How many public school teachers are in each state? Texas has 101,701 more teachers than California

Public schools in the United States employ about 3.15 million full-time-equivalent teachers, according to allk12's analysis of 2024-25 federal data for 49 states and Washington, D.C. That works out to about 15.2 students per teacher.

Texas has the most teachers, with about 369,150. That is 101,701 more than California, which has 267,449 teachers but slightly more students. The difference shows up in the ratio: California averages about 21.6 students per teacher, and Texas about 14.9.

Public school teachers by state

Full-time-equivalent classroom teachers in public schools, 2024-25. Students per teacher counts only schools that reported teachers. Tennessee is not listed because its schools did not report teacher counts. Source: allk12 analysis of NCES Common Core of Data.

What the numbers mean

These are full-time equivalents, so two half-time teachers count as one. The federal data counts classroom teachers, not aides, counselors, or other staff.

Students per teacher is not the same as class size. Special education teachers, reading specialists, and teachers of electives all count as teachers, so the average class a student sits in is usually larger than the ratio suggests.

At the other end of the list, New Hampshire has about 11.2 students per teacher, the fewest of any state, followed by New York, Maine, and Vermont at about 11.3. Washington, D.C., has 10.9. For more on how ratios compare, see our student-teacher ratios by state and our guide to what counts as a good ratio.

Sources
Teacher counts and enrollment from allk12's analysis of National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Common Core of Data, 2024-25.