Best Public Schools

Cities whose public schools stand out most within their own state

Where math and reading proficiency run furthest ahead of the rest of the state, alongside how many students each teacher carries.

100 locations · Calculated September 26, 2026 · Data reflects 2018-19 school year · Download CSV

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Narrow to one state

100 places, ranked nationally.

#	City	Value	State	Math proficiency %	Public schools count
1	Brentwood, TN	100.0	TN	73.2%	14
2	South Portland, ME	99.5	ME	53.7%	11
3	Summit, NJ	98.4	NJ	77.4%	7
4	Mountain Brook, AL	98.4	AL	89.3%	6
5	Arecibo, PR	98.4	PR	48.7%	11
6	Lexington, MA	97.9	MA	83.7%	11
7	East Meadow, NY	97.6	NY	92.7%	6
8	Northbrook, IL	97.5	IL	72.1%	11
9	Wellesley, MA	97.1	MA	80.2%	9
10	Franklin, TN	97.0	TN	63.4%	24
11	Garden City, NY	96.3	NY	87.0%	9
12	Plainview, NY	96.0	NY	89.0%	8
13	Wilmette, IL	95.6	IL	65.2%	7
14	Hauppauge, NY	95.5	NY	82.8%	3
15	Libertyville, IL	95.5	IL	69.5%	8
16	Winchester, MA	95.4	MA	81.9%	7
17	Oro Valley, AZ	95.3	AZ	78.3%	6
18	Leawood, KS	94.5	KS	58.5%	12
19	Prairieville, LA	94.4	LA	87.1%	10
20	Allison Park, PA	94.4	PA	81.4%	7
21	Rockville Centre, NY	94.1	NY	82.1%	6
22	Portsmouth, NH	94.0	NH	65.3%	7
23	Newton, MA	93.5	MA	76.3%	22
24	Bethel Park, PA	93.1	PA	77.2%	21
25	Belmont, MA	93.0	MA	85.9%	7
26	Glenview, IL	92.9	IL	60.3%	15
27	Eastchester, NY	92.8	NY	82.8%	6
28	Lisle, IL	92.5	IL	62.5%	9
29	Needham, MA	92.5	MA	76.2%	8
30	Fort Mill, SC	92.4	SC	76.6%	13
31	Vernon Hills, IL	92.2	IL	58.7%	15
32	Hendersonville, TN	92.1	TN	61.0%	16
33	Bentonville, AR	92.1	AR	64.4%	25
34	Decatur, GA	92.1	GA	66.0%	9
35	Collierville, TN	92.0	TN	55.6%	9
36	Middleton, WI	92.0	WI	62.8%	9
37	Homewood, AL	92.0	AL	74.9%	6
38	Flower Mound, TX	91.9	TX	77.6%	20
39	Brookline, MA	91.8	MA	76.3%	12
40	McLean, VA	91.7	VA	95.7%	8
41	Alpharetta, GA	91.6	GA	78.2%	7
42	Naperville, IL	91.2	IL	64.6%	44
43	Oakton, VA	91.1	VA	91.8%	3
44	Kirkwood, MO	91.0	MO	67.4%	9
45	Johns Creek, GA	91.0	GA	75.9%	20
46	Highland Park, IL	90.9	IL	56.6%	13
47	West Chester, PA	90.9	PA	71.2%	17
48	South Plainfield, NJ	90.8	NJ	68.0%	17
49	Coppell, TX	90.8	TX	74.0%	17
50	State College, PA	90.7	PA	69.7%	9
51	Mount Juliet, TN	90.6	TN	60.5%	13
52	Southlake, TX	90.6	TX	86.3%	12
53	Princeton, NJ	90.5	NJ	64.1%	7
54	Merrick, NY	90.5	NY	83.8%	9
55	Peachtree City, GA	90.4	GA	77.6%	8
56	Papillion, NE	90.4	NE	62.0%	16
57	Carrboro, NC	90.4	NC	66.9%	2
58	Brambleton, VA	90.3	VA	91.7%	14
59	Mequon, WI	90.2	WI	64.0%	6
60	Chesterfield, MO	90.1	MO	66.7%	9
61	Levittown, NY	90.1	NY	81.1%	12
62	Frisco, TX	90.1	TX	74.0%	70
63	St. Peters, MO	90.1	MO	62.6%	12
64	West Springfield, VA	90.0	VA	92.4%	8
65	Vestavia Hills, AL	89.9	AL	81.2%	8
66	East Honolulu, HI	89.9	HI	55.9%	7
67	Chapel Hill, NC	89.6	NC	64.6%	22
68	Murphy, TX	89.6	TX	72.0%	4
