NCES CCD 2024-25 355 schools NY

Best-Resourced Schools in New York, NY

355 public K-12 schools in New York from NCES Common Core of Data: enrollment, grade span, demographics, and Civil Rights Data Collection statistics for every active campus.

355
Schools
150,702
Students
35.6/100
Avg Resource Index
11.7:1
Avg Student-Teacher Ratio

National city placement

Large, fragmented school market

According to NCES CCD 2024-25, New York has more public-school enrollment than 99% of the 4,487 US cities in this directory. New York is among the largest city school systems in this directory by enrollment, but its campuses are divided among 63 districts. That combination matters: citywide averages blend separate budgets, staffing policies, attendance boundaries, and program rules. For a family comparing schools here, the district column is as important as the city average; two nearby campuses may answer to different boards and draw on different F-33 funding pools.

Combined-grade campuses shape the local portfolio

164 of New York's 355 listed schools use NCES's combined or “other” grade-level classification. Citywide averages therefore blend campuses serving unusually broad or nonstandard grade spans with conventional elementary, middle, and high schools. Grade configuration is a first-order comparison here, not a minor label.

The composite and staffing measures point in different directions

New York's average Resource Investment Index sits at the 27th percentile, while its teacher-staffing measure sits at the 90th percentile. The 63-point percentile gap is a reminder that the index is not a class-size score: counselors, gifted-program reporting, and attendance also affect it. Compare those components directly when two schools have similar index totals; the same headline score can arise from a different mix of reported resources.

City enrollment
Top 1%
School count
Top 1%
Resource Index average
27th percentile
Teacher staffing
90th percentile

New York school enrollment varies 80× across entities

New York school enrollment ranges from 41 students (lowest) to 3,261 students (highest), a spread of 3,220 students. That ratio is an extreme outlier spread — among the widest gaps observed anywhere in this dataset. Per-school staffing and program breadth can differ sharply at opposite ends of that enrollment range, so the city average should not be treated as a typical campus.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data

New York reports 65.6% free-lunch eligibility

The reported share sits between 62.5% and 75%, above a simple majority but below the highest descriptive band used here. Title I operates under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA, 2015), but its statutory allocation uses additional LEA-level counts and rules not represented by this average. This percentage is an economic-need context measure; it does not establish a Title I award, show dollars received, or describe how funds are distributed among campuses.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data

New York operates 63 school districts — one of the single most fragmented governance structures in the country

Each school district has independent budgeting, hiring, and service delivery authority, and the sheer count here puts it in the extreme tail of fragmentation nationally. The fragmentation reflects historical patterns of inter-municipal boundary lines that pre-date modern city growth, students in different parts of the same city can attend different districts with different per-pupil spending, calendars, and graduation requirements. Per-region variation is largest in fragmented systems because each school district sets its own budget, contracts, and priorities without higher-level coordination above the regulatory floor.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data

New York student-teacher ratio is 11.7:1 — low (typically associated with smaller schools or per-school staffing investment that often correlates with stronger per-student supports)

student-teacher ratio is the simplest comparative metric but it does not capture the full picture: the ratio counts FTE classroom teachers against total enrollment, push-in specialists, English-language aides, special-education co-teachers, and counselors are not included in most reporting Lower values often correlate with smaller scale and population characteristics rather than higher resource budgets per se.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data, Public School Universe

56 of New York's 355 listed schools are charters

16% of the city's listed public-school campuses are reported as charter schools in NCES CCD. Charter status identifies a different governance arrangement; it does not establish admissions availability, academic quality, or the share of city students enrolled in those campuses. Open each school record to compare enrollment and staffing directly.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data

# School Score
1. Seed Harlem 84
2. American Sign Language & English Secondary School 82
3. Urban Assembly School for Global Commerce (the) 76
4. New Design Middle School 76
5. High School for Language and Diplomacy (the) 74
6. Ps 34 Franklin D Roosevelt 72
7. Urban Assembly School for the Performing Arts 72
8. James Baldwin School-a School for Expeditionary Lrning 72
9. Edward a Reynolds West Side High School 70
10. Eagle Academy for Young Men of Harlem 68
11. Harvest Collegiate High School 67
12. Landmark High School 67
13. Ps 64 Robert Simon 67
14. Innovation Diploma Plus 66
15. Ps 92 Mary Mcleod Bethune 65
16. Nyc Lab Ms for Collaborative Studies 64
17. East Side Middle School 64
18. Independence High School 64
19. Hudson High School of Learning Technologies 64
20. Ballet Tech/Nyc Public School for Dance 64
21. Dream Charter School 63
22. Ps 130 Hernando De Soto 62
23. Ps 124 Yung Wing 62
24. Manhattan Charter School Ii 62
25. Frederick Douglass Academy 61
26. Ps 38 Roberto Clemente 61
27. Ps 184 Shuang Wen 60
28. Lower Manhattan Community Middle School 60
29. Muscota 60
30. High School 560 City-As-School 59
31. High School for Dual Language and Asian Studies 59
32. Ms 319 Marie Teresa 59
33. Harlem Renaissance High School 59
34. Satellite Academy High School 59
35. Ms 131 58
36. Cascades High School 58
37. East Village Community School (the) 57
38. Park East High School 57
39. Ms 255 Salk School of Science 56
40. Girls Preparatory Charter School of New York 56
41. Manhattan Center for Science & Mathematics 54
42. Central Park East High School 54
43. Ps 234 Independence School 54
44. Is 289 54
45. Manhattan Charter School 54
46. Beacon High School 53
47. Ms 243 Center School 53
48. Ps 126 Jacob August Riis 52
49. Ps 9 Sarah Anderson 52
50. Manhattan/Hunter Science High School 52

Showing top 50 of 355 schools.

Most racially and ethnically mixed schools in New York

Ranked by the Simpson student-body diversity index (0-100) from NCES race and ethnicity data, where higher means a more evenly mixed student body. It measures mix, not quality.

  1. 1 Ballet Tech/Nyc Public School for Dance 76.8/100
  2. 2 Success Academy Charter School-Union Square 76.0/100
  3. 3 Columbia Secondary School 75.9/100
  4. 4 Bard High School Early College 75.9/100
  5. 5 Success Academy Charter School-Upper West 75.3/100

What do families ask about schools in New York?

Which New York school has the highest Resource Investment Index?

Seed Harlem has the highest Resource Investment Index among the New York schools in this federal-data comparison at 84/100. The index summarizes reported staffing, counseling, gifted-program, and attendance inputs; it is not an academic rating.

How many schools are in New York, NY?

New York has 355 public schools with a total enrollment of 150,702 students. 56 are charter schools. Average student-teacher ratio: 11.7:1.

Other Cities in New York

Side-by-side: Compare any two schools or districts in New York →

Data from NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) 2024-25 and Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) 2021-22. The Resource Investment Index uses reported student-teacher ratio, counselor access, gifted programs, and attendance; it is not an academic rating. Cities must include at least five schools to be listed. This public-data comparison is for informational purposes: verify current enrollment, attendance boundaries, and programs with the school district before acting. See the guide to understanding NCES data.