Uptime Report Research · K-12 email census

Google Workspace vs Microsoft 365 Schools: Google Runs Email for 76% of US Districts, and Florida Is the Only Microsoft State

The Google Workspace vs Microsoft 365 schools question has a measurable answer. As of November 2026, we checked the public mail (MX) records of every US regular school district website listed in the federal Common Core of Data: of 10,591 districts whose domain receives email, 76% run it on Google Workspace and 15% on Microsoft 365. Google leads in 39 states, Microsoft in 1.

8,097districts on Google Workspace (76%)
1,618districts on Microsoft 365 (15%)
53%of students are in Google districts (Microsoft: 36%)
41%of districts enforce DMARC (quarantine or reject)

Key findings

  1. 8,097 of 10,591 measured US school districts (76%) route email to Google Workspace and 1,618 (15%) to Microsoft 365; 876 (8%) use another provider or their own server.
  2. 39 states are Google states (Google ahead by 10 points or more); Florida is the only Microsoft state, at 52% Microsoft. Maine is the most Google-heavy state at 95%.
  3. Size flips the result: Google has 83% of districts under 500 students but 31% of districts with 25,000 or more, where Microsoft has 52%.
  4. Weighted by enrollment, Google districts teach 53% of students in measured districts and Microsoft districts 36%, a much closer race than the district count.
  5. Small districts are the least protected against spoofing: 29% of districts under 500 students enforce DMARC, against 70% of districts with 25,000 or more.
  6. 69% of district mail domains publish a DMARC record, but only 41% set an enforcing policy (quarantine or reject) and 18% use reject.
  7. Microsoft districts end SPF with a strict -all 67% of the time, Google districts 14%: DMARC enforcement differs much less (51% vs 41%).

Google states and Microsoft states

Each tile shows the share of measured regular districts in that state on Google Workspace (G) and Microsoft 365 (M). A state counts as a Google state or a Microsoft state when one platform leads by 10 percentage points or more, and we only classify states with at least 15 measured districts.

Google ahead by 40+ ptsGoogle ahead by 10 to 39Split (within 10)Microsoft ahead by 10 to 39Microsoft ahead by 40+Under 15 measured