69	Towson, MD	89.5	MD	67.3%	12
70	Ellicott City, MD	89.5	MD	69.9%	22
71	Carmel, IN	89.4	IN	73.2%	17
72	Colleyville, TX	89.3	TX	69.1%	9
73	Arlington, MA	89.2	MA	73.5%	9
74	Johnson City, TN	89.1	TN	55.9%	21
75	Rocky River, OH	89.0	OH	89.9%	5
76	Acworth, GA	89.0	GA	64.7%	9
77	Buffalo Grove, IL	89.0	IL	63.5%	12
78	Prosper, TX	89.0	TX	75.2%	15
79	Arlington Heights, IL	88.9	IL	56.0%	20
80	Murrysville, PA	88.9	PA	71.5%	5
81	Niskayuna, NY	88.8	NY	79.5%	7
82	Hillsborough, NJ	88.8	NJ	67.8%	9
83	Wekiwa Springs, FL	88.8	FL	83.1%	2
84	Bettendorf, IA	88.8	IA	85.8%	12
85	Cave Spring, VA	88.5	VA	93.2%	9
86	Katy, TX	88.4	TX	70.8%	49
87	Commack, NY	88.4	NY	79.9%	7
88	Allen, TX	88.4	TX	86.2%	9
89	Lexington, SC	88.3	SC	69.2%	15
90	Lake Oswego, OR	88.3	OR	71.0%	13
91	St. Charles, IL	88.3	IL	53.9%	18
92	Fajardo, PR	88.2	PR	37.2%	10
93	Pearl City, HI	88.2	HI	53.0%	16
94	Morrisville, NC	88.1	NC	67.1%	6
95	Birmingham, MI	88.1	MI	67.1%	4
96	Ponce, PR	88.0	PR	44.9%	4
97	Lenexa, KS	88.0	KS	51.4%	11
98	North Bellmore, NY	87.9	NY	81.6%	10
99	Newington, CT	87.8	CT	62.7%	13
100	Fayetteville, AR	87.8	AR	61.9%	19

Methodology

Cities ranked by the AreaProfile Schools signal: math proficiency (45%) and reading proficiency (35%), each ranked against other cities in the same state, plus students per teacher (20%) ranked nationally and inverted. Proficiency is compared within state on purpose — every state writes its own assessment and sets its own cut score, so a national ranking of raw proficiency would measure how demanding each state’s standard is rather than how its schools are doing. That makes this a list of places that stand out where they are, not a claim that 62% in one state equals 62% in another. Figures are enrollment-weighted across the public schools whose address falls in the city.

What is excluded, and why

Cities under 20,000 residents, and cities where proficiency was not reported for enough schools to weight. Fully virtual schools are excluded entirely: they enroll students from across a state while reporting a single administrative address, and attributing them to that address would distort every figure for a city they do not serve. Private and home schooling are outside the federal collection and are not counted. Proficiency is from the 2018–19 school year, the last full year of testing before the pandemic; the school directory is current.

The top 100 of the 2,288 cities that meet these criteria are listed.

Sources

U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics — Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments (CCD 2024 directory, EDFacts 2018-19 school-year assessments)

Full details of how signals and the Area Score are calculated are on the methodology page, and how rankings like this one are built and reviewed is on the editorial policy page.