- Homes in highly rated school zones cost 35% more than the typical U.S. home, putting them out of reach for many median-income households—but the size of that premium varies dramatically by metro.
- In metros including Little Rock, Anaheim and Chicago, buyers pay relatively little extra for highly rated schools because they’re either plentiful or located in more affordable neighborhoods.
- In Philadelphia, Fort Worth and Detroit, highly rated school zones are relatively scarce and often concentrated in pricier suburbs, which may contribute to the nation’s highest premiums.
- Even though highly rated schools are common in several California metros, extremely high home prices mean buying near one can consume most of a typical income.
The typical U.S. home located in a highly rated school zone costs $580,000, which is 35% more than $430,000 for the typical home overall, regardless of its school zone.
A household would need to earn $159,157 per year to afford a home in a highly rated school zone, roughly $41,000 more than the $117,995 needed to afford the typical overall home. Both are higher than the median U.S. income of $87,599, but the gap is wider for a buyer looking to purchase a home in a highly rated school zone.
This analysis compares home-sale prices in highly rated school zones (those with a GreatSchools ranking of 8-10 out of 10) with the typical home in that metro area. For this report, a school zone refers to the local public high school. The price data in this report is a Redfin analysis of prices for sales between January and June 2026 in the 81 U.S. metro areas included in this report. Please see the end for more on methodology.
We also analyzed other affordability measures to conceptualize the difference between buying a home in a highly rated school zone and buying the typical U.S. home:
- Highly rated school zones eat up over half of income. A median-earning American household buying a home in a highly rated school zone would need to spend more than half (54.5%) of their income on housing, compared with 40.4% of their income for the typical U.S. home.
- Mid-income households can afford just 1 in 8 listings in highly rated school zones. Just 13% of home listings in highly rated school zones nationwide are affordable to a household earning the median income. That’s compared to 27.6% of home listings overall. This is based on the rule of thumb that a home is “affordable” if it would require spending no more than 30% of income on housing.
“Access to a highly rated school zone can come with a steep price tag, but house hunters who consider school ratings in their search may find smaller price differences in metro areas where highly rated schools are more common,” said Yingqi Xu, a senior economist at Redfin. “The findings also highlight an opportunity for homebuyers with other priorities to get more house for their money by shopping outside the most sought-after school zones. And it’s worth remembering that a school rating is just one data point: Families should weigh it alongside their commute, overall costs and the programs and resources that matter most to their children.”
The premium may also benefit homeowners selling in highly rated school zones, where homes command higher prices on average.
Here’s Where Homes in Highly Rated School Zones Have the Smallest Price Premiums
In Little Rock, AR, the typical home in a highly rated school zone costs $237,450, roughly 5% less than $250,000 for the typical home overall. That’s the only U.S. metro area in this analysis where homes in highly rated zones cost less.
Little Rock is also the most affordable metro area for childcare and housing combined, according to a separate report from Redfin and Winnie.
In Anaheim, CA, the typical home in a highly rated school zone costs $1,325,000, which is 6% more than $1,250,000 for the typical home overall–the smallest premium of the metros we analyzed, though all of Anaheim is expensive.
Charleston, SC and Chicago come next. The typical home in Charleston’s highly rated school zones costs $484,000, a 7.8% premium above the typical home in the area. In Chicago, a home in one of the highly rated school zones costs a median of $420,000, 8% more than $389,000 overall. Greenville, SC rounds out the top five. The typical home in a highly rated school zone there costs $367,550, an 8.1% premium.
| 10 U.S. Metro Areas With the Smallest Premiums For Homes in Highly Rated School Zones | |||||||
| U.S. metro area | Median price of home in highly rated school zone | Median price of typical home in the metro overall | % premium for home in highly rated school zone | Income needed to buy home in highly rated school zone | Income needed to buy home in metro area | Estimated median local income | Share of schools that are highly rated (8-10) |
| Little Rock, AR | $237,450 | $250,000 | -5.0% | $62,163 | $65,448 | $73,170 | 14.8% |
| Anaheim, CA | $1,325,000 | $1,250,000 | 6.0% | $343,810 | $324,349 | $126,178 | 69.7% |
| Charleston, SC | $484,000 | $448,990 | 7.8% | $123,329 | $114,408 | $92,452 | 25% |
| Chicago, IL | $420,000 | $389,000 | 8.0% | $127,765 | $118,335 | $98,502 | 40.4% |
| Greenville, SC | $367,550 | $340,000 | 8.1% | $93,429 | $86,426 | $77,128 | 46.4% |
| Elgin, IL | $424,995 | $389,990 | 9.0% | $131,873 | $121,011 | $108,913 | 28% |
| Oxnard, CA | $981,500 | $895,000 | 9.7% | $257,997 | $235,259 | $119,133 | 44.4% |
| Baton Rouge, LA | $307,500 | $274,950 | 11.8% | $80,013 | $71,544 | $76,675 | 22.9% |
| Minneapolis, MN | $450,000 | $395,000 | 13.9% | $124,557 | $109,333 | $108,714 | 48.2% |
| Fresno, CA | $485,000 | $425,000 | 14.1% | $128,221 | $112,358 | $80,511 | 24.2% |
In Anaheim, 70% of schools are highly rated–the highest share in the country–and that lack of scarcity is one reason the premium isn’t all that big. Plus, home prices are high across the area whether a home is near a highly rated school or not.
