Which state has the most public school students?
🔎 Skip to the answer (ranking table)Guess
Which states have the most kids in public schools? Tap them most-to-least.
Tapping assigns 1→4 in order
I bet… Texas — everything's bigger there!
Answer
The real order is…
California has about 5,930,473 students in its public schools! But here's the flip to remember: #2 Texas employs more teachers than California…
📚 Background California has the most public-school students — about 5.9 million kids, more than the whole population of many states! But here is the twist to chew on: Texas, at #2 in students, actually employs more teachers than California (check the teachers quiz). (NCES, Digest of Education Statistics) (opens in a new tab)
🔍 Explore more: 🍎『The great teacher flip: more kids, fewer teachers?』→ I bet… Texas — everything's bigger there!
Compare
Public school enrollment (students, by state, Fall 2022)
Highest: California (5,930,473 students); lowest shown here: Vermont (83,654 students).
Note: kids enrolled in public schools, kindergarten through 12th grade — Fall 2022, NCES.
Geography is destiny!
Recap
🏅 Today's discovery
🏅 California is the USA's #1!
🐕 States in Numbers
Quiz a friend!
📋 See the ranking table (top 50)
| Rank | State | Value |
|---|---|---|
| #1 | California | 5,930,473 students |
| #2 | Texas | 5,519,599 students |
| #3 | Florida | 2,870,527 students |
| #4 | New York | 2,532,888 students |
| #5 | Illinois | 1,852,242 students |
| #6 | Georgia | 1,750,972 students |
| #7 | Pennsylvania | 1,693,347 students |
| #8 | Ohio | 1,680,639 students |
| #9 | North Carolina | 1,541,722 students |
| #10 | Michigan | 1,433,914 students |
| #11 | New Jersey | 1,383,830 students |
| #12 | Virginia | 1,260,351 students |
| #13 | Arizona | 1,132,223 students |
| #14 | Washington | 1,090,227 students |
| #15 | Indiana | 1,036,108 students |
| #16 | Tennessee | 1,006,752 students |
| #17 | Massachusetts | 923,349 students |
| #18 | Missouri | 892,246 students |
| #19 | Maryland | 889,960 students |
| #20 | Colorado | 870,871 students |
| #21 | Minnesota | 870,019 students |
| #22 | Wisconsin | 823,040 students |
| #23 | South Carolina | 789,231 students |
| #24 | Alabama | 750,923 students |
| #25 | Louisiana | 718,145 students |
| #26 | Oklahoma | 701,301 students |
| #27 | Utah | 691,906 students |
| #28 | Kentucky | 660,029 students |
| #29 | Oregon | 577,335 students |
| #30 | Connecticut | 513,513 students |
| #31 | Iowa | 511,297 students |
| #32 | Arkansas | 493,130 students |
| #33 | Kansas | 487,978 students |
| #34 | Nevada | 484,192 students |
| #35 | Mississippi | 440,285 students |
| #36 | Nebraska | 329,234 students |
| #37 | Idaho | 317,555 students |
| #38 | New Mexico | 315,023 students |
| #39 | West Virginia | 251,224 students |
| #40 | Maine | 173,853 students |
| #41 | Hawaii | 170,209 students |
| #42 | New Hampshire | 168,909 students |
| #43 | Montana | 150,733 students |
| #44 | South Dakota | 141,888 students |
| #45 | Delaware | 141,465 students |
| #46 | Rhode Island | 137,449 students |
| #47 | Alaska | 130,723 students |
| #48 | North Dakota | 118,513 students |
| #49 | Wyoming | 92,467 students |
| #50 | Vermont | 83,654 students |
Source: National Center for Education Statistics (Fall 2022)
Sources
Data as of: Fall 2022
NCES Digest of Education Statistics: Table 203.20, public school enrollment by state (Fall 2022) (opens in a new tab) (2026-07-26) — Official published enrollment counts (the committed raw file holds the Fall 2022 actual value per state as published).
↳ On the NCES Digest table 203.20, find your state's row and read the 'Fall 2022' actual enrollment column.