The richest school districts in America

Posted by on June 25, 2012

Anatomy of a disparity

To identify the nation’s wealthiest school districts, MSNBC’s 24/7 Wall St. analyzed census data for each of the more than 10,000 school districts across the United States. In the 10 richest districts, median incomes ranged from $176,000 to $238,000. By comparison, the national median household income was $52,000. Annual median incomes in the poorest districts ranged from $16,607 to $18,980, well below the national poverty line ($22,314) for a household of four. In San Perlita Independent School District in Texas, 30 percent of residents earned less than $10,000 each year. According to the National Center of Education Statistics, the wealthiest districts spend far more per pupil than the national average. The Edgemont, New York district spends more than $25,000 per student annually. In contrast, Barbourville, Kentucky spends less than one-third that amount. All of the richest districts made the 2012 U.S News & World Report Best High Schools list, except for Bronxville, which ranked fourth in Newsweek’s Top 20 High Schools in the Northeast. In the richest districts, up to 90 percent of the district budget is from residents’ taxes. Homeowners pay an average of $18,000 in Weston, Connecticut and $43,000 in Bronxville, New York. By comparison, as little as 6 percent of school revenue is generated by local taxes in the poorest districts, with state and federal funding making up the difference.

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