The relatively small premiums in Little Rock and Charleston partly reflect a mismatch between home prices and school ratings. Some of the most expensive neighborhoods are served by lower-rated schools, while highly rated zones can be found in more affordable areas. For example, Little Rock’s Joe T. Robinson school zone has a median home price of about $506,500 and a GreatSchool rating of 4 out of 10, while the Benton school zone rates a 9 and has a median price of $225,000.
Chicago and Greenville have small premiums because highly rated schools are more common. About 40% of Chicago school zones and 46% of Greenville zones are highly rated, versus 30% nationally, so highly rated zones include many ordinary, relatively affordable suburbs with a lot of homes.
Here’s Where Homes in Highly Rated School Zones Have the Biggest Price Premiums
In other parts of the country, even when homes in a metro area are fairly affordable, buying a home in a highly rated school zone is not.
Philadelphia has the largest price premium for access to highly rated schools. The typical home in one of Philadelphia’s highly rated zones costs $600,000, nearly double (93.5% more than) the metro’s typical home price of $310,000.
Fort Worth, TX has the next-biggest premium. The typical home in a highly rated school zone there costs $645,000, 81.7% more than the metro-wide typical price of $355,000. In both Philadelphia and Fort Worth, homes are generally affordable to median-earning households. But buy within a highly rated school zone, and they’re pushed outside the realm of affordability: a home in a highly rated zone costs 67% of the typical income in Philadelphia, and 60% of the typical income in Fort Worth.
Akron, OH comes next, with homes in highly rated zones selling for $413,000—a 78% premium. Rounding out the five are Detroit, where the premium is 77.2%, and Jacksonville, FL, where the premium is 68%.
The big premiums may reflect the relative scarcity of highly rated school zones. Just 8% of Fort Worth school zones are highly rated—the smallest share in this analysis—and 15% of Jacksonville’s are, compared with 30% nationwide. All five metros with the biggest premiums have below-average shares of highly rated school zones.
But buyers aren’t necessarily paying more for schools alone. The premiums also reflect location, housing stock and neighborhood affluence. In Philadelphia, for instance, many highly rated schools are in pricey Main Line suburbs like Radnor, which also offers easy access to town centers and large, historic homes.
| 10 U.S. Metro Areas With the Biggest Premiums For Homes in Highly Rated School Zones | |||||||
| U.S. metro area | Median price of home in highly rated school zone | Median price of typical home in the metro overall | % premium for home in highly rated school zone | Income needed to buy home in highly rated school zone | Income needed to buy home in metro area | Estimated median local income | Share of schools that are highly rated (8-10) |
| Philadelphia, PA | $600,000 | $310,000 | 93.5% | $166,928 | $86,246 | $75,254 | 20.6% |
| Fort Worth, TX | $645,000 | $355,000 | 81.7% | $186,626 | $102,717 | $93,102 | 8.1% |
| Akron, OH | $413,000 | $232,000 | 78% | $119,444 | $67,097 | $78,753 | 18.8% |
| Detroit, MI | $365,000 | $206,000 | 77.2% | $106,643 | $60,188 | $65,687 | 24% |
| Jacksonville, FL | $630,000 | $375,000 | 68% | $166,211 | $98,935 | $88,715 | 15.2% |
| Austin, TX | $680,000 | $425,000 | 60% | $200,928 | $125,580 | $109,059 | 20% |
| San Antonio, TX | $486,995 | $309,999 | 57.1% | $141,008 | $89,759 | $83,650 | 15.5% |
| Louisville, KY | $425,000 | $275,000 | 54.5% | $113,575 | $73,490 | $81,757 | 16.3% |
| Columbus, OH | $536,900 | $359,900 | 49.2% | $151,851 | $101,790 | $91,468 | 22% |
| New Haven, CT | $592,500 | $400,000 | 48.1% | $178,538 | $120,532 | $94,843 | 18.5% |
In Little Rock, Baton Rouge and Des Moines, Buyers Can Purchase Homes in Highly Rated School Zones Without Breaking the Bank
Many of the places with the smallest premiums for highly rated school zones are relatively affordable to the typical local household. In Little Rock, buying a home in a highly rated school zone would cost 26% of the median-earning household’s income.