Alaska: 40 of 50 measured districts on Google Workspace (80%), 6 on Microsoft 365 (12%). Google state.AKG 80 M 12Maine: 171 of 180 measured districts on Google Workspace (95%), 2 on Microsoft 365 (1%). Google state.MEG 95 M 1Vermont: 50 of 55 measured districts on Google Workspace (91%), 2 on Microsoft 365 (4%). Google state.VTG 91 M 4New Hampshire: 40 of 46 measured districts on Google Workspace (87%), 3 on Microsoft 365 (7%). Google state.NHG 87 M 7Washington: 97 of 149 measured districts on Google Workspace (65%), 44 on Microsoft 365 (30%). Google state.WAG 65 M 30Idaho: no measurable districtsIDn=0Montana: 203 of 262 measured districts on Google Workspace (77%), 26 on Microsoft 365 (10%). Google state.MTG 77 M 10North Dakota: 25 of 30 measured districts on Google Workspace (83%), 3 on Microsoft 365 (10%). Google state.NDG 83 M 10Minnesota: 220 of 289 measured districts on Google Workspace (76%), 37 on Microsoft 365 (13%). Google state.MNG 76 M 13Illinois: 618 of 730 measured districts on Google Workspace (85%), 64 on Microsoft 365 (9%). Google state.ILG 85 M 9Wisconsin: 364 of 399 measured districts on Google Workspace (91%), 17 on Microsoft 365 (4%). Google state.WIG 91 M 4Michigan: 379 of 460 measured districts on Google Workspace (82%), 62 on Microsoft 365 (13%). Google state.MIG 82 M 13New York: 373 of 600 measured districts on Google Workspace (62%), 133 on Microsoft 365 (22%). Google state.NYG 62 M 22Rhode Island: no measurable districtsRIn=0Massachusetts: 253 of 295 measured districts on Google Workspace (86%), 25 on Microsoft 365 (8%). Google state.MAG 86 M 8Oregon: 121 of 154 measured districts on Google Workspace (79%), 22 on Microsoft 365 (14%). Google state.ORG 79 M 14Nevada: 11 of 16 measured districts on Google Workspace (69%), 3 on Microsoft 365 (19%). Google state.NVG 69 M 19Wyoming: 27 of 44 measured districts on Google Workspace (61%), 8 on Microsoft 365 (18%). Google state.WYG 61 M 18South Dakota: 2 of 11 measured districts on Google Workspace (18%), 2 on Microsoft 365 (18%). Too few measured.SDn=11Iowa: 262 of 298 measured districts on Google Workspace (88%), 10 on Microsoft 365 (3%). Google state.IAG 88 M 3Indiana: 217 of 276 measured districts on Google Workspace (79%), 44 on Microsoft 365 (16%). Google state.ING 79 M 16Ohio: 446 of 523 measured districts on Google Workspace (85%), 38 on Microsoft 365 (7%). Google state.OHG 85 M 7Pennsylvania: 257 of 477 measured districts on Google Workspace (54%), 179 on Microsoft 365 (38%). Google state.PAG 54 M 38New Jersey: 419 of 526 measured districts on Google Workspace (80%), 66 on Microsoft 365 (13%). Google state.NJG 80 M 13Connecticut: 110 of 154 measured districts on Google Workspace (71%), 27 on Microsoft 365 (18%). Google state.CTG 71 M 18California: 635 of 886 measured districts on Google Workspace (72%), 184 on Microsoft 365 (21%). Google state.CAG 72 M 21Utah: 27 of 38 measured districts on Google Workspace (71%), 8 on Microsoft 365 (21%). Google state.UTG 71 M 21Colorado: 127 of 159 measured districts on Google Workspace (80%), 16 on Microsoft 365 (10%). Google state.COG 80 M 10Nebraska: no measurable districtsNEn=0Missouri: 405 of 462 measured districts on Google Workspace (88%), 29 on Microsoft 365 (6%). Google state.MOG 88 M 6Kentucky: 1 of 5 measured districts on Google Workspace (20%), 0 on Microsoft 365 (0%). Too few measured.KYn=5West Virginia: 11 of 19 measured districts on Google Workspace (58%), 1 on Microsoft 365 (5%). Google state.WVG 58 M 5Virginia: 89 of 121 measured districts on Google Workspace (74%), 24 on Microsoft 365 (20%). Google state.VAG 74 M 20Maryland: 9 of 22 measured districts on Google Workspace (41%), 11 on Microsoft 365 (50%). Split.MDG 41 M 50Delaware: 4 of 7 measured districts on Google Workspace (57%), 0 on Microsoft 365 (0%). Too few measured.DEn=7Arizona: 126 of 176 measured districts on Google Workspace (72%), 40 on Microsoft 365 (23%). Google state.AZG 72 M 23New Mexico: 52 of 82 measured districts on Google Workspace (63%), 24 on Microsoft 365 (29%). Google state.NMG 63 M 29Kansas: 225 of 267 measured districts on Google Workspace (84%), 17 on Microsoft 365 (6%). Google state.KSG 84 M 6Arkansas: 151 of 204 measured districts on Google Workspace (74%), 14 on Microsoft 365 (7%). Google state.ARG 74 M 7Tennessee: 65 of 112 measured districts on Google Workspace (58%), 38 on Microsoft 365 (34%). Google state.TNG 58 M 34North Carolina: 86 of 106 measured districts on Google Workspace (81%), 16 on Microsoft 365 (15%). Google state.NCG 81 M 15South Carolina: 34 of 72 measured districts on Google Workspace (47%), 30 on Microsoft 365 (42%). Split.SCG 47 M 42District of Columbia: no measurable districtsDCn=0Oklahoma: 428 of 475 measured districts on Google Workspace (90%), 26 on Microsoft 365 (5%). Google state.OKG 90 M 5Louisiana: no measurable districtsLAn=0Mississippi: 101 of 128 measured districts on Google Workspace (79%), 16 on Microsoft 365 (12%). Google state.MSG 79 M 12Alabama: 86 of 121 measured districts on Google Workspace (71%), 19 on Microsoft 365 (16%). Google state.ALG 71 M 16Georgia: 13 of 22 measured districts on Google Workspace (59%), 4 on Microsoft 365 (18%). Google state.GAG 59 M 18Hawaii: no measurable districtsHIn=0Texas: 662 of 934 measured districts on Google Workspace (71%), 209 on Microsoft 365 (22%). Google state.TXG 71 M 22Florida: 17 of 60 measured districts on Google Workspace (28%), 31 on Microsoft 365 (52%). Microsoft state.FLG 28 M 52

