National ranking · NCES data

100 Best-Resourced Public Schools in America

Ranked by a 0–100 quality score computed from NCES survey data, student-teacher ratio, counselor access, gifted programs, and chronic absenteeism. No reviews, no opinion.

Compiled from official source data by .
81
Top score / 100
A-
Top grade
100
Schools ranked

The ranking in one line

America's best-resourced public school is Somerset County Vocational Technical High School in Bridgewater, NJ, scoring 81/100 on the NCES resource index.

81/100
top score · grade A-
A-
highest grade awarded
24
states in the top 100
100
schools ranked by resources
Federal data, transparent formula. PlainSchools computes this ranking from the actual NCES survey measurements - student-teacher ratio, counselor coverage, gifted-program availability, and chronic absenteeism, weighted into a single 0–100 index. This is PlainSchools' own transparent derived index (not an official NCES rating) - no editorial opinion, no user reviews, and the exact weights are disclosed on our methodology page. It measures reported resource allocation, not test scores or student outcomes - a useful starting point for research, not a substitute for visiting a school or reading its state report card.

How selective is the top 100?

Resource quality score (0–100) across every US public school, with the cutoff to make this list

72 Top 1% higher than 99% of 95,292 US schools

0–10: 574 US schools (1%). Below this entry. 10–20: 4,480 US schools (5%). Below this entry. 20–30: 12,873 US schools (14%). Below this entry. 30–40: 25,856 US schools (27%). Below this entry. 40–50: 28,292 US schools (30%). Below this entry. 50–60: 16,408 US schools (17%). Below this entry. 60–70: 5,500 US schools (6%). Below this entry. 70–80: 1,056 US schools (1%). This entry sits in this band. 80–90: 213 US schools (0%). Above this entry. 90–100: 40 US schools (0%). Above this entry. Top-100 cutoff 0 100 every US school, by quality score, bucketed by value

Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more US schools. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.

Source U.S. Department of Education, NCES Common Core of Data · 2024-25

The top three

America's three best-resourced public schools by quality score.

1 #1 in America A-
Somerset County Vocational Technical High School

Bridgewater, NJ

81/100
2 2nd A-
Westbrook Middle School

Westbrook, CT

81/100
3 3rd A-
Coolidge El

Coolidge, TX

80/100

How Somerset County Vocational Technical High School reached 81/100

  • Student-teacher ratio5.6:1
  • Gifted programOffered
  • Counselor ratio1:83
  • Chronic absenteeism2.7%

The full ranking

All 100 schools, ranked by resource quality score (0–100). The shaded bar behind each score shows its magnitude. According to NCES Common Core of Data, Civil Rights Data Collection, and F-33 finance records as of June 2026.

