Illinois School Districts: Enrollment & Teacher Data
Illinois runs 849 public school districts — more than almost any other state. This page puts all of them in one sortable table: enrollment, number of schools, teacher counts, and pupil-teacher ratios, compiled from federal NCES Common Core of Data files. Sort by any column, search by name or county, or download the full dataset as a CSV.
The 10 Largest Districts in Illinois
Chicago Public Schools dwarfs everything else in the state — it enrolls roughly ten times as many students as the next-largest district. Outside Chicago, the biggest systems cluster in the collar counties and the Rockford and Elgin areas.
| # | District | County | Enrollment | Schools | Pupil-Teacher |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chicago Public Schools DIST 299 | Cook | 322,774 | 643 | 13.9:1 |
| 2 | SD U-46 | Kane | 34,548 | 56 | 15.3:1 |
| 3 | Rockford SD 205 | Winnebago | 27,661 | 45 | 17.3:1 |
| 4 | Indian Prairie CUSD 204 | DuPage | 25,947 | 34 | 14.5:1 |
| 5 | Plainfield SD 202 | Will | 24,669 | 31 | 14.9:1 |
| 6 | CUSD 300 | McHenry | 20,481 | 29 | 14.3:1 |
| 7 | CUSD 308 | Kendall | 16,834 | 22 | 15.8:1 |
| 8 | Naperville CUSD 203 | DuPage | 16,036 | 22 | 13.7:1 |
| 9 | Schaumburg CCSD 54 | Cook | 15,074 | 28 | 12.3:1 |
| 10 | Valley View CUSD 365U | Will | 14,847 | 20 | 12.4:1 |
Lowest Pupil-Teacher Ratios (Districts with 1,000+ Students)
A low pupil-teacher ratio means more licensed teachers per student — often a proxy for smaller classes and more specialist staff. Among mid-size and large districts, these ten have the most teachers per student in the state:
| # | District | County | Pupil-Teacher | Enrollment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | La Grange SD 105 South | Cook | 9.3:1 | 1,194 |
| 2 | Evanston CCSD 65 | Cook | 9.8:1 | 6,256 |
| 3 | Lake Forest SD 67 | Lake | 9.9:1 | 1,657 |
| 4 | Northbrook SD 28 | Cook | 10.0:1 | 1,850 |
| 5 | Mannheim SD 83 | Cook | 10.2:1 | 2,341 |
| 6 | Will County SD 92 | Will | 10.2:1 | 1,432 |
| 7 | CCSD 62 | Cook | 10.2:1 | 4,475 |
| 8 | Skokie SD 73-5 | Cook | 10.2:1 | 1,050 |
| 9 | Northbrook/Glenview SD 30 | Cook | 10.2:1 | 1,247 |
| 10 | Keeneyville SD 20 | DuPage | 10.3:1 | 1,326 |
Pupil-teacher ratio counts all licensed teachers (including specialists), so it runs lower than typical class size. Job seekers: districts with low ratios and rising enrollment tend to hire steadily — see the teaching job outlook for what roles are growing.
All 849 Illinois Districts
| Chicago Public Schools DIST 299 | Cook | 322,774 | 643 | 23,235 | 13.9:1 |
| SD U-46 | Kane | 34,548 | 56 | 2,254 | 15.3:1 |
| Rockford SD 205 | Winnebago | 27,661 | 45 | 1,601 | 17.3:1 |
| Indian Prairie CUSD 204 | DuPage | 25,947 | 34 | 1,793 | 14.5:1 |
| Plainfield SD 202 | Will | 24,669 | 31 | 1,660 | 14.9:1 |
| CUSD 300 | McHenry | 20,481 | 29 | 1,429 | 14.3:1 |
| CUSD 308 | Kendall | 16,834 | 22 | 1,066 | 15.8:1 |
| Naperville CUSD 203 | DuPage | 16,036 | 22 | 1,170 | 13.7:1 |
| Schaumburg CCSD 54 | Cook | 15,074 | 28 | 1,226 | 12.3:1 |
| Valley View CUSD 365U | Will | 14,847 | 20 | 1,196 | 12.4:1 |
| Waukegan CUSD 60 | Lake | 13,666 | 22 | 909 | 15.0:1 |
| Springfield SD 186 | Sangamon | 12,870 | 35 | 999 | 12.9:1 |
| Peoria SD 150 | Peoria | 12,713 | 32 | 860 | 14.8:1 |
| Mclean County USD 5 | McLean | 12,518 | 26 | 885 | 14.1:1 |
| Aurora East USD 131 | Kane | 12,260 | 20 | 813 | 15.1:1 |
| Township HSD 211 | Cook | 12,256 | 7 | 828 | 14.8:1 |
| Township HSD 214 | Cook | 12,102 | 10 | 776 | 15.6:1 |
| St Charles CUSD 303 | Kane | 11,699 | 18 | 890 | 13.2:1 |
| CUSD 200 | DuPage | 11,632 | 20 | 858 | 13.6:1 |
| Palatine CCSD 15 | Cook | 11,184 | 20 | 824 | 13.6:1 |
| Aurora West USD 129 | Kane | 11,035 | 17 | 781 | 14.1:1 |