Source: Uptime Report DNS measurement on 2026-11-11 of district website domains from the NCES Common Core of Data LEA directory, SY 2025-26 preliminary. Hover a tile for counts.

The Google states: Maine, Wisconsin, Vermont, Oklahoma, Iowa, Missouri, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Ohio, Illinois, Kansas, North Dakota, Michigan, North Carolina, Alaska, Colorado, New Jersey, Mississippi, Indiana, Oregon, Montana, Minnesota, Arkansas, Virginia, California, Arizona, Connecticut, Alabama, Utah, Texas, Nevada, Washington, New Mexico, New York, Wyoming, Georgia, Tennessee, West Virginia, Pennsylvania. The one Microsoft state: Florida. Split states, where neither platform leads by 10 points: Maryland, South Carolina. 9 jurisdictions cannot be called: the CCD directory lists no district websites for Idaho, Louisiana, Nebraska, Rhode Island; districts in District of Columbia, Kentucky, South Dakota mostly use a shared state domain, which we excluded; Delaware, Hawaii have too few districts with a measurable domain.

State-run school email networks are Microsoft

The districts we excluded for listing a shared state or regional domain point the other way. The statewide K-12 domains for North Dakota, Kentucky, West Virginia, Washington (wednet.edu) and Delaware, and the Bureau of Indian Education’s bie.edu, all route mail to Microsoft 365; South Dakota’s k12.sd.us goes to state servers. Regional service-center domains are mixed.

Shared domain (5+ districts) Regular districts listing it Mail platform (MX)
k12.nd.us 132 Microsoft 365
k12.sd.us 132 Own or state-run servers
kyschools.us 114 Microsoft 365
bie.edu 39 Microsoft 365
wednet.edu 33 Microsoft 365
esc14.net 20 Google Workspace
k12.wv.us 18 Microsoft 365
wnyric.org 10 Own or state-run servers
esc18.net 10 Google Workspace
txed.net 7 Own or state-run servers
esc17.net 7 Microsoft 365
k12.de.us 6 Microsoft 365
eupschools.org 6 Microsoft 365
stier.org 5 No MX
noacsc.org 5 Own or state-run servers

If every district listing a shared domain were counted with that domain’s platform, Google’s national share would be 73% and Microsoft’s 18%, and Kentucky, North Dakota, West Virginia would join Florida as Microsoft states.

Bigger districts lean Microsoft

District counts flatter Google because the US has thousands of very small districts. Split by 2024-25 enrollment from the CCD membership file, Google’s share falls steadily as districts grow.

