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, particularly in light of President Donald Trump's executive orders regarding education. In March 2025, Trump signed an order to dismantle the Department of Education, a federal body that oversees education nationwide and provides funding for certain programs. Gutting the Department of Education could have massive consequences for countless students and their families; for example, in the 2024-25 fiscal year, the department earmarked nearly $18.4 billion in funding for low-income school districts—money that may soon no longer be available to communities in need. More recently in April 2025, Trump has also signed bills pushing for the use of artificial intelligence in the classroom and attacking public schools' diversity, equity, and inclusion policies.
As a result of these sweeping changes, public education as we know it may soon look vastly different. For now, though, 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.
