High-End Homebuyers Are Flocking to Areas With Top-Rated Public Schools—Here’s Where

There are many reasons that luxury-home buyers choose a location—everything from jobs to family to weather. But a high-quality public school system has always been a factor that lures wealthy families to an area."A highly rated public school district carries real value for a home and attracts buyers to pay a premium," says Anthony Smith, senior economic analyst with Realtor.com®. "It can broaden the pool of interested buyers, and it often supports pricing when a home eventually sells."In Smith's latest luxury market report, he evaluates how elementary school quality lines up with luxury across its curated list of luxury markets.The report highlights the metro areas that averaged at least 500 million-dollar listings over the past 12 month. It defines luxury homes as those listed for sale in September 2026 at or above the metro's 90th percentile (top 10%) price.Each luxury home was scored using the average rating of its assigned public elementary schools from GreatSchools.org, and those scores were averaged across all luxury homes in the market."Many luxury buyers also weigh private school options, and a meaningful share may put significant funds toward elite private schools regardle...