Google WorkspaceMicrosoft 365Other or own mail server

Under 500Under 500: Google Workspace 2,410 of 2,894 districts (83.3%)83%Under 500: Microsoft 365 273 of 2,894 districts (9.4%)9%Under 500: other or own server 211 of 2,894 districts (7.3%)7%n=2,894500 to 999500 to 999: Google Workspace 1,622 of 1,976 districts (82.1%)82%500 to 999: Microsoft 365 198 of 1,976 districts (10.0%)10%500 to 999: other or own server 156 of 1,976 districts (7.9%)8%n=1,9761,000 to 2,4991,000 to 2,499: Google Workspace 2,040 of 2,625 districts (77.7%)78%1,000 to 2,499: Microsoft 365 380 of 2,625 districts (14.5%)14%1,000 to 2,499: other or own server 205 of 2,625 districts (7.8%)8%n=2,6252,500 to 9,9992,500 to 9,999: Google Workspace 1,661 of 2,351 districts (70.7%)71%2,500 to 9,999: Microsoft 365 482 of 2,351 districts (20.5%)21%2,500 to 9,999: other or own server 208 of 2,351 districts (8.8%)9%n=2,35110,000 to 24,99910,000 to 24,999: Google Workspace 278 of 505 districts (55.0%)55%10,000 to 24,999: Microsoft 365 168 of 505 districts (33.3%)33%10,000 to 24,999: other or own server 59 of 505 districts (11.7%)12%n=50525,000 or more25,000 or more: Google Workspace 68 of 220 districts (30.9%)31%25,000 or more: Microsoft 365 115 of 220 districts (52.3%)52%25,000 or more: other or own server 37 of 220 districts (16.8%)17%n=220

Measured regular districts by total 2024-25 enrollment (CCD membership, Education Unit Total). 10,571 of 10,591 measured districts have an enrollment count.

Among the 100 largest districts by enrollment, 80 have a measurable website domain: 52 use Microsoft 365, 17 Google Workspace and 11 another provider or their own server. That is why the student-weighted split (53% Google, 36% Microsoft) is so much closer than the district split. Size also predicts email authentication: DMARC enforcement climbs from 29% in the smallest band to 70% in the largest.

City, suburb, town, rural and poverty

By locale

CityCity: Google Workspace 371 of 692 districts (53.6%)54%City: Microsoft 365 236 of 692 districts (34.1%)34%City: other or own server 85 of 692 districts (12.3%)12%n=692SuburbSuburb: Google Workspace 1,800 of 2,522 districts (71.4%)71%Suburb: Microsoft 365 511 of 2,522 districts (20.3%)20%Suburb: other or own server 211 of 2,522 districts (8.4%)8%n=2,522TownTown: Google Workspace 1,185 of 1,550 districts (76.5%)76%Town: Microsoft 365 233 of 1,550 districts (15.0%)15%Town: other or own server 132 of 1,550 districts (8.5%)9%n=1,550RuralRural: Google Workspace 4,737 of 5,823 districts (81.3%)81%Rural: Microsoft 365 638 of 5,823 districts (11.0%)11%Rural: other or own server 448 of 5,823 districts (7.7%)n=5,823

NCES EDGE locale code of the district, SY 2024-25.

By child poverty rate

Under 10%Under 10%: Google Workspace 2,958 of 3,793 districts (78.0%)78%Under 10%: Microsoft 365 541 of 3,793 districts (14.3%)14%Under 10%: other or own server 294 of 3,793 districts (7.8%)n=3,79310% to 14.9%10% to 14.9%: Google Workspace 2,011 of 2,605 districts (77.2%)77%10% to 14.9%: Microsoft 365 364 of 2,605 districts (14.0%)14%10% to 14.9%: other or own server 230 of 2,605 districts (8.8%)9%n=2,60515% to 19.9%15% to 19.9%: Google Workspace 1,453 of 1,864 districts (78.0%)78%15% to 19.9%: Microsoft 365 269 of 1,864 districts (14.4%)14%15% to 19.9%: other or own server 142 of 1,864 districts (7.6%)n=1,86420% to 29.9%20% to 29.9%: Google Workspace 1,167 of 1,560 districts (74.8%)75%20% to 29.9%: Microsoft 365 256 of 1,560 districts (16.4%)16%20% to 29.9%: other or own server 137 of 1,560 districts (8.8%)9%n=1,56030% or more30% or more: Google Workspace 331 of 476 districts (69.5%)70%30% or more: Microsoft 365 100 of 476 districts (21.0%)21%30% or more: other or own server 45 of 476 districts (9.5%)9%n=476

Census SAIPE 2024: share of relevant children 5 to 17 in poverty. 10,298 measured districts matched.

