The states where public school students get the most and least teacher attention, ranked

Vermont was ranked as having the lowest student-to-teacher ratio nationwide.

Paul Bersebach/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images Business Insider ranked nationwide student-to-teacher ratios based on Department of Education data.

The 2022-2023 data shows Arizona had the highest ratio and Vermont had the lowest.

In the US, there are an average of 15.4 students per public school teacher.

How much individual attention a public school student receives from their teacher could depend, in part, on where they live.

Using data from the National Center for Education Statistics, an agency within the Department of Education, Business Insider ranked all 50 states and the District of Columbia by the number of students per public school teacher.

The data — which shows there are about 50 million students and 3.2 million teachers total in the US — covers students from pre-kindergarten to high school during the 2022-2023 school year.

Vermont, which has the fewest students overall and the third-fewest teachers behind Alaska and Wyoming, has the lowest ratio in the US, with an average of 10.5 students per teacher.

Washington, DC, with about 91,000 students and roughly the same number of teachers as Vermont, is second with a ratio of 11.3.

States such as Arizona, California, and Florida, all with seven-figure student populations , have among the highest student-to-teacher ratios, topping out at nearly 23 pupils per teacher.

The nationwide average is 15.4.

A lower student-to-teacher ratio doesn't necessarily correspond with better educational outcomes.

While Vermont public school students have the lowest student-to-teacher ratio, their high school graduation rates rank among the lowest in the nation.

Meanwhile, Alabama and Florida have among the highest student-to-teacher ratios but rank among the top 10 for graduation rates.