10 U.S. Metro Areas With the Biggest Premiums For Homes in Highly Rated School Zones

Philadelphia has the steepest price tag for a top school zone of any metro in this analysis: the typical home there costs $600,000. That's nearly double the metro's overall median of $310,000, a 93.5% premium.

Redfin matched home sales from Jan–June 2026 to the attendance boundary of the zoned public high school they fall in ("school zone"). Zones rated 8-10 on GreatSchools are "highly rated." Only conventional zoned public high schools are included — magnet, charter, and lottery-based districts are excluded. The "typical home" is the median home mappable to a school zone, so highly rated zones are compared against the rest of that same mappable market. Affordability figures (monthly payment, income needed, share of listings affordable) use Redfin's standard methodology: 15% down, 30-year fixed mortgage, taxes/insurance/PMI included, affordable at ≤30% of income. Of the 100 most populous U.S. metros, 81 had sufficient data and are included; national figures pool sales across those 81.
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