Google WorkspaceMicrosoft 365Other or own mail server

Locale tracks size: 81% of rural districts use Google against 54% of city districts, where Microsoft reaches 34%. Google’s share is 78% in districts under 10% child poverty and 70% in districts at 30% or more. DMARC enforcement does vary with poverty: 45% of the lowest-poverty districts enforce it against 31% of the highest-poverty districts.

DMARC by provider: who actually blocks spoofed mail

DMARC tells receiving mail servers what to do with mail that fails authentication for a domain. A policy of p=none only reports; quarantine and reject stop spoofed messages. School domains are a common sender name in phishing aimed at parents and staff, which our phishing statistics report tracks. Results here are aggregates by provider; we do not name districts.

No DMARC recordp=none (monitor only)p=quarantinep=reject

Google, MX points to GoogleGoogle, MX points to Google: No DMARC record 2,482 of 7,676 (32.3%)32%Google, MX points to Google: p=none (monitor only) 2,084 of 7,676 (27.1%)27%Google, MX points to Google: p=quarantine 1,728 of 7,676 (22.5%)23%Google, MX points to Google: p=reject 1,382 of 7,676 (18.0%)18%n=7,676Google behind a filtering gatewayGoogle behind a filtering gateway: No DMARC record 48 of 421 (11.4%)11%Google behind a filtering gateway: p=none (monitor only) 157 of 421 (37.3%)37%Google behind a filtering gateway: p=quarantine 120 of 421 (28.5%)29%Google behind a filtering gateway: p=reject 96 of 421 (22.8%)23%n=421Microsoft, MX points to MicrosoftMicrosoft, MX points to Microsoft: No DMARC record 347 of 1,321 (26.3%)26%Microsoft, MX points to Microsoft: p=none (monitor only) 306 of 1,321 (23.2%)23%Microsoft, MX points to Microsoft: p=quarantine 414 of 1,321 (31.3%)31%Microsoft, MX points to Microsoft: p=reject 254 of 1,321 (19.2%)19%n=1,321Microsoft behind a filtering gatewayMicrosoft behind a filtering gateway: No DMARC record 33 of 297 (11.1%)11%Microsoft behind a filtering gateway: p=none (monitor only) 114 of 297 (38.4%)38%Microsoft behind a filtering gateway: p=quarantine 73 of 297 (24.6%)25%Microsoft behind a filtering gateway: p=reject 77 of 297 (25.9%)26%n=297Other or own serverOther or own server: No DMARC record 410 of 876 (46.8%)47%Other or own server: p=none (monitor only) 216 of 876 (24.7%)25%Other or own server: p=quarantine 121 of 876 (13.8%)14%Other or own server: p=reject 129 of 876 (14.7%)15%n=876

Share of measured district mail domains by DMARC policy at the organizational domain. “Behind a filtering gateway” means the MX points to a security gateway and the platform was inferred from SPF.

69% of Google districts and 77% of Microsoft districts publish DMARC; 41% and 51% enforce it. Districts that run a filtering gateway in front of their platform (995 in total; the most common are Barracuda (358), Mimecast (171), Proofpoint (117)) are the most likely to have a DMARC record. SPF differs more: 67% of Microsoft districts end their SPF record with -all (fail), against 14% of Google districts, which mostly use ~all (soft fail). Compare these with the wider DMARC adoption statistics across US companies, banks and .gov domains.

State table

Click a column header to sort. “Districts” is the count of open regular districts in the CCD directory; “Measured” is those whose website domain has working MX records after shared state and vendor domains are dropped. Security columns are suppressed where fewer than 10 districts were measured.

