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Best Independent (non-religious) High Schools in NYC

Independent rankings of Independent (non-religious) High schools in NYC, built from director interviews and verified data — never from school payments.

50 schools indexed9 director-verified

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School type
  • Private50
Religion
Specialty
  • Language Immersion12
Affordability
Verified

AdmitCompass tracks 50 independent (non-religious) high-level schools in NYC. Annual tuition ranges from $22.5K/yr to $145K/yr, with a median of $62.4K/yr across schools that publish a number. New York has the highest concentration with 36 schools, followed by Brooklyn (9).

High-school admissions usually require an ISEE or SSAT, transcripts, two teacher recommendations, and an interview. Application deadlines cluster in November-January for fall entry. 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: Catholic, Jewish, Lutheran.

Showing 10 of 50 NYC schools
How we rank

We rank by how well each school fits your family — academics, cost, distance, and values. Never by size, popularity, or payment (schools can’t pay for rank). The coarse admission-likelihood band is always free.

  1. 1
    The Dalton School

    New York·New York County·Grades K-12·~1,330 students

    Director-verified · NCES

    Verified by directorSecularCo-ed
    Reach · admission likelihood · free

    A stretch — we’ll show you how to make the application stronger.

    Tuition$65.8K/yr
    TypeSecular
    Students~1,330
  2. 2
    The Spence School

    New York·New York County·Grades K-12·~760 students

    Director-verified · NCES

    Verified by directorSecular
    Reach · admission likelihood · free

    A stretch — we’ll show you how to make the application stronger.

    Tuition$64.6K/yr
    TypeSecular
    Students~760
  3. 3
    The IDEAL School of Manhattan

    New York·New York County·Grades K-12·~220 students

    Director-verified · NCES

    Verified by directorCo-ed
    Selective · estimate by type · data coming soon

    Selective private school — we don’t have a verified acceptance rate yet. Similar schools admit a solid share of applicants. A general signal by school type, not a personalized estimate.

    Tuition$71.5K/yr
    TypePrivate
    Students~220
  4. 4
    The Churchill School and Center

    New York·New York County·Grades K-12·~430 students

    Director-verified · State-licensed

    Verified by directorCo-ed
    Selective · estimate by type · data coming soon

    Selective private school — we don’t have a verified acceptance rate yet. Similar schools admit a solid share of applicants. A general signal by school type, not a personalized estimate.

    Tuition$82.5K/yr
    TypePrivate
    Students~430
  5. 5
    Winston Preparatory School

    New York·New York County·Grades 5-12·~280 students

    Director-verified

    Verified by directorCo-ed
    Selective · estimate by type · data coming soon

    Selective private