# School ScoreGrade
1 Somerset County Vocational Technical High School Bridgewater, NJ 81 A-
2 Westbrook Middle School Westbrook, CT 81 A-
3 Coolidge El Coolidge, TX 80 A-
4 Indiana Academy for Sci Math Hmn Muncie, IN 79 B+
5 Spring Branch Academic Institute Houston, TX 78 B+
6 Guy-Perkins High School Guy, AR 78 B+
7 Hampton Elementary School Hampton, NE 78 B+
8 Vega H S Vega, TX 78 B+
9 Career Academy and Technical School Troutman, NC 78 B+
10 Polk State College Collegiate High School Lakeland, FL 77 B+
11 Edison Elem School Elmhurst, IL 77 B+
12 Htrs Elementary School Humboldt, NE 77 B+
13 Newell Barney Junior High Queen Creek, AZ 77 B+
14 Avon Elementary School Avon, NJ 77 B+
15 Dallas Hybrid Preparatory at Stephen J Hay Dallas, TX 77 B+
16 Harmony School of Excellence - San Antonio San Antonio, TX 77 B+
17 Montville Township High School Montville, NJ 76 B+
18 Berkeley Elementary Westwood, NJ 76 B+
19 Valley View El Austin, TX 76 B+
20 Eastland Middle Eastland, TX 76 B+
21 W.C.K. Walls Elementary Pitman, NJ 76 B+
22 Garden City El Garden City, TX 76 B+
23 Bovina H S Bovina, TX 76 B+
24 West Middle School Colorado Springs, CO 76 B+
25 Danville Middle School Danville, AR 76 B+
26 Clarkson Elementary School Clarkson, NE 76 B+
27 Stafford El San Antonio, TX 76 B+
28 Bergen County Technical High School - Teterboro Teterboro, NJ 75 B+
29 Lebanon Ms Lebanon, PA 75 B+
30 Coastal Connections Academy Tampa, FL 75 B+
31 Cherry Creek Elevation Centennial, CO 75 B+
32 Northwest Middle School Jackson, MS 75 B+
33 Walter Hill School Swedesboro, NJ 75 B+
34 Fraser Valley Elementary School Fraser, CO 75 B+
35 Eleanor G. Hewitt Ringwood, NJ 75 B+
36 Ponca High School Ponca, NE 75 B+
37 Marthaville Elementary & Junior High School Marthaville, LA 75 B+
38 Norfork High School Norfork, AR 75 B+
39 Fairfield Magnet for Math and Science Winnsboro, SC 75 B+
40 Academy for Mathematics Science and Engineering Rockaway, NJ 75 B+
41 Deer K-12 School Deer, AR 75 B+
42 Goldthwaite H S Goldthwaite, TX 75 B+
43 Bloomfield Jr-Sr High School Bloomfield, NE 75 B+
44 Hope Township School Hope, NJ 75 B+
45 Channing School Channing, TX 75 B+
46 New Providence High School New Providence, NJ 74 B
47 Greenbriar Elem School Northbrook, IL 74 B
48 Royle Elementary School Darien, CT 74 B
49 Lincoln Elementary School Harrison, NJ 74 B
50 Eastland H S Eastland, TX 74 B
51 College Park Elementary Greendale, WI 74 B
52 Lafayette Township School Lafayette, NJ 74 B
53 Sublette Elem Sublette, KS 74 B
54 Mineral Springs High School Mineral Springs, AR 74 B
55 Mt. Judea K-12 School Mt. Judea, AR 74 B
56 Mesa Distance Learning Program Mesa, AZ 74 B
57 Cape May City Elementary School Cape May, NJ 74 B
58 Gruver H S Gruver, TX 74 B
59 Gibsland-Coleman High School Gibsland, LA 74 B
60 Living School New Orleans, LA 74 B
61 Round Top-Carmine El Round Top, TX 74 B
62 Norwood Public School Hulbert, OK 74 B
63 Dc Wolfe School Shorter, AL 74 B
64 Damon El Damon, TX 74 B
65 Bergen County Academies Hackensack, NJ 73 B
66 Glen Rock High School Glen Rock, NJ 73 B
67 Valleyview Middle School Denville, NJ 73 B
68 Forrestdale School Rumson, NJ 73 B
69 Weston Middle School Weston, CT 73 B
70 Westmoor Elem School Northbrook, IL 73 B
71 Biotechnology High School Freehold, NJ 73 B
72 Spring Lake Heights Elementary School Spring Lake Heights, NJ 73 B
73 South Dearborn Middle School Aurora, IN 73 B
74 South Mountain School Millburn, NJ 73 B
75 River Plaza Elementary School Red Bank, NJ 73 B
76 Killingworth Elementary School Higganum, CT 73 B
77 Franklin Township School Washington, NJ 73 B
78 Kirkmere School Youngstown, OH 73 B
79 Spring City El Sch Spring City, PA 73 B
80 Pelham Elementary Pelham, TN 73 B
81 Madawaska Elementary School Madawaska, ME 73 B
82 Rochelle School Rochelle, TX 73 B
83 Broward Elementary School Tampa, FL 73 B
84 Lomega Es Loyal, OK 73 B
85 Diller-Odell Elem School Diller, NE 73 B
86 Obama Service Learning Elementary Saint Paul, MN 73 B
87 Wellington J H Wellington, TX 73 B
88 Plains Elem Plains, KS 73 B
89 Paint Creek School Haskell, TX 73 B
90 Kildare Public School Ponca City, OK 73 B
91 Mccrorey-Liston School of Technology Blair, SC 73 B
92 Francis C. Hammond Middle Alexandria, VA 72 B
93 Mary Ellen Henderson Middle Falls Church, VA 72 B
94 Plymouth El Sch Plymouth Meeting, PA 72 B
95 New Milford High School New Milford, NJ 72 B
96 South School New Canaan, CT 72 B
97 Readington Middle School Whitehouse Station, NJ 72 B
98 Walden Elem School Deerfield, IL 72 B
99 Tokeneke Elementary School Darien, CT 72 B
100 Hindley Elementary School Darien, CT 72 B

What to do with this ranking

A high resource score points you to schools that invest in staffing and programs, pair it with your own visit and your state report card.

  • The cutoff to make this top 100 is a quality score of 72/100, higher than 99% of all US public schools, so every school here is genuinely resource-rich.
  • The top 100 spans 24 states, strong resourcing is not concentrated in one region. Browse the best-resourced schools in your state. Browse by state
  • Comparing two specific schools? Put their staffing, programs, and demographics side by side before you decide. Compare schools

The quality score measures resource allocation, staffing, counselor access, gifted programs, and attendance, not standardized test scores or academic outcomes. It rewards inputs a school controls, not student results.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the best public schools in America? ▼

The highest-ranked public school is Somerset County Vocational Technical High School in Bridgewater, NJ with a quality score of 81/100. Rankings are based on NCES data: student-teacher ratio, counselor access, gifted programs, and attendance.

How are school quality scores different from Niche or GreatSchools ratings? ▼

PlainSchools quality scores are computed entirely from objective NCES data (student-teacher ratio, counselor availability, gifted programs, absenteeism). Unlike Niche (parent reviews + proprietary algorithm) or GreatSchools (test scores + equity), our scores focus on measurable school resources that directly impact student experience.

Methodology

Quality scores (0-100) are computed from NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) 2024-25: student-teacher ratio (national avg ~16:1), school counselor ratio (ASCA recommends 250:1), gifted program availability, and chronic absenteeism rate (national avg ~15%). To rank here a school must have 100+ students and report at least 3 of the 4 measured factors, schools with mostly-missing data cannot top the list on a single metric. Virtual programs are excluded because their reported staffing ratios are not comparable to in-person schools. This is a resource quality metric, not a test score ranking.

Every figure on PlainSchools is rendered directly from the source NCES, CRDC and F-33 federal records, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of June 2026.