revenue
10.4%
$174,113,000

Local revenue is mostly property tax, which is why the Charlotte property tax rate and school funding move together. Of every dollar spent, about 48 cents reaches instruction — teacher salaries, benefits and classroom materials — with the rest covering transport, buildings, food service and administration.

Reading the Charlotte numbers

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

$14,569 per pupil is 16% below the $17,320 metro median; only 31% of tracked districts spend less. Only 48 cents of each dollar ($6,998 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 — 33.9% local, 55.7% state — so both the local tax base and the NC aid formula matter to what this district can spend. Federal aid contributes 10.4%, near the typical share for a large urban district.

144,197 students across 180 schools averages 801 students per building, and the district is larger than the typical district covered here (44,998 students). The 16.6:1 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.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools is a large city district; figures are the district total (LEAID 3702970) 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 Charlotte datasets on this site.

Statewide: North Carolina cities · North Carolina ZIP codes · North Carolina sales tax · North Carolina counties

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

NCES LEAID 3702970. Finance figures are Census Annual Survey of School System Finances (F-33) totals as redistributed by the Urban Institute Education Data API.