The amount that a state spends per pupil is an important indicator of a state’s commitment to K–12 education, but it does not reflect the substantial variation in the cost of staffing and operating schools across the country. Expenditures can be reported with and without adjustments for that variation—in particular for labor costs.

Professor Lori Taylor of Texas A&M University has developed a Comparable Wage Index (CWI) to make such adjustments. The CWI reflects the salary costs of college-educated, full-time workers in noneducation fields in each state. Thus, it reflects each state’s labor market in which school agencies compete for talent. Using CWI data, one can compare education spending among states such that differences in labor costs are neutralized. With about 80% of districts’ spending going for labor costs (65% for certificated and classified staff salaries and 15% for employee benefits), the CWI is a reasonable, albeit imperfect, way to account for cost differences among states.

The table below shows states’ unadjusted and CWI-adjusted per-pupil expenditures and the associated rankings. For a graphic display of unadjusted and adjusted rankings of the four largest states, click here

STATE	Rank Based on Per-Pupil Expenditure -- Unadjusted	Per Pupil Expenditure -- Unadjusted	Comparable Wage Index* -- 2007   United States=1.36**	Per-Pupil Expenditure -- Adjusted Using Comparable Wage Index**	Adjusted Rank**
New Jersey	1	$17,620	1.54	$15,514	3
New York	2	$16,794	1.51	$15,069	5
District of Columbia	3	$16,353	1.65	$13,434	9
Alaska	4	$14,641	1.29	$15,427	4
Connecticut	5	$14,610	1.46	$13,545	8
Rhode Island	6	$14,459	1.37	$14,300	6
Vermont	7	$14,421	1.16	$16,892	1
Wyoming	8	$13,856	1.12	$16,737	2
Massachusetts	9	$13,667	1.46	$12,668	12
Maryland	10	$13,235	1.49	$12,046	16
Delaware	11	$12,153	1.37	$11,989	17
New Hampshire	12	$11,951	1.26	$12,904	10
Hawaii	13	$11,800	1.29	$12,386	14
Maine	14	$11,761	1.14	$14,024	7
Pennsylvania	15	$11,741	1.31	$12,170	15
Wisconsin	16	$10,791	1.28	$11,419	21
Virginia	17	$10,664	1.47	$9,819	38
Nebraska	18	$10,565	1.14	$12,595	13
Illinois	19	$10,353	1.42	$9,887	37
Ohio	20	$10,340	1.30	$10,820	25
Michigan	21	$10,075	1.31	$10,418	31
West Virginia	22	$10,059	1.15	$11,847	18
Minnesota	23	$10,048	1.30	$10,457	30
Louisiana	24	$10,006	1.19	$11,394	22
Kansas	25	$9,883	1.14	$11,709	19
Montana	26	$9,786	1.04	$12,792	11
Georgia	27	$9,718	1.32	$9,956	36
California	28	$9,706	1.49	$8,853	43
Oregon	29	$9,565	1.23	$10,501	28
Missouri	30	$9,532	1.23	$10,545	26
Iowa	31	$9,520	1.13	$11,372	23
North Dakota	32	$9,324	1.10	$11,494	20
New Mexico	33	$9,291	1.20	$10,514	27
Alabama	34	$9,197	1.19	$10,477	29
Colorado	35	$9,152	1.29	$9,641	40
Florida	36	$9,084	1.26	$9,740	39
South Carolina	37	$9,060	1.21	$10,108	33
Washington	38	$9,058	1.41	$8,730	44
Indiana	39	$8,867	1.19	$10,073	34
Kentucky	40	$8,740	1.19	$9,979	35
Arkansas	41	$8,677	1.14	$10,347	32
South Dakota	42	$8,535	1.04	$11,120	24
Texas	43	$8,350	1.33	$8,484	47
Nevada	44	$8,187	1.35	$8,208	50
Mississippi	45	$7,890	1.15	$9,323	41
Tennessee	46	$7,820	1.24	$8,542	45
North Carolina	47	$7,798	1.27	$8,299	49
Arizona	48	$7,727	1.25	$8,382	48
Oklahoma	49	$7,683	1.14	$9,173	42
Idaho	50	$6,951	1.10	$8,531	46
Utah	51	$5,978	1.24	$6,523	51

* The Comparable Wage Index (CWI) data come from Washington Wages: An Analysis of Educator and Comparable Non-educator Wages in the State of Washington (research files). Professor Lori Taylor, Texas A&M University. November 2008. Professor Taylor has computed an index of the wages of college-educated, full-time employees in noneducation fields in every state and the nation as a whole. In 2007, the index for California was 1.486008, and the index for the nation was 1.355345. One can translate those indexes to mean that California employers needed $10,964 to match the purchasing power of $10,000 in the nation as a whole (1.486008 ÷ 1.355345 = 1.096436). To adjust California’s 2007–08 per-pupil expenditure, EdSource staff multiplied the nominal figure of $9,706 by the quotient of the 2007 National CWI ÷ California’s 2007 CWI or 1.355345 ÷ 1.486008 and arrived at $8,853. (Mathematically, the computation is expressed as follows: $9,706 x [1.355345 ÷ 1.486008] = $8,853.) EdSource computed adjusted expenditures for the other states similarly using each state’s index.

** The Comparable Wage Index (CWI) values are shown going out to two decimal places, but the adjusted expenditures and ranks were computed using CWI values going out six decimal places.