How many electric school buses are on the road in the United States
How many electric school buses are on the road in the United States. More than 8,500, the World Resources Institute Electric School Bus Initiative reports, the group that tracks the national fleet directly, with data through June 2026. That is up from just over 5,100 running at the same time a year earlier, an increase of about 67%, a calculation performed for this article from the 2 figures the initiative reported directly, not a percentage the initiative published itself.
The World Resources Institute Electric School Bus Initiative states these as more than 8,500 and just over 5,100. The chart plots the plain numbers, and the body text keeps the more than and just over language.
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| Operating, mid 2025 | 5,100 |
| Operating, mid 2026 | 8,500 |
Another 14,146 electric school buses are committed but not yet delivered, spread across 49 states, Washington DC, 4 United States territories and more than 20 Tribal Nations. 1,560 school districts, serving more than 15 million students, have now committed to at least 1 electric bus, up from just 303 districts in 2020, and more than 380,000 students ride 1 to school every day. Within that total, 236 Priority Outreach Districts account for more than 3,400 of the committed buses, and committed buses sit in high diversity districts 86% of the time and in high poverty districts 62% of the time.
Where the buses are already running
California operates more electric school buses than any other state, 2,265, followed by New York with 559, Maryland with 362, Virginia with 345 and Illinois with 331, the initiative reports.
Show the numbers
| California | 2,265 |
| New York | 559 |
| Maryland | 362 |
| Virginia | 345 |
| Illinois | 331 |
The cost gap and the payoff
The buses still cost more up front. A Type C electric school bus averaged 376,000 dollars in 2025, compared with 140,000 to 170,000 dollars for a comparable diesel bus doing the same job, the initiative reports.
The initiative gives the diesel figure as a range, 140,000 to 170,000 dollars, not a single number, so both ends are plotted as their own bars rather than averaged into 1, since averaging a stated range would invent a precision the source does not claim.
Show the numbers
| Electric, Type C, 2025 average | 376 |
| Diesel, low end, 2025 | 140 |
| Diesel, high end, 2025 | 170 |
Sue Gander, the initiative director, points to the payoff beyond the sticker price.
In every region of the country, North, South, East and West, communities stand to see real, significant benefits from the cleaner air and reduced emissions.
Sue Gander, Director, World Resources Institute Electric School Bus Initiative. Source 3.
Matt Berlin, chief executive of New York City School Bus Umbrella Services, ties that same payoff to the people riding and driving the buses every day.
Investing in electric school buses means making the bus ride for kids and bus attendants and drivers on the bus quieter and healthier.
Matt Berlin, Chief executive, New York City School Bus Umbrella Services. Source 3.
Separate modeling by the World Resources Institute and Carleton University puts the national health and climate benefit of switching every one of the roughly 500,000 school buses in the country to electric at 1,600,000,000 dollars a year, concentrated most heavily in New York, California, Florida and Texas, with nearly every county gaining at least 509,000 dollars a year. About 90% of those buses still run on diesel.
A federal program under review
The federal Clean School Bus Program is authorized for 5,000,000,000 dollars from fiscal year 2022 through fiscal year 2026, and has already paid out nearly 1,000,000,000 dollars to 389 school districts in a 2022 rebate round, nearly 1,000,000,000 dollars in a 2023 grant round and nearly 900,000,000 dollars in a 2023 rebate round, the Environmental Protection Agency reports. Separately, the program has purchased 8,500 buses in total across its first 3 funding rounds, about 90% of them battery electric, a past federal tally that happens to share a number with the current operating count above but measures something different, buses ordered through 1 program over an earlier period rather than buses actually running on roads today.
The Environmental Protection Agency is now weighing whether to open the remaining 2,000,000,000 dollars in program funds to natural gas, biofuel and hydrogen buses instead of reserving it for zero emission ones, after Republican lawmakers criticized the cost of the program. Federal law still requires at least 50% of program funds to go to zero emission buses, so growth in electric school buses is set to keep going even if that review changes where the rest of the money goes.