School costs for children are one of the most significant expenses for many middle-class families. Some parents pay thousands of dollars each year to send their kids to private schools, while others spend thousands in mortgage costs to buy homes in top-rated school districts.
A 2016 Brookings Institution analysis, working from 2010 and 2011 data, found that housing near high-scoring public schools cost an average of $11,000 more per year than homes near low-scoring schools. It remains the standard citation on this question, though the underlying data is now well over a decade old.
For parents who want the best possible education for their children, the choice between private school and public school is a tricky one. Both have their costs, but which is actually higher? And when you compare the benefits of private and public schools, are they enough to justify the costs?
Costs and Benefits of Private School
According to figures from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), there were 29,730 private elementary and secondary schools in the United States in the 2021-22 school year, enrolling about 4.7 million students. Both figures are down from a decade earlier, not up.
The primary difference between private schools and public schools is that private schools don’t receive any funding from the government. That’s why they have to charge tuition. However, within this broad category, there are many different types of schools that vary widely in their costs and the education they provide.
Types of Private Schools
When you’re weighing the costs and benefits of private school, know that the type of school you choose significantly impacts your decision. There are many different kinds of private schools, and they differ greatly in their cost and approach to education.
For-Profit vs. Nonprofit
All private schools charge fees, but only some are for-profit businesses. Some are nonprofits run by religious organizations or private foundations. A nonprofit school is likely to have lower fees than a for-profit one.
Religious vs. Secular
According to the NCES, two-thirds of all private schools in the country are religious schools. About 20% are Catholic schools, 12% are conservative Christian schools, 9% are affiliated with another religion, and 26% are unaffiliated. More than 75% of all private school students are in religious schools.
Religious schools fall into two categories. Some are true private schools, which get their funding from tuition fees. They provide a religious education, but they aren’t part of a church.
Others are parochial schools or parish schools. These are extensions of a local church and receive funding from it. They still charge fees, but they’re likely to be lower than the fees for other private schools.
Boarding Schools vs. Day Schools
Boarding schools provide food and lodging for their students in addition to education. At some schools, students live on campus during the week and go home on the weekends. At others, students live on campus throughout the school year and go home only for vacations. Faculty, staff, and their families often live on campus as well.
At day schools, children go to school each morning and come home in the afternoon, just as they do in public schools. These schools tend to be much cheaper than boarding schools because they don’t have all the extra costs of housing students.
Specialty Schools
Some private schools focus on providing a specific type of instruction. For instance, language immersion schools focus on teaching students a language other than English. Students take all or some of their classes in the foreign language.
Other private schools cater to students with different education requirements. These include students with disabilities, students on the autism spectrum, and students with various types of emotional and learning disorders. Teachers and staff are trained to handle these students’ specialized learning needs. That makes these schools more expensive than most.
Other private schools take their name from their general approach to education. For instance, Montessori schools focus on helping children explore and learn in their own way at their own pace. Waldorf schools are nonprofit schools that incorporate the arts into all subject areas.
Private School Costs
On average, the cost of private school tuition is $14,923 per child, according to PrivateSchoolReview. On top of that, parents can expect to pay an average of $3,700 for other costs, such as technology, books, supplies, field trips, sports, and school uniforms. That brings the total to $18,623 per year.
That’s a significant burden for a middle-class family. In 2024, the national median household income in the U.S. was $83,730, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That means a family earning the median would spend roughly 22% of its gross income to send just one child to private school, and about 45% for two children.
However, the cost of tuition varies significantly across the U.S. In Massachusetts, the average cost of private school tuition is $26,689 per year. In Nebraska, it’s $7,760. Where you live changes the affordability question more than almost any other factor, so weigh tuition against your own state’s median household income.
The type of school also makes a difference, though the published averages here cover schools in the National Association of Independent Schools, which skew toward the expensive end of the market. Among those schools, a day school averages $33,361 per year, five-day boarding $61,282, and seven-day boarding $76,008. An ordinary parish or independent day school costs considerably less.
The grade level affects the cost too. The average tuition for private elementary schools is $13,937 per year compared to $17,997 for private high schools.
Finally, religious affiliation is a significant factor in cost. Catholic schools tend to be much cheaper than other private schools. As of 2021, the most recent figures published openly, Catholic elementary school cost $4,840 and secondary school $11,240.
All these factors together add up to considerable differences in cost. A family with an average income would pay about 6% of its income to send a child to a Catholic elementary school but more than 90% for a seven-day boarding school at an NAIS member.
Private School Benefits
Although private schools are expensive, parents have many reasons for choosing to pay the cost. Private schools can offer many benefits for students, including:
Smaller Class Sizes for Younger Students
A small class allows teachers to give more attention to each student. NCES no longer publishes a single private school average, splitting the figure by affiliation instead. In 2020-21, Catholic elementary schools averaged 17.4 to 17.9 students per self-contained class, other religious schools 12.3 to 13.5, and nonsectarian schools 12.2 to 14.6. Public primary schools sit at the upper end of that range or above it, so the class-size advantage is real for some private schools and not for others.