State Districts Measured Google Microsoft Other Students in Google districts DMARC record DMARC enforced SPF -all Lean
Maine 253 180 95% 1% 4% 90% 72% 34% 12% Google state
Vermont 130 55 91% 4% 5% 88% 56% 31% 13% Google state
Wisconsin 420 399 91% 4% 5% 87% 75% 46% 16% Google state
Oklahoma 506 475 90% 5% 4% 72% 33% 12% 8% Google state
Iowa 325 298 88% 3% 9% 76% 71% 44% 22% Google state
Missouri 518 462 88% 6% 6% 74% 64% 36% 10% Google state
New Hampshire 181 46 87% 7% 7% 56% 54% 35% 15% Google state
Ohio 619 523 85% 7% 7% 79% 61% 27% 16% Google state
Kansas 285 267 84% 6% 9% 57% 63% 36% 12% Google state
Massachusetts 323 295 86% 8% 6% 75% 80% 45% 21% Google state
Illinois 855 730 85% 9% 7% 82% 60% 33% 16% Google state
North Dakota 168 30 83% 10% 7% 23% 23% 10% 10% Google state
Colorado 178 159 80% 10% 10% 60% 64% 33% 14% Google state
Michigan 536 460 82% 13% 4% 70% 79% 47% 25% Google state
Alaska 52 50 80% 12% 8% 34% 76% 58% 26% Google state
Montana 389 262 77% 10% 13% 71% 64% 42% 14% Google state
Arkansas 233 204 74% 7% 19% 76% 61% 48% 12% Google state
New Jersey 559 526 80% 13% 8% 65% 73% 47% 20% Google state
Mississippi 138 128 79% 12% 9% 74% 49% 34% 24% Google state
North Carolina 121 106 81% 15% 4% 58% 86% 72% 40% Google state
Oregon 172 154 79% 14% 7% 63% 73% 47% 35% Google state
Minnesota 329 289 76% 13% 11% 67% 71% 42% 18% Google state
Indiana 291 276 79% 16% 5% 67% 78% 47% 19% Google state
Delaware 19 7 57% 0% 43% 68% n<10 n<10 n<10 Too few measured
Alabama 140 121 71% 16% 13% 61% 60% 42% 17% Google state
Connecticut 168 154 71% 18% 11% 61% 77% 40% 21% Google state
Virginia 131 121 74% 20% 7% 40% 77% 48% 31% Google state
West Virginia 55 19 58% 5% 37% 72% 5% 0% 11% Google state
California 987 886 72% 21% 8% 51% 70% 46% 31% Google state
Nevada 17 16 69% 19% 12% 8% 56% 31% 31% Google state
Utah 41 38 71% 21% 8% 70% 76% 58% 34% Google state
Arizona 223 176 72% 23% 6% 62% 64% 26% 18% Google state
Texas 1,022 934 71% 22% 7% 38% 80% 62% 31% Google state
Wyoming 48 44 61% 18% 20% 51% 73% 32% 27% Google state
Georgia 180 22 59% 18% 23% 63% 59% 32% 18% Google state
New York 716 600 62% 22% 16% 52% 82% 39% 36% Google state
Washington 298 149 65% 30% 5% 37% 74% 47% 43% Google state
New Mexico 89 82 63% 29% 7% 68% 59% 34% 34% Google state
Tennessee 141 112 58% 34% 8% 27% 62% 41% 38% Google state
Kentucky 171 5 20% 0% 80% 80% n<10 n<10 n<10 Too few measured
Pennsylvania 500 477 54% 38% 9% 52% 75% 43% 35% Google state
South Carolina 75 72 47% 42% 11% 49% 79% 60% 43% Split
South Dakota 147 11 18% 18% 64% 5% 27% 9% 45% Too few measured
Maryland 24 22 41% 50% 9% 26% 82% 45% 59% Split
Florida 67 60 28% 52% 20% 12% 80% 57% 50% Microsoft state
District of Columbia 1 0 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a Too few measured
Hawaii 1 0 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a Too few measured
Idaho 115 0 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a Too few measured
Louisiana 69 0 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a Too few measured
Nebraska 244 0 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a Too few measured
Rhode Island 36 0 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a Too few measured

Cost and what the platforms offer schools

Both vendors give a free tier to qualifying schools. Google lists Workspace for Education Fundamentals at no cost, with 100 TB of pooled storage, and Education Plus at $6.00 per user per year. Microsoft donates Office 365 A1 (web apps) at no cost and lists Office 365 A3 at $3.25 per faculty user and $2.50 per student user per month. Because both entry tiers cost nothing, the free tier alone cannot separate the two; DNS records show which platform a district picked, not why. For the wider business market, see our Microsoft 365 market share census.

