Housing News

Homebuyers Seeking Top Schools Will Pay Top Prices in the 10 Hottest School Districts

August 19, 2025

House-hunting families are facing a tough lesson in economics this year: top-rated public schools can drastically increase the price tag of a home in the area.

In more than half of the 50 most desirable school districts, median home prices were 135% higher than in the surrounding metropolitan area, according to Realtor.com’s 2025 list of the most popular school districts by metro.

The listings portal only looked at school districts within the 50 largest metropolitan areas.

Median list prices averaged about $1.21 million for homes with access to these top public schools.

“School quality has long been a driver of homebuying decisions,” Danielle Hale, chief economist of Realtor.com, said in a statement. “Families are making trade-offs—sometimes paying a significant premium for top-rated districts, and other times prioritizing value in areas that still offer strong academics.”

In the Carroll Independent School District near Dallas, homes cost about 390.9% more compared to the metro average. The typical price tag for one of these residences was $2,159,833.

Similarly, the Laguna Beach Unified School District in Orange County and the Bay Area’s Reed Union Elementary School District command premiums over 300%.

In some of these more expensive districts, homes are often larger. This can mean homeowners are paying more in property taxes, which helps to fund local schools.

However, there were some opportunities for value-conscious homebuyers.

Several highly rated districts, such as Johnston County in Raleigh, N.C., and Humble Independent School District near Houston, offered median home prices that were lower than the average for the surrounding metro areas.

The typical home cost about 19.3% less in the Johnson County district than in the rest of the Raleigh metro. Prices were 9.9% lower in Trenton Public Schools, in the Detroit metro, and were 3.3% less in Houston’s Humble Independent School District.

“This year, we also saw sizable interest in districts outside major urban centers, reflecting both affordability concerns and a desire for lifestyle amenities,” Hale said in a statement.

To come up with its findings, Realtor.com looked at the number of views on properties on the listings portal from home shoppers from other markets between May and July 2025. Only home listings with at least one public school with a rating of 8 or above on GreatSchools were included.

Additionally, districts had to have at least 100 listings from May through July to make the list.

Top 10 school districts with the highest home price premiums

Students and a teacher in a classroom