NCES Public School Data
Schools By County
Education Data for Every U.S. County
Compare graduation rates, per-pupil spending, and school scores for every county across all 50 states. Free public data for county-level education research.
Enter a county, state, district, or page name to search.
Counties
3,144
States
51
Public Schools
99K+
Data Source
NCES
public records
How to Use the Data
Start broad, then verify the school-level fit
SchoolsByCounty is built for the first research pass: narrow the county list, compare the education signal, then drill into the districts and public schools that shape local education context.
Step 1
Find your county
Search by name or browse by state to access school scores, graduation rates, and per-pupil spending for any of 3,100+ US counties.
Step 2
Compare school data
Side-by-side comparison of school scores, graduation rates, per-pupil spending, and school coverage across counties.
Step 3
Read the guides
Data-driven articles on evaluating public school metrics, understanding per-pupil spending, and comparing county education profiles.
Step 4
Browse schools
Drill down to individual public schools with enrollment, grade ranges, district affiliation, and school type from NCES data.
Data quality ledger
Federal records first, local verification next.
SchoolsByCounty is built for county-level research. Use it to compare public-school signals across places, then verify attendance zones, programs, transfers, and current policies with official district and state education sources.
Source Files
NCES CCD and F-33
Public school, district, graduation, enrollment, and school-finance records.
Data Vintage
2022-23 / FY 2022
The current build uses the latest complete federal records in the site pipeline.
Review Model
Reviewed by Evan BrooksLast reviewed May 2026. Pages are checked for source links, caveats, and recommendation-free language.
Interactive Education Tools
Explore, compare, and analyze school data across all 3,100+ US counties.
School Map
Scan school scores by county, then open county profiles for graduation and spending detail.
Open Map3D Explorer
Rotate and drill into a county-by-county model of school scores, graduation, and finance data.
Launch ExplorerInsights
Review national score distributions, graduation-rate patterns, and spending-outcome outliers.
View InsightsCompare Counties
Put up to three counties side by side across school score, graduation rate, and per-pupil spending.
Compare CountiesFind My School
Search from a US address to find nearby public schools and filter by distance or grade level.
Search NearbyBrowse by State
View county school profiles and state-level comparison tables for every county in a selected state.
Browse StatesEducation Guides & Analysis
Data-driven articles on public school metrics, spending, and county education indicators.
Article
How to Evaluate Public School Metrics by County
A practical guide to reading county public school metrics using per-pupil spending, graduation rates, School Score, school counts, and district context.
Article
Understanding Per-Pupil Spending Across America
Analysis of per-pupil education spending across all US counties. Examines geographic patterns, the relationship between spending and completion metrics, and how to read school-finance data.
Article
How to Compare Counties for School Research
A neutral guide to comparing county-level school data with safety, affordability, and health context. Covers metrics, regional patterns, and data limitations.
Article
What the Highest- and Lowest-Scoring Counties Have in Common
An analysis of both tails of the School Score distribution: how completion, funding, and state policy cluster at the extremes — and what a percentile ranking can and cannot tell you.
Article
The Graduation-Rate Spread: Why County Rates Range So Widely
Why county graduation rates run from below 70% to near 100%: ACGR measurement rules, county-level aggregation, small-cohort volatility, and state policy clusters — with the highest and lowest counties.
Article
Per-Pupil Spending Extremes: What the Top and Bottom Counties Reveal
The highest- and lowest-spending US counties, and why the gap is mostly sparsity, regional prices, and state formulas — with cost-of-living caveats and why high spending does not equal high scores.
Virginia Beach city
Virginia
Graduation Rate
91.00%
Graduation Rate
91.00%
Per-Pupil Spending
$7,511
School Score
55/100
Virginia Beach manages high-density enrollment via single unified district
Virginia Beach city operates one of the state's largest unified education systems, with 65,456 students enrolled across 88 schools. The district structure is primarily urban, with 87 of its schools classified as city locales. Secondary education is characterized by high enrollment, with Landstown High and Kempsville High both exceeding 2,000 students. The graduation rate is 91.0%, which is higher than both the national average of 87.0% and the state average of 89.0%. While the student population is large, the per-pupil expenditure of $7,511 is lower than the Virginia state average of $7,941 and the national average of $13,000. The city’s composite school score is 54.9, aligning closely with the state average of 54.1. Charter presence is minimal, with only one charter school operating within the district. Visit the NCES school directory for specific site-level enrollment data.
Browse by State
Select a state to view school data for every county.
Alabama
67 counties
Alaska
30 counties
Arizona
15 counties
Arkansas
75 counties
California
58 counties
Colorado
64 counties
Connecticut
9 counties
Delaware
3 counties
District of Columbia
1 county
Florida
67 counties
Georgia
159 counties
Hawaii
5 counties
Idaho
44 counties
Illinois
102 counties
Indiana
92 counties
Iowa
99 counties
Kansas
105 counties
Kentucky
120 counties
Louisiana
64 counties
Maine
16 counties
Maryland
24 counties
Massachusetts
14 counties
Michigan
83 counties
Minnesota
87 counties
Mississippi
82 counties
Missouri
115 counties
Montana
56 counties
Nebraska
93 counties
Nevada
17 counties
New Hampshire
10 counties
New Jersey
21 counties
New Mexico
33 counties
New York
62 counties
North Carolina
100 counties
North Dakota
53 counties
Ohio
88 counties
Oklahoma
77 counties
Oregon
36 counties
Pennsylvania
67 counties
Rhode Island
5 counties
South Carolina
46 counties
South Dakota
66 counties
Tennessee
95 counties
Texas
254 counties
Utah
29 counties
Vermont
14 counties
Virginia
133 counties
Washington
39 counties
West Virginia
55 counties
Wisconsin
72 counties
Wyoming
23 counties
Major US Counties
Education data for some of the most populated counties in the US.
Los Angeles County
California
Harris County
Texas
Cook County
Illinois
Maricopa County
Arizona
Denver County
Colorado
King County
Washington
Miami-Dade County
Florida
New York County
New York
Fulton County
Georgia
Cuyahoga County
Ohio
Philadelphia County
Pennsylvania
Clark County
Nevada
Read County School Data in Context
SchoolsByCounty is designed for first-pass research across counties. The strongest use is comparison across public-school signals, followed by local review of districts, attendance zones, programs, and state education records.
Comparable Signals
School scores, graduation rates, and per-pupil spending use the same federal-source model across counties so broad comparisons stay consistent.
Local Context Matters
County averages can hide district boundaries, magnet programs, charter enrollment, and rural transportation costs that shape the local school experience.
Verify Decisions
Use county-level data to narrow research, then verify enrollment boundaries, programs, and current school policies with official district and state education department sources.
Powered by Federal Education Data
School data comes from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Common Core of Data and School District Finance Survey. County pages focus on public school coverage, graduation rates, and per-pupil spending where federal data is available.
Explore NCES Data