Lower Student-to-Teacher Ratio
Aside from class size, private schools also tend to have fewer students in total for each teacher. According to the NCES, the average student-to-teacher ratio in private schools has run around 12, against roughly 16 in public schools.
Safety
Private schools are often safer environments than public ones. The NCES reports that gangs are less likely to be present in private schools than public ones. Private school students are also less likely to see hate-related graffiti at school, be called by a hate-related name, or experience bullying.
Curriculum
State law typically requires public schools to provide a curriculum that meets state standards. Private schools have more freedom to experiment. In addition to religious education, they’re more likely to offer courses in subjects like art or music.
Advanced Placement
Private high schools tend to offer a more comprehensive selection of advanced-placement (AP) courses than public high schools. Private schools across the U.S. offer an average of 11 AP courses, while the average for all schools is eight.
Test Scores
A 2006 NCES report, still the standard citation in this area, found that private school students do better on average than public school students in tests of reading and math ability. However, that partly reflects the fact that private school students tend to have wealthier, more educated parents.
After adjusting for students’ backgrounds, the differences in test scores are smaller, and in some cases, they disappear entirely. A 2018 study conducted at the University of Virginia found that when you adjust for background, private school students do no better at age 15 than public school students in or out of school.
College Preparation
There’s some evidence that private schools do a better job preparing students for college than public ones. College Board data compiled by private school associations puts independent school students at a 1188 SAT average and religious school students at 1153, against 1049 for public school students. The comparison carries no publication date and it may also reflect differences in social class, so treat it as indicative rather than current.
Costs and Benefits of Public School
The vast majority of U.S. children are enrolled in public schools. According to the NCES, public school enrollment totaled 49.6 million in fall 2022.
Like private schools, public schools vary widely across the U.S. Since public schools get most of their funding from local property taxes, the best schools tend to be in expensive areas. These schools can afford to spend more on the best teachers, equipment, and activities. Students in wealthier schools tend to get better grades and do better on tests.
Types of Public Schools
According to the NCES, 93% of America’s public schools are traditional public schools, which get their funding from tax dollars. Their teachers must meet state licensing standards, and their curricula are also regulated.
In most areas, students are assigned to a local public school based on where they live. But some cities, such as Boston, allow parents to choose among several nearby schools for their kids.
About 7% of public schools are charter schools. These schools still get their funding from tax dollars, but they operate outside the local public school system. That gives them more flexibility in choosing their curriculum. Many charter schools focus on a specific type of education, such as science or the arts.
Charter schools are on the rise, according to the NCES. The number of charter schools grew from about 5,300 in 2010-11 to about 7,800 in 2021-22, and enrollment rose from 1.8 million to 3.7 million students over the same period. That took charters from 4% to 7% of all public school students.
Many parents choose charter schools for their kids because they think they offer a better education than the local public school. But that’s not the case on average. Student-teacher ratios are close to identical between the two, and scores on reading and math tests are nearly identical as well.
Some areas also have magnet schools. Like charter schools, they typically focus on a specific subject area, such as science, the arts, or language.
But unlike charter schools, magnet schools are part of the school system. They’re run by a school district or a group of districts and are open to all students in that district, no matter where they live. Magnet Schools of America is the national association for them, though no current national count of magnet schools is published.
Public School Costs
Although public schools don’t charge tuition, that doesn’t mean they’re cost-free. Parents are responsible for the cost of their kids’ school supplies, which nowadays means not just notebooks and pencils but also a home computer and printer. Students may also need supplies for extracurricular activities, such as sports uniforms or musical instruments.
But all these are costs private school parents must also pay. The most significant cost of sending your kids to a public school is the property taxes you pay to support the school system, though private school parents pay those too, as do those with no children. And even if you rent rather than own a home, you still pay property taxes indirectly. The property owner pays them and folds that cost into the rent amount.
Of course, you have to live somewhere, and you must pay property taxes no matter where that is. But good school districts usually have much more expensive homes. Living in one means you pay more for both property taxes and all the costs of homeownership.
To figure out the cost of a good public school, you must compare the cost of the neighborhoods associated with that school with the cost of nearby neighborhoods in other school districts. An excellent place to start is with Niche, a website that rates and compares U.S. school districts based on factors like test scores, graduation rates, health and safety ratings, and reviews.
Each year, Niche ranks the school districts it rates as the best in America. Adlai E. Stevenson High School District No. 125 in Lincolnshire, Illinois, has been near the top of that list for years. According to Zillow, the average home value in that area is $747,489. With a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage at 6.67%, that works out to about $4,809 per month.
In nearby Buffalo Grove, Zillow puts the typical home value at $452,107, or about $2,908 per month. That’s a difference of roughly $22,800 per year. PrivateSchoolReview puts the average cost of private school tuition in Illinois at $12,464, so for a family with one child, private school is about $10,300 cheaper per year than buying into the top public district.