It’s followed by Baton Rouge, LA, where the typical household would spend 31% of their income on a home in one of the metro area’s highly rated zones, and Des Moines, IA, where they’d spend 33%. Rounding out the top five are Indianapolis (34%) and Minneapolis (34%).
In all five of those metros, the share of income a household would spend on a home in a highly rated school zone isn’t much different than the share they’d spend on the typical home. In Baton Rouge, for example, it’s 31% for a highly rated zone versus 28% for the typical home.
| 5 U.S. Metro Areas Where Locals Spend Smallest Share of Income on Highly Rated School Zones | |||||
| U.S. metro area | Median price of home in highly rated school zone | Income needed to buy home in highly rated school zone | Income premium for home in highly rated school zone | Share of median local income spent on typical home in highly rated zone | Share of median local income spent on typical home overall |
| Little Rock, AR | $237,450 | $62,163 | -$3,286 | 25.5% | 26.8% |
| Baton Rouge, LA | $307,500 | $80,013 | $8,470 | 31.3% | 28% |
| Des Moines, IA | $355,000 | $103,059 | $13,354 | 32.9% | 28.6% |
| Indianapolis, IN | $385,000 | $102,375 | $18,614 | 33.8% | 27.6% |
| Minneapolis, MN | $450,000 | $124,557 | $15,224 | 34.4% | 30.2% |
Buying a Home in One of California’s Highly Rated School Zones Can Eat Up a Big Chunk of Income
In Los Angeles, buying a home in a highly rated school zone takes up 99% of the typical household’s income. Next come four other expensive California metros: San Jose (85%), Anaheim (82%), San Diego (81%) and Oakland (74%).
The median-priced home in those expensive California metros are unaffordable to the median-earning household no matter where they’re located–but they’re more unaffordable in highly rated school zones. In Los Angeles, for instance, the typical household would spend 72% of their income on the typical home, versus 99% in a highly rated zone. In Oakland, it’s 53% versus 74%.
| 5 U.S. Metro Areas Where Locals Spend Biggest Share of Income on Highly Rated School Zones | |||||
| U.S. metro area | Median price of home in highly rated school zone | Income needed to buy home in highly rated school zone | Income premium for home in highly rated school zone | Share of median local income spent on typical home in highly rated zone | Share of median local income spent on typical home overall |
| Los Angeles, CA | $1,225,000 | $321,505 | $85,560 | 98.6% | 72.4% |
| San Jose, CA | $1,903,000 | $499,372 | $79,511 | 84.9% | 71.4% |
| Anaheim, CA | $1,325,000 | $343,810 | $19,461 | 81.7% | 77.1% |
| San Diego, CA | $1,180,000 | $309,946 | $68,293 | 80.6% | 62.9% |
| Oakland, CA | $1,285,000 | $345,682 | $98,190 | 74.4% | 53.3% |
In These Metro Areas, More Than Half of School Zones Are Highly Rated
In Anaheim, 70% of school zones are highly rated, as noted above. That’s the biggest share in the country.
Here are the other five metro areas where more than half of school zones are highly rated:
- San Jose, CA: 65%
- Montgomery County, PA: 64%
- Bridgeport, CT: 57%
- Lake County, IL 52%
- Oakland, CA: 51%
Methodology
For this Redfin analysis, we looked at home sales that closed between January and June 2026 and matched each one to the public high school whose attendance boundary it falls inside. A home’s school zone is the area a high school draws its students from. We call a zone highly rated if its GreatSchools rating is 8-10 out of 10. We only counted conventional zoned public high schools. Magnet and charter schools are left out, along with districts that assign students by lottery instead of by address.
For this analysis, the typical home is the median home that could be mapped to a school zone. This way, highly rated zones are measured against the rest of the market. For monthly payments, income needed and the share of listings a household can afford, we followed the same approach as our housing affordability methodology: 15% down on a 30-year fixed mortgage, including taxes, insurance and mortgage insurance, with a home counting as affordable at 30% of income or less.
We analyzed the 100 most populous U.S. metros and included the 81 with sufficient data in this report. The rest either didn’t have enough highly rated school zones, or didn’t have enough home sales inside a mapped boundary. National numbers pool the sales from all 81 metro areas.
