Public schooling is best in these US cities
When people are looking to buy a house, one of the first questions they ask is about the public schools in the community. In fact, for 18% of homebuyers, the quality of the school district is a key factor in a purchasing decision, according to a 2024 National Association of Realtors survey.
For people in the age ranges most likely to have school-age children, it's even more important: 27% of buyers ages 25 to 33 and 37% of buyers ages 34 to 43 consider school quality an important factor, the survey found.
It stands to reason that access to good public schools is extremely valuable. The average annual tuition for a private school is $12,790 per student, according to the Education Data Initiative. So paying even tens of thousands of dollars more for a house with top-notch public education can be similar in total costs to buying a cheaper house in a lesser district while paying for private education.
With this in mind, Stacker used data from Niche to look at the 25 cities with the best school districts in the United States. To identify the leading cities, Niche used their individual public schools ranking data, weighted based on their student populations. The overall Niche grade is also included, which scores the city more generally as a place to live.
Of the top 25 districts in the U.S., 11 are in California, five are in Texas, and two are in Virginia. Seven states each have one of the top districts: Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, and Washington.