What this means for MSPs and district IT teams

An MSP selling into K-12 should expect Google tenants in most small and rural districts and Microsoft tenants in most large ones, then check the state: in Maine 95% of measured districts are on Google, while in Florida 52% are on Microsoft. The quickest security win is DMARC: 27% of districts already publish p=none and receive reports, so moving them to quarantine is mainly a matter of authorizing every legitimate sender those reports reveal. School platforms are the usual ones: of 9,411 measured district domains with a single SPF record, 1,356 authorize SchoolMessenger, 662 Blackboard’s notification service, 534 Infinite Campus and 428 Gaggle. For Google districts, tightening SPF from ~all to -all after an inventory is a second low-cost step.

Frequently asked questions

Do schools use Google Workspace?

Most US public school districts do. Of 10,591 regular school districts whose website domain receives email, 8,097 (76%) route it to Google Workspace, including 421 that put a filtering gateway in front of Google. 1,618 (15%) use Microsoft 365.

Why do schools use Google instead of Microsoft?

Our data cannot measure motives, but it shows where Google wins: small and rural districts. Google handles mail for 83% of districts with under 500 students and 81% of rural districts, against 31% of districts with 25,000 or more students. Google lists Education Fundamentals at no cost for qualifying institutions; Microsoft donates Office 365 A1 at no cost.

Is Google Workspace as good as Microsoft 365 for schools?

Both run school email at scale; on email authentication, Microsoft districts are somewhat ahead. 69% of Google districts publish a DMARC record and 41% enforce it, against 77% and 51% of Microsoft districts. Microsoft districts are far more likely to end SPF with a strict -all (67% vs 14%).

Do large school districts use Microsoft 365 or Google?

Larger districts lean Microsoft. Among the 100 largest districts by 2024-25 enrollment with a measurable domain (80), 52 use Microsoft 365 and 17 use Google Workspace. Weighted by students, Google districts enroll 53% of students in measured districts and Microsoft districts 36%.

Which states use Microsoft 365 in schools?

Only Florida has a Microsoft lead of at least 10 points among measured districts (Florida: 52% Microsoft). The statewide school domains of North Dakota, Kentucky, West Virginia and Washington also run on Microsoft 365. 39 states lean Google by 10 points or more, led by Maine (95%).

Download the data. google-workspace-vs-microsoft-365-school-districts-2026.csv (CSV). Licensed under CC BY 4.0: free to reuse with attribution to The Uptime Report.

Free to cite and republish with a link to this page. The CSV holds aggregates only (national, provider, enrollment band, locale, poverty band and state); it contains no per-district results.

Methodology

Universe. NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) local education agency directory, SY 2025-26 preliminary file (ccd_lea_029_2526_w_0a_050626). We kept regular public school districts (agency types 1 and 2) whose status is not closed, inactive or future: 13,489 districts. Independent charter agencies are reported only as a comparison line in the CSV.

Domain rule. From the WEBSITE field we removed the scheme, path, port and a leading www, then reduced the host to its registrable domain with the Public Suffix List (so district.k12.mn.us stays district.k12.mn.us). We dropped 1,877 districts: 1,203 list no website (the directory carries no district websites at all for Idaho, Louisiana, Nebraska and Rhode Island, and few for Georgia and New Hampshire; where the 2025-26 field was blank but the SY 2024-25 directory had a website for the same LEAID, we used it, which applied to 6 districts), 72 list a website builder or vendor host (for example sites.google.com or a school CMS), and 602 list a state or regional shared domain (k12.sd.us, k12.nd.us, kyschools.us, k12.wv.us, wednet.edu, Texas service center domains, the Bureau of Indian Education domain and similar, any domain spanning several states or shared by several districts with a service agency, and town or state .gov names). Domains shared by districts in one supervisory union or school union are kept, and each member district gets that domain’s result. A further 956 district domains have no usable MX record, and 65 could not be resolved after retries; neither group is in the shares.

