California high-speed rail costs about $255 million per mile, several times other projects

What this chart asks

How does California high-speed rail's cost per mile compare with other projects?

Why it is shown this way

• One bar per project on a zero baseline.

Data and accessibility

Download chart data · Open accessible table · Download PNG · Download SVG

Dataset ca-peer-spending-results, analysis rail-cost-per-mile

Sources

This chart draws on the sources of the dataset versions it visualizes.

California vs. Texas, Florida, New York and the U.S.: spending and results, 2012-2025

1. NASBO State Expenditure Report, Fiscal 2011-2013, Table 1 (mirror at prisonpolicy.org) FY2012 total state expenditures (capital inclusive), divided by 2012 ACS population (FactHub calculation).

   Retrieved October 30, 2026. Public agency document. Figures only; linked, not rehosted.

   Reliability: Other. National Association of State Budget Officers; standardized state spending survey, all funds including federal. Read via a third-party mirror.

2. KFF State Health Facts, Per Capita State Spending (from NASBO State Expenditure Report FY2023-25) SFY2024 total state spending per resident.

   Retrieved October 30, 2026. Third-party compilation. Figures only; linked, not rehosted.

   Reliability: Other. KFF adjusts NASBO figures; not identical in method to the raw FY2012 NASBO totals.

3. Tax Foundation, State and Local Tax Collections Per Capita by State, 2026 (May 11, 2026) FY2023 state and local tax collections per resident, from Census Annual Survey of State and Local Government Finances.

   Retrieved October 30, 2026. Third-party compilation. Figures only; linked, not rehosted.

   Reliability: Advocacy group. Market-oriented think tank compiling Census data; per-resident collections include taxes paid by businesses and nonresidents and are not shares of income.

4. HUD Continuum of Care Homeless Populations and Subpopulations reports, by state, 2015 and 2025 Total and unsheltered point-in-time counts by state; rates per 10,000 are FactHub calculations using Census population estimates.

   Retrieved October 30, 2026. Public agency document. Figures only; linked, not rehosted.

   Reliability: Government. Federal compilation of local one-night counts; methods vary by community and counts likely understate homelessness. Figures transcribed from PDF tables (same URL pattern for TX, FL, NY and the national file).

5. Census Building Permits Survey via FRED (CABPPRIV, TXBPPRIV, FLBPPRIV, NYBPPRIV, PERMITNSA) and Census population (CAPOP etc.) Annual average new private housing units authorized per 1,000 residents, 2010-2025 (FactHub calculation).

   Retrieved October 30, 2026. Public agency document. Figures only; linked, not rehosted.

   Reliability: Government. Permits count authorizations, not completions; monthly state figures include Census imputation.

6. U.S. Census Bureau, 2024 Annual Survey of School System Finances release (May 7, 2026) and state table reproductions FY2024 current spending per pupil: U.S., New York and Mississippi from the Census release; California, Texas and Florida from secondary reproductions of Census summary tables.

   Retrieved October 30, 2026. Public agency document. Figures only; linked, not rehosted.

   Reliability: Government. Not adjusted for inflation or cost-of-living differences between areas.

7. U.S. Census Bureau, Public Education Finances 2013 (release CB15-98, June 2, 2015), as reproduced by Ballotpedia FY2013 current spending per pupil.

   Retrieved October 30, 2026. Public agency document. Figures only; linked, not rehosted.

   Reliability: Government. Census figures read through a reproduction of Table 20; California's figure matches contemporary news coverage.

8. NCES, NAEP State Snapshot Reports, 2013 and 2024 Average scale scores for public school students, grades 4 and 8, reading and math (other states' PDFs follow the same naming pattern).

   Retrieved October 30, 2026. Public agency document. Figures only; linked, not rehosted.

   Reliability: Government. Changes from 2013 to 2024 were not all tested for statistical significance; NCES compares 2024 with 2022 and the first assessment year.

9. Urban Institute, States' Demographically Adjusted Performance on the 2022 Nation's Report Card (Dec. 4, 2024) Average rank across four NAEP tests after adjusting for student demographics.

   Retrieved October 30, 2026. Research report. Figures only; linked, not rehosted.

   Reliability: Academic. Adjusts for age, gender, race, poverty, special education and English-learner status; 2024 ranks were not extracted.

10. MACPAC MACStats, Medicaid Spending by State, FY2013 (March 2014, Table 6) and FY2024 (January 2026, Exhibit 16) Total Medicaid spending by state; real growth computed by FactHub with CPI-U.

    Retrieved October 30, 2026. Public agency document. Figures only; linked, not rehosted.

    Reliability: Government. Congressional advisory commission using CMS-64 data; California and New York expanded Medicaid under the ACA, Texas and Florida did not.

11. KFF, Medicaid Spending per Full-Benefit Enrollee, 2024 (preliminary) Spending per full-benefit enrollee by state.

    Retrieved October 30, 2026. Third-party compilation. Figures only; linked, not rehosted.

    Reliability: Other. Preliminary T-MSIS-based estimates; excludes drug rebates and most supplemental payments.

12. U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 1-year, Table S2701 (2013 and 2025) Percent uninsured by state.

    Retrieved October 30, 2026. Public agency document. Figures only; linked, not rehosted.

    Reliability: Government. Survey estimates with margins of error of about 0.1-0.2 points.

13. Legislative Analyst's Office handout, High-Speed Rail Draft 2026 Business Plan (Senate Transportation Committee, April 27, 2026) Phase I cost estimate of $126 billion for the ~494-mile system; FactHub divides to get cost per mile.

    Retrieved October 30, 2026. Public agency document. Figures only; linked, not rehosted.

    Reliability: Government. Nonpartisan legislative analyst summarizing the Authority's draft plan.

14. Texas Tribune, Texas high-speed rail planning grant cut (April 14, 2025) Texas Central estimated cost of more than $30 billion for roughly 240 miles (length approximate).

    Retrieved October 30, 2026. News article. Figures only; linked, not rehosted.

    Reliability: News report. News report; USDOT put the cost above $40 billion, which would raise the per-mile figure.

15. ENR, Brightline West costs rise 35% (Oct. 10, 2025) Brightline West reported cost of about $21.5 billion for 218 miles.

    Retrieved October 30, 2026. News article. Figures only; linked, not rehosted.

    Reliability: News report. Trade-press figure not confirmed by the company.

16. Skift, Brightline opens $6 billion Florida rail line (Sept. 22, 2023) Brightline Florida cost of about $6 billion for 235 miles at up to 125 mph.

    Retrieved October 30, 2026. News article. Figures only; linked, not rehosted.

    Reliability: News report. Brightline is not true high-speed rail and partly uses an existing freight corridor; its parent companies filed for Chapter 11 in September 2026.

17. World Bank, Cost of high speed rail in China one third lower than in other countries (July 10, 2014) Typical infrastructure unit costs: China $17-21 million per km, Europe $25-39 million per km; FactHub converts midpoints to per-mile.

    Retrieved October 30, 2026. Public agency document. Figures only; linked, not rehosted.

    Reliability: Intergovernmental. 2014 dollars, not adjusted; infrastructure cost only.

Limitations

• Different years, currencies and project types; not inflation-adjusted.
• Brightline Florida runs at 125 mph and is not true high-speed rail.