Real estate agents hear this question a lot.
Unfortunately, there isn’t an easy answer. There are so many factors you could consider when comparing high school performance.
- College admission test scores (ACT or SAT)
- Standardized testing scores (MAP testing in Missouri)
- Graduation rate
- Dropout rate
- Class size
- Teacher years of experience or education level
- How many graduates go to 4 yr colleges
- Discipline issues
The list goes on and on. Plus, having a school that does wonders with gifted children may not be the right choice if your child has a learning disability.
Of course, you could simply go to one of those ranking websites which will plug school data into a formula and spit out a ranking order. These sites will give you a simple answer to your question.
But how do you know if the factors that they use to rank the schools are the same factors that you think are important?
St. Louis Region High School Statistics:
The Missouri Department of Education provides a wealth of information online which will allow you to decide for yourself how Missouri schools compare to each other.
I have put together charts for the all of the public school districts that make up the St. Louis MO region. The charts include the public high schools in St. Louis City, St. Louis County and St. Charles County, along with some of the school districts in Jefferson County and Franklin County.
My goal is to give you a snapshot of the schools including:
- how many students attend the schools
- what is the attendance rate
- what is the teacher – student ratio
- how many students graduate
- how many graduates go to 4 yr colleges, 2 yr colleges or vocational school
- what are the college ACT test scores and what % of students take the test
- how many students are low-income (% of students eligible for free or reduced school lunches)
I include the free school lunch program information because this gives you a feel for how expensive the housing in a school district will be. Plus, there are wide differences in the quality of education in lower income areas. I hope that the charts will help families with limited income to identify the best schools where they can afford to live.
See St. Louis County public school chart
See St. Louis City, St. Charles County, Jefferson County & Franklin County public school chart
All of the information in the charts above was pulled from the Missouri Department of Education website. You can find additional information including student and census demographics, teacher background, financial information, discipline incidents and more.
In addition, the same information is available for elementary and middle schools on the state website so you can decide for yourself which of these schools you prefer.
Once you choose a school district, search the homes for sale by high school on the School District tab of our Home Search. We also put together a quick video tutorial on how to search for homes by high school.
Relocating to the St. Louis region?
If you are moving to the St. Louis area, you will want to search for homes by high school rather than by city or zip code. Contact us and we can set up a personalized home search which will email you listings in the high school boundaries that you select.
When you are ready to come to St. Louis for a house hunting trip, we can work with you to make sure that you find a home in the area that best meets your housing and school preferences, limits your work commute and fits your budget.
Originally published 6/2011.
