What South Carolina School Districts Spend Per Student
The median South Carolina school district spends $13,596 per student per year, $947 below the national median of $14,543, across all 79 districts the state reports. The 70 of them a ZIP code can reach are listed below, and their 730,151 students account for $9.6 billion of current spending in fiscal year 2022.
South Carolina at a Glance
| Median district, per student | $13,596 |
|---|---|
| National median district | $14,543 |
| Districts listed | 70 of 79 |
| Students listed | 730,151 |
| Median district, math | ≈40% |
| Median district, reading | ≈42% |
Every South Carolina District, by Enrollment
Spending is current spending divided by fall membership for fiscal year 2022. Proficiency and graduation rates are school year 2018-19, the last year before the pandemic interrupted state testing, so the money and the results are not from the same year. A figure marked ≈ is one the federal file published as a range rather than a value, so small groups of children stay unidentifiable; it is the middle of that range and within ten points of the real one. A dash means the federal files publish no value under that district's ID. 9 further South Carolina districts are missing because the federal boundary file places them in no ZIP code, which is normal for charter and virtual districts with no attendance area.
| District | Students | Per student | Math | Reading | Graduation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greenville County School District | 76,939 | $11,859 | 54% | 56% | 85% |
| Charleston County School District | 49,331 | $15,213 | 50% | 53% | 84% |
| Horry County School District | 46,551 | $12,785 | 57% | 54% | 83% |
| Berkeley County School District | 37,074 | $11,201 | 43% | 50% | 83% |
| Richland School District 2 | 28,303 | $13,517 | 50% | 52% | 89% |
| Lexington School District 1 | 27,766 | $13,017 | 54% | 55% | 90% |
| Dorchester School District 2 | 25,343 | $11,173 | 53% | 59% | 90% |
| Aiken County School District | 22,800 | $11,604 | 42% | 45% | 91% |
| Richland School District 1 | 22,151 | $18,122 | 33% | 41% | 82% |
| Beaufort County School District | 21,283 | $16,066 | 50% | 49% | 87% |
| York School District 4 | 17,868 | $11,810 | 74% | 71% | 95% |
| Lexington School District 5 | 17,245 | $14,775 | 54% | 59% | 88% |
| York School District 3 | 16,880 | $13,531 | 44% | 44% | 82% |
| Pickens County School District | 16,217 | $10,622 | 53% | 52% | 85% |
| Florence School District 1 | 15,266 | $13,158 | 39% | 47% | 84% |
| Sumter County Consolidated School District | 15,101 | $11,507 | 31% | 34% | 84% |
| Lancaster County School District | 14,609 | $11,853 | 48% | 48% | 83% |
| Anderson School District 5 | 12,686 | $12,323 | 48% | 47% | 83% |
| Spartanburg School District 6 | 11,467 | $12,908 | 41% | 44% | 87% |
| Orangeburg County School District | 11,319 | $15,232 | — | — | — |
| Spartanburg School District 2 | 10,963 | $10,757 | 56% | 54% | 90% |
| Kershaw County School District | 10,856 | $11,827 | 45% | 45% | 86% |
| Anderson School District 1 | 10,593 | $10,372 | 64% | 61% | 92% |
| Oconee County School District | 10,229 | $13,875 | 48% | 48% | 86% |
| Spartanburg School District 5 | 9,785 | $11,544 | 56% | 51% | 89% |
| Darlington County School District | 9,223 | $16,032 | 40% | 38% | 92% |
| York School District 2 | 8,831 | $13,027 | 65% | 60% | 88% |
| Lexington School District 2 | 8,641 | $14,320 | 36% | 38% | 76% |
| Georgetown County School District | 8,373 | $14,507 | 37% | 43% | 86% |
| Greenwood School District 50 | 8,326 | $13,166 | 35% | 37% | 84% |
| Cherokee County School District | 7,792 | $14,030 | 38% | 42% | 83% |
| Spartanburg School District 7 | 7,118 | $17,602 | 35% | 42% | 82% |
| Chesterfield County School District | 6,901 | $13,179 | 36% | 36% | 83% |
| Newberry County School District | 5,749 | $13,945 | 44% | 41% | 86% |
| Laurens School District 55 | 5,442 | $13,000 | 31% | 36% | 80% |
| Spartanburg School District 1 | 5,228 | $11,417 | 55% | 54% | 91% |
| York School District 1 | 5,007 | $13,508 | 47% | 40% | 82% |
| Colleton County School District | 4,971 | $13,393 | 23% | 28% | 78% |
| Chester County School District | 4,833 | $14,214 | 29% | 34% | 79% |
| Marion School District 10 | 3,999 | $13,793 | 18% | 22% | 78% |
| Dillon School District 4 | 3,876 | $11,799 | 29% | 36% | 85% |
| Union County School District | 3,859 | $11,834 | 32% | 33% | 75% |
| Marlboro County School District | 3,664 | $13,596 | 25% | 27% | 79% |