| Champaign CUSD 4 | Champaign | 10,357 | 20 | 786 | 13.2:1 |
| Joliet PSD 86 | Will | 9,448 | 22 | 646 | 14.6:1 |
| Cicero SD 99 | Cook | 8,598 | 15 | 594 | 14.5:1 |
| Huntley Comm SCH DIST 158 | McHenry | 8,505 | 9 | 602 | 14.2:1 |
| Elmhurst SD 205 | DuPage | 8,328 | 13 | 613 | 13.6:1 |
| Barrington CUSD 220 | Cook | 8,025 | 12 | 593 | 13.5:1 |
| J S Morton HSD 201 | Cook | 8,009 | 4 | 484 | 16.6:1 |
| Decatur SD 61 | Macon | 7,827 | 16 | 410 | 19.1:1 |
| Glenbard Township HSD 87 | DuPage | 7,747 | 4 | 475 | 16.3:1 |
| Cons HSD 230 | Cook | 7,717 | 3 | 509 | 15.2:1 |
| Belvidere CUSD 100 | Boone | 7,472 | 11 | 560 | 13.3:1 |
| Moline-Coal Valley CUSD 40 | Rock Island | 7,240 | 15 | 447 | 16.2:1 |
| Edwardsville CUSD 7 | Madison | 7,211 | 15 | 442 | 16.3:1 |
| Yorkville CUSD 115 | Kendall | 7,119 | 11 | 449 | 15.8:1 |
| Joliet Township HSD 204 | Will | 6,819 | 4 | 371 | 18.4:1 |
| Lincoln Way CHSD 210 | Will | 6,750 | 3 | 395 | 17.1:1 |
| Dekalb CUSD 428 | DeKalb | 6,715 | 12 | 468 | 14.4:1 |
| Quincy SD 172 | Adams | 6,276 | 9 | 388 | 16.2:1 |
| Evanston CCSD 65 | Cook | 6,256 | 17 | 641 | 9.8:1 |
| Harlem UD 122 | Winnebago | 6,254 | 11 | 450 | 13.9:1 |
| Maine Township HSD 207 | Cook | 6,209 | 4 | 400 | 15.5:1 |
| Rock Island SD 41 | Rock Island | 6,206 | 14 | 411 | 15.1:1 |
| Wheeling CCSD 21 | Cook | 6,205 | 13 | 482 | 12.9:1 |
| Round Lake CUSD 116 | Lake | 6,189 | 11 | 518 | 11.9:1 |
| Woodstock CUSD 200 | McHenry | 6,123 | 12 | 410 | 14.9:1 |
| Collinsville CUSD 10 | Madison | 5,966 | 12 | 434 | 13.8:1 |
| Comm Cons SD 59 | Cook | 5,869 | 15 | 520 | 11.3:1 |
| Granite City CUSD 9 | Madison | 5,773 | 9 | 354 | 16.3:1 |
| Lake Zurich CUSD 95 | Lake | 5,703 | 8 | 414 | 13.8:1 |
Methodology & Source
District rosters, enrollment, and school counts come from the U.S. Department of Education's NCES Common Core of Data (CCD). Teacher full-time-equivalent (FTE) counts, pupil-teacher ratios, paraprofessional and counselor counts come from the CCD staffing collection (2024 files, the most recent available). Data was last refreshed 2026-07-03. A few very small or reorganized districts lack staffing records and show a dash. Details on how we handle all data on this site are on the data sources page.
Reuse this data freely — it's public federal data, cleaned and joined: illinois-school-districts.csv. If you publish something with it, a link back here is appreciated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many school districts does Illinois have?
Illinois has 849 operating public school districts in the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Common Core of Data — one of the highest counts of any state. They are split among unified K-12 districts, elementary-only districts, and high-school-only districts, a structure that dates back over a century.
What is the largest school district in Illinois?
Chicago Public Schools (District 299) is by far the largest, with over 320,000 students — roughly ten times the size of the second-largest district, School District U-46 in Elgin (about 35,000 students).
What is a good pupil-teacher ratio?
The national public school average is roughly 15-16 students per teacher. Ratios in Illinois districts range from under 10:1 in some small rural districts to over 20:1. Note that pupil-teacher ratio is not the same as class size — it counts all licensed teachers, including specialists who do not lead a classroom.
Where does this data come from?
District names, enrollment, and school counts come from the NCES Common Core of Data (CCD), the federal government's official listing of public schools. Teacher FTE counts, pupil-teacher ratios, paraprofessional and counselor counts come from the CCD staffing files (2024 collection). You can download the full dataset as a CSV on this page.