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What is the state spending on Education?

In FY 2025 state spending on education was “guesstimated” to be $504 billion.

State Education Spending Analysis

This page shows the current trends in state education spending. There are also charts on education spending history. See here for a general history of education spending.

Recent State Education Spending

Recent State Education Spending

Chart S.81s: Recent State Education Spending

In the 2010s state education spending steadily rose from $200 billion to $350 billion in 2020.

In the COVID crisis of 2020 state education spending growth paused for a year.

In 2025 state education spending was “guesstimated” at $504 billion.

Recent State Education Spending<br>as Pct GDP

Chart S.82s: Recent State Education Spending
as Pct GDP

Viewed from a GDP perspective, state education spending was pretty steady at 1.6 to 1.7 percent of GDP during the 2010s.

Since the COVID crisis of 2020 state education spending has declined to about 1.5 percent GDP.

In 2025 state education spending was “guesstimated” at 1.6 percent GDP.

See also Education Spending History.

Numbers — Charts:

History:

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State Education Spending by Level Since 1900

State Education spending grew from 0.1 percent of GDP to 1.5 percent GDP at the end of the 20th century.

Education Spending since 1900 by Level

Chart S.83s: Education Spending since 1900 by Level

State spending on education has been almost entirely for higher education, post secondary school. In 1900 state education spending was 0.1 percent GDP and increased exponentially, with a break for World War II, to 1.1 percent GDP in 1967.

From 1970 to 2000 state education spending stayed at around 1.25 percent GDP, one percent GDP for higher education. But the 2000s saw an increase to over 1.5 percent GDP and a flip up to 1.7 percent GDP in the aftermath of the 2008-09 recession.

In the 2010s state education spending declined modestly to 1.6 percent GDP, with higher education spending declining below 1.25 percent GDP.

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Spending Data Sources

Spending data is from official government sources.

Gross Domestic Product data comes from US Bureau of Economic Analysis and measuringworth.com.

Detailed table of spending data sources here.
Medicare breakdown here; Medicaid breakdown here.

Federal spending data begins in 1792.

State and local spending data begins in 1820.

State and local spending data for individual states begins in 1957.

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Gross Federal Debt

Debt Now:  $39,375,254,020,492.22
Debt 2/2020:$23,409,959,150,243.63

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Data Sources for 2021_2031:

Sources for 2021:

GDP, GO: GDP, GO Sources
Federal: Fed. Budget: Hist. Tables 3.2, 5.1, 7.1
State and Local: State and Local Gov. Finances
'Guesstimated' by projecting the latest change in reported spending forward to future years

Sources for 2031:

GDP, GO: GDP, GO Sources
Federal: Fed. Budget: Hist. Tables 3.2, 5.1, 7.1
State and Local: State and Local Gov. Finances
'Guesstimated' by projecting the latest change in reported spending forward to future years

> data sources for other years
> data update schedule.

Blog

State and Local Finances for 2024 -- First Look

On July 2, 2026 we updated the state and local spending and revenue for FY 2024 using the new Census Bureau State and Local Government Finances "first look"summaries for FY 2024 released in April 2026.  (See also Annual Survey of State and Local Government Finances). The release includes state and local spending for the United States as a whole. It does not include the 50 individual states and the District of Columbia.

State and local spending and revenue for FY2024 are now actual historical spending as reported by the Census Bureau.

We have updated the "guesstimated" state and local finances for FY2025-31 as indicated in our "guesstimate" blog entries.

Beginning in 2021, the Census Bureau stopped splitting "Public welfare" into three parts:

  • Cash assistance payments
  • Vendor payments
  • Other public welfare
This is a problem for usgovernmentspending.com, because most of "Vendor payments" are for health care and are just pass-through grants from the federal government. So, for the time being, we are splitting "Public welfare" into  the proportions that obtained in 2021.

Medicare/Social Security 2026 Trustees Report Released
On June 16, 2026, the Center for Medicare Services released its annual ...

CBO Long Term Budget Outlook for 2026
On February 25, 2026 the Congressional Budget Office released its annual Long Term Budget Outlook for 2026, which projects ...

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