DNS checks. For each of 14,985 domains we made passive DNS queries only: MX, the apex TXT record (SPF), and _dmarc TXT, through Google Public DNS over HTTPS with at most 5 concurrent queries and about 20 queries a second, with failures retried through Cloudflare’s resolver. Queries ran on 2026-11-11 (UTC). No websites or mail servers were contacted.

Provider rule. The lowest-preference MX hosts decide: *.mail.protection.outlook.com is Microsoft 365; aspmx.l.google.com, googlemail.com or smtp.google.com is Google Workspace. When the MX is a filtering gateway (Proofpoint, Mimecast, Barracuda, Cisco and others), the platform behind it is inferred from SPF includes (spf.protection.outlook.com or _spf.google.com, following up to 8 nested includes) or, when SPF names both or neither, from a Microsoft domain-verification TXT token. Everything else, including on-premises servers and regional hosts, is “other or own server”.

DMARC and SPF. DMARC policy is the p= tag of the single v=DMARC1 record at _dmarc.domain; “enforced” means quarantine or reject (pct= is ignored). A missing record or more than one record counts as no valid DMARC. SPF qualifier is the qualifier on the all mechanism of a single v=spf1 record.

Joins. Enrollment: CCD LEA membership SY 2024-25 v1a, Education Unit Total; summed across all agencies it gives 49.59 million students, against 49.52 million for fall 2023 in NCES Digest table 203.20, a check that the file was read correctly. Locale: NCES EDGE public LEA geocodes SY 2024-25 (first digit of LOCALE). Poverty: Census SAIPE 2024 school district estimates, estimated relevant children 5 to 17 in poverty divided by relevant children 5 to 17, joined on state FIPS plus district ID.

Limitations. The website domain is not always the mail domain; a district that publishes its site on one domain and sends mail from another is measured on the website domain or, if that has no MX, left out. Student accounts sometimes sit on a separate subdomain or platform from staff mail. MX records show where inbound mail is delivered, not every product a district licenses: many Google districts also license Microsoft Office, and the reverse. In states where many districts use a shared state domain (North Dakota, South Dakota, Kentucky, West Virginia, Washington), the measured districts are the minority that run their own domain, so those state shares describe that minority. Data are as of the query date and can change at any time.

Not advice. This is a measurement of public DNS configuration, not a security assessment of any district.

Cite as:The Uptime Report. "Google Workspace vs Microsoft 365 Schools: Google Runs Email for 76% of US Districts, and Florida Is the Only Microsoft State." November 2026. https://theuptimereport.com/google-workspace-vs-microsoft-365-schools/

References

  1. NCES Common Core of Data, data files (LEA directory SY 2025-26 preliminary; LEA membership SY 2024-25). Accessed November 2026.
  2. NCES EDGE, public school district geocodes and locale, SY 2024-25. Accessed November 2026.
  3. US Census Bureau, Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates, 2024 school district estimates (ussd24.xls). Accessed November 2026.
  4. Google Public DNS, JSON API for DNS over HTTPS. Accessed November 2026.
  5. Google for Education, compare Workspace for Education editions. Accessed November 2026.
  6. Microsoft Education, Office 365 Education plans. Accessed November 2026.
  7. IETF RFC 7489, Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance (DMARC). Accessed November 2026.
  8. NCES Digest of Education Statistics, table 203.20 (enrollment cross-check). Accessed November 2026.

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Threats and breaches

Infrastructure and uptime

Regulation and disclosure

Workforce and pay

MSP market and spending

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