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• How the comparison is usually made
International agencies (OECD, UNESCO, NCES) look at two main yardsticks: (1) “expenditure per full-time-equivalent (FTE) student” in purchasing-power-parity (PPP) dollars and (2) spending as a share of gross domestic product (GDP). The figures below refer to educational institutions’ spending from all public and private sources unless noted otherwise.
Per-student spending: the United States is near the very top
• All levels combined (pre-K through tertiary). In 2020 U.S. institutions spent about $19,000 per FTE student, roughly 60 percent above the OECD average of $11,600 [5].
• Primary and secondary (K–12). U.S. spending was about $17,000 per student versus $10,200 for the OECD average—again roughly 65 percent higher [5].
• Tertiary. U.S. colleges and universities spent an OECD-leading $36,700 per student, about double the OECD average of $18,100 [5]. A large share comes from tuition and other private payments that are far higher than in most peer nations.
Only a few small, high-income countries (e.g., Luxembourg, Norway, Switzerland) consistently out-spend the United States on a per-student basis, and then usually by a narrow margin or only at one educational level [6].
Spending as a share of national income: high, but not No. 1
• Total education spending by institutions equaled 6.1 percent of U.S. GDP in 2020, compared with 5.1 percent for the OECD average [5].
• The United States devotes a larger-than-average share of GDP to higher education (2.4 percent versus OECD’s 1.4 percent) but only a modestly higher share to K–12 (3.7 percent versus 3.2 percent).
• Some middle-income countries (e.g., Brazil, Chile) and Nordic nations devote an even larger percentage of GDP to education, although their absolute dollar amounts are lower because their GDP per capita is smaller [7].
Where the money goes
• K–12: Roughly 80 percent of current expenditures are compensation for staff; the United States also spends more than most countries on student support services such as transportation and meals [5], [6].
• Higher education: High tuition and extensive research activity help explain the extraordinarily high U.S. tertiary numbers [6].
Outcomes do not rise in lockstep with spending
• On the 2022 PISA assessments U.S. 15-year-olds scored around the OECD average in reading, below average in mathematics, and average in science, despite the nation’s above-average spending [3].
• Analysts point out that international test rankings alone cannot explain why high spending does not always translate into top scores, because of socioeconomic inequality, different student populations, and varying policy priorities [2], [4].
Unequal and decentralized spending inside the United States
• Because U.S. education is financed largely through state and local sources, per-pupil spending varies widely—often more than two-to-one—across states and between wealthy and low-income districts. The Economic Policy Institute argues that these internal disparities make state-level comparisons more useful for policymaking than raw international rankings [2].
Bottom line
• By any measure of dollars per student, the United States is one of the world’s highest spenders on schooling, particularly at the college level.
• As a share of national income, it spends more than the OECD average but is not the global leader.
• Heavy spending delivers mixed academic results, and large internal inequalities complicate international comparisons, suggesting that how money is distributed and used may matter as much as how much is spent.
Sources
[1] National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), “Education Expenditures by Country.” Summarizes OECD data; shows U.S. per-student spending ($17k K-12, $36k tertiary) and 6.1 % of GDP. https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/cmd/education-expenditures-by-country
[2] Economic Policy Institute, “Bringing it Back Home: Why State Comparisons Are More Useful than International Comparisons.” Argues international spending comparisons obscure within-U.S. inequality. https://www.epi.org/publication/bringing-it-back-home-why-state-comparisons-are-more-useful-than-international-comparisons-for-improving-u-s-education-policy/
[3] NCES, “PISA 2022 U.S. Results.” Shows U.S. reading ≈ OECD average, math below average despite high spending. https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/pisa/pisa2022/
[4] Freddie deBoer, “Elite Education Journalism: Still Ideology at Its Purest.” Notes U.S. spends more per pupil than nearly any country but still receives criticism for mediocre outcomes. https://freddiedeboer.substack.com/p/elite-education-journalism-still
[5] IES Blog, “Education at a Glance 2023: Putting U.S. Data in a Global Context.” Provides 2020 OECD figures used above and confirms U.S. leads in tertiary spending. https://ies.ed.gov/learn/blog/education-glance-2023-putting-u-s-data-global-context
[6] NCES (primary source data within Education at a Glance). Confirms U.S. high ranking relative to Luxembourg, Switzerland, Norway on per-student expenditures. https://nces.ed.gov/
[7] World Economic Forum, “These Countries Spend the Most on Education.” Notes that some nations (e.g., Brazil, Chile) spend higher shares of GDP even if total dollars are lower. https://www.weforum.org/stories/2019/10/education-spending-highest-school-brazil-chile-italy-mexico/