| Anderson School District 2 | 3,429 | $11,854 | 47% | 47% | 87% |
| Lexington School District 4 | 3,419 | $13,530 | 16% | 26% | 80% |
| Edgefield County School District | 3,157 | $15,235 | 37% | 42% | 87% |
| Florence School District 3 | 3,140 | $14,580 | 24% | 32% | 72% |
| Williamsburg County School District | 3,014 | $17,968 | 24% | 30% | 73% |
| Abbeville County School District | 2,946 | $13,070 | 62% | 56% | 84% |
| Spartanburg School District 4 | 2,899 | $10,957 | 62% | 51% | 84% |
| Anderson School District 4 | 2,893 | $14,117 | 61% | 61% | 85% |
| Laurens School District 56 | 2,766 | $14,184 | 40% | 37% | 85% |
| Jasper County School District | 2,672 | $15,235 | 23% | 27% | 82% |
| Anderson School District 3 | 2,654 | $12,320 | 60% | 51% | ≈92% |
| Spartanburg School District 3 | 2,624 | $14,293 | 44% | 43% | 84% |
| Hampton County School District | 2,455 | $15,845 | — | — | — |
| Saluda County School District | 2,394 | $12,073 | 41% | 36% | ≈82% |
| Fairfield County School District | 2,363 | $22,286 | 36% | 34% | 81% |
| Lexington School District 3 | 2,038 | $15,080 | 44% | 39% | ≈82% |
| Dorchester School District 4 | 2,025 | $17,578 | 35% | 41% | ≈92% |
| Barnwell County School District | 1,982 | $14,593 | 38% | 37% | ≈87% |
| Calhoun County School District | 1,545 | $15,269 | 39% | 39% | ≈92% |
| Greenwood School District 52 | 1,500 | $12,530 | 46% | 49% | ≈87% |
| Dillon School District 3 | 1,490 | $11,183 | 43% | 44% | ≈82% |
| Lee County School District | 1,441 | $17,017 | 18% | 24% | ≈87% |
| Florence School District 5 | 1,201 | $13,091 | 41% | 43% | ≈77% |
| Florence School District 2 | 1,107 | $14,672 | 33% | 40% | ≈77% |
| Allendale County School District | 992 | $19,180 | 24% | 21% | ≈77% |
| Greenwood School District 51 | 932 | $12,835 | 39% | 45% | ≈82% |
| McCormick County School District | 615 | $20,948 | 20% | 22% | ≈75% |
Sources
Spending and enrollment come from the NCES School District Finance Survey (F-33) for fiscal year 2022. Proficiency and graduation rates come from EDFacts for school year 2018-19. Districts are matched to ZIP codes through the NCES EDGE geographic relationship file. Nothing on this page is estimated or modelled: a figure is read from a federal source file or it is left blank.
Questions About South Carolina School Spending
How much does the average South Carolina school district spend per student?
The middle, or median, South Carolina district spent $13,596 per student in fiscal year 2022, $947 below the national median of $14,543. The median is the better summary here: a few very small districts spend several times what a large one does, and an average would follow them. That median covers all 79 districts the state reports. Across the 70 a ZIP code can reach, which are the ones listed on this page, 730,151 students account for $9.6 billion of current spending.
Which South Carolina districts spend the most and least per student?
Fairfield County School District reports the highest figure in the table at $22,286 per student for 2,363 students, and Anderson School District 1 the lowest at $10,372 for 10,593 students. Enrollment is the denominator, so a small district with one building and one bus route honestly produces a high figure; read the two columns together.
Why are some South Carolina districts missing from this table?
South Carolina has 79 districts with federal finance data and 70 of them appear here. The rest are placed in no ZIP code by the federal boundary file, which is normal for charter and virtual school districts that have no attendance area, so there is no ZIP code a reader could use to find them.
Does this money follow a child who is homeschooled?
No. The figure is what the district spends on a seat in its own schools, funded from local property tax, state formula aid and federal programs. Withdrawing a child removes the child from the count rather than sending the money home. TheHomeschoolingCompany is $1,788 for one student for a school year by comparison, less for each child after the first.
Look Up Your Own District
Enter a ZIP code and the calculator returns the district that serves it, what it spends per student, how its students score, and what the same school year costs at home.
School district cost per student by ZIP codeEstimate your own homeschool budgetHomeschooling in South CarolinaPlans and pricing
Spending Per Student in Other States
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