Figure A
California spends less on education relative to GDP than 35 other states: Per-pupil education funding as a share of GDP per capita by state, 2022
| State | Education Funding as a Share of GDP |
|---|---|
| Vermont | 41.3% |
| Rhode Island | 33.4% |
| New Jersey | 33.3% |
| Maine | 31.9% |
| Pennsylvania | 30.2% |
| New York | 30.1% |
| Connecticut | 29.5% |
| New Hampshire | 28.3% |
| West Virginia | 28.3% |
| Michigan | 27.1% |
| Hawaii | 27.1% |
| Oregon | 26.5% |
| South Carolina | 26.2% |
| Kentucky | 25.9% |
| Illinois | 25.9% |
| Maryland | 25.8% |
| New Mexico | 25.4% |
| Mississippi | 25.3% |
| Montana | 25.0% |
| Louisiana | 24.8% |
| Arkansas | 24.7% |
| Wisconsin | 24.5% |
| Alaska | 24.3% |
| Ohio | 24.3% |
| Massachusetts | 23.9% |
| Alabama | 23.8% |
| Wyoming | 23.5% |
| Minnesota | 23.4% |
| Missouri | 23.2% |
| Delaware | 22.2% |
| Virginia | 21.3% |
| Iowa | 20.9% |
| Georgia | 20.9% |
| Washington | 20.6% |
| Kansas | 20.4% |
| California | 20.3% |
| Florida | 20.0% |
| Oklahoma | 19.8% |
| Indiana | 19.6% |
| North Carolina | 19.4% |
| North Dakota | 19.2% |
| Nebraska | 19.1% |
| Arizona | 18.8% |
| Colorado | 18.8% |
| Idaho | 18.6% |
| Tennessee | 18.1% |
| South Dakota | 17.8% |
| Nevada | 17.7% |
| Texas | 17.4% |
| Utah | 14.2% |
| District of Columbia | 13.7% |
Notes: Spending and GDP are inflation-adjusted to 2024$.
Source: Author analysis of U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis state GDP summary statistics; U.S. Census Bureau, Population Division (2020-2024); and National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data, "National Public Education Financial Survey" data.
This chart appears in:
- The teacher pay penalty has hit a new high: Trends in teacher wages and compensation through 2021
- Teacher pay penalty still looms large: Trends in teacher wages and compensation through 2022
- Teacher pay rises in 2023—but not enough to shrink pay gap with other college graduates
- The teacher pay penalty reached a record high in 2024: Three decades of leaving public school teachers behind