For a family with two children, the math turns over. Living in Lincolnshire costs about $22,800 extra per year, while private school for both kids would cost $24,928. That makes private school roughly 9% more expensive, and the gap widens with each additional child.
Of course, that’s only one school district, and mortgage rates move weekly. The relative costs of public and private schools in your area may be different. You can use Niche to find the best schools in your area, then use current home values to see how much it costs to live in those school districts. Compare that to the cost for nearby districts, then compare the difference to the cost of private schools near you.
Public School Benefits
If you have two or more kids, living near a good public school is likely to cost less than paying for private school. But there are even more reasons to choose a public school for your kids.
Smaller Classes for Older Students
While many private elementary schools offer smaller class sizes than public schools, the advantage narrows or reverses at the secondary level. NCES data put public middle and high school classes in the mid-16s, which is at or below what several categories of private secondary school report.
More Qualified Teachers
Some parents choose private schools because they assume their children will get a better education there. But if you want to ensure your kids have the most qualified teachers, it could make more sense to choose a public school.
According to the NCES, public schools typically pay their teachers more than private schools. That makes it easier for public schools to attract the most qualified teachers.
NCES data show that public schools have fewer teachers with less than three years of experience than private schools. They also have fewer teachers without a college degree and more teachers with graduate degrees.
Diversity
For some parents, one perk of public schools is their diversity. According to NCES, private school students are considerably more likely to be white than public school students. Charter schools are the most diverse of the three.
In fall 2021, charter school enrollment was 36% Hispanic, 29% White, 24% Black, 4% Asian, and 5% two or more races.
This greater diversity extends to the faculty as well. The NCES reports that private school teaching staff is less racially diverse than public school staff, and charter school staff is the most diverse of the three.
This greater diversity offers clear benefits for minority students. They’re likely to feel more at home and more supported in an environment where there are both students and teachers who look like them. According to the Center for Black Educator Development, having at least one Black teacher early on lowers a Black student’s chance of dropping out of school by 39%. And the National Coalition on School Diversity (NCSD) reports that students of color perform better in diverse schools than segregated ones and white students perform equally well. Both findings remain the standard citations in this area and neither has a newer edition.
But diversity has advantages for students of all races. According to the NCSD, attending a racially diverse school reduces prejudice and improves communication, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills.
Programs for Students With Disabilities
Children with disabilities, including physical, developmental, and learning disabilities, are often better off in public schools than private ones. Under the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act, public schools must provide education programs for students with disabilities and employ teachers trained to work with those students.
But private schools don’t have to provide for these students. Some schools simply don’t admit students who need certain special learning accommodations, and those that do usually don’t provide any special education programs.
A few private schools cater specifically to children with disabilities, but these cost substantially more than other private schools. Published figures in this area are hard to verify, so treat any single number you find with caution and price schools individually.
Extracurricular Activities
On average, public schools tend to be bigger than private schools, and the gap is wide enough that it shapes what each can offer.
This larger size gives public schools an advantage when it comes to extracurricular activities like sports, theater, debate clubs, and community service programs. A small school, even one with lots of resources, can’t support as many different programs because it just doesn’t have enough students to take part in them.
In general, if your child is interested in a particular sport or activity, a public school is more likely to offer a club or program to support it than a private school. The exception to this rule is private schools that specialize in specific activities, such as art or music.
Advanced Placement
Overall, private schools offer more advanced-placement courses on average than public schools. But that’s only an average. Many private schools don’t offer AP courses at all. A 2017 report by the Center for Public Education found that 70% of public high schools offer at least one AP class compared to only 51% of private high schools. The report is no longer posted publicly, so treat the figures as indicative of that year.
Moreover, private school students who take AP classes don’t always perform better than their peers in public schools. For example, the New Jersey Education Association reported in 2020 that public school students in New Jersey got higher AP scores on average than private school students and were more likely to score high enough to qualify for college credit.
Final Word
When it comes to choosing between private and public schools, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer. Instead, you have to look at the details of your situation.
First, consider the costs. Look at prices for private schools in your area as well as housing costs in neighborhoods with good public schools. Remember that the more kids you have, the more bang you’ll get for your buck with a home in a good public school district.
Then, think about the benefits of both private and public schools. For instance, if you want a religious education for your kids, only a religious private school can provide it. A private school can also provide a lower student-to-teacher ratio and smaller class sizes for younger kids.
But public schools offer the benefits of better education for kids with disabilities, more diversity, and a wider range of extracurricular activities. Weigh the costs and benefits, and make the decision that’s best for you and your kids.
Also, you don’t have to stick with the same type of school for 12 years or more. If your local elementary school is great but the high school isn’t, you can send your kids to public school through grade six before moving them to a private school. That gives you the best of both worlds and saves you money on tuition as well.
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