1
The Dalton School
New York·New York County·Grades K-12·~1,330 students
Director-verified
Verified by directorCo-ed
Tuition$65.8K/yr
TypePrivate
Students~1,330
NYC
Best Elementary Schools in NYC
Independent rankings of Elementary schools in NYC, built from director interviews and verified data — never from school payments.
189 schools indexed13 director-verifiedUpdated this week
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Verified
Looking for the best elementary schools in NYC? We track 189 K-12 options that serve elementary grades. Annual tuition ranges from $6.2K/yr to $145K/yr, with a median of $49K/yr across schools that publish a number. New York has the highest concentration with 74 schools, followed by Brooklyn (46).
Elementary admissions decisions tend to weigh family fit and developmental readiness more than test scores. Most schools assess via a play-based visit at age 4-5 and rolling interviews for K-5 transfers. Every school is re-verified through direct outreach to admissions teams; data is refreshed on a 180-day cadence and timestamped on each profile.
See also: Pre-K, Elementary, Middle.
Showing 10 of 189 NYC schools
- 2Trinity School
New York·New York County·Grades K-12·~995 students
Director-verified
Verified by directorEpiscopalCo-edTuition$64.9K/yrTypeEpiscopalStudents~995 - 3The Spence School
New York·New York County·Grades K-12·~760 students
Director-verified
Verified by directorTuition$64.6K/yrTypePrivateStudents~760 - 4St. Francis Preparatory School
Fresh Meadows·Queens County·Grades 9-12·~2,500 students
CatholicCo-edAffordableTuition$12.1K/yrTypeCatholicStudents~2,500 - 5City and Country School
New York·New York County·Grades PK-8·~200 students
Director-verified
Verified by directorCo-edTuition$60.5K/yrTypePrivateStudents~200 - 6Archbishop Molloy High School
Briarwood·Queens County·Grades 9-12·~1,560 students
CatholicCo-edAffordableTuition$12.6K/yrTypeCatholicStudents~1,560 - 7Xaverian High School
Brooklyn·Kings County·Grades 9-12·~1,100 students
CatholicCo-edAffordableTuition$14.3K/yrTypeCatholicStudents~1,100 - 8Xavier High School
New York·New York County·Grades 9-12·~1,100 students
CatholicTuition$26.5K/yrTypeCatholicStudents~1,100 - 9St. Joseph by-the-Sea High School
Staten Island·Richmond County·Grades 9-12·~1,100 students
CatholicCo-edAffordableTuition$11.5K/yrTypeCatholicStudents~1,100 - 10Monsignor Farrell High School
Staten Island·Richmond County·Grades 9-12·~900 students
CatholicAffordableTuition$12.5K/yrTypeCatholicStudents~900
How we rank these schools
Built relationships, not scrapers. AdmitCompass ranks schools using a composite score that blends four signals: enrollment size (a proxy for stability and program breadth), tuition reasonableness within the local market, freshness of our most recent verification, and a small bonus for schools with full admissions detail published on their profile.
Public data comes from the Florida Department of Education (FLDOE), the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), and each school's own admissions pages. The information that actually matters to most families — acceptance rates, deadlines, what a director cares about — comes from direct interviews with school directors and admissions coaches across our active markets.
We do not publish scoring weights or per-axis thresholds. That keeps the moat intact: the rankings reflect actual conversations with people inside schools, not a formula anyone with a crawler could clone. Every profile is re-verified on a 180-day cadence, and the "last updated" date is timestamped on every school page.
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Frequently asked questions
What's the average tuition for elementary schools in NYC?
Across the 189 schools on this list, annual tuition ranges from $6.2K/yr to $145K/yr, with a median of $49K/yr. Many schools offer financial aid, sibling discounts, or accept Florida Step Up / FES scholarships — check each school's detail page for current aid policy.
How competitive is admission in NYC?
Admissions selectivity ranges from open-enrollment (most charters and parish schools) to highly selective (top independent K-12 programs). Each school's profile page lists deadlines, test requirements, and any published acceptance rate.
What's the smallest and largest school on this list?
Brooklyn Free School is the smallest with 70 students; Forest Hills High School is the largest at 3700. Smaller schools tend to offer more direct teacher contact and tighter community; larger schools usually have more elective and extracurricular breadth.
Is this list updated?
Yes. We re-verify school data on a 180-day cadence through direct contact with admissions teams, plus cross-checks against FLDOE, NCES, and published school sources. Each school profile shows the date of its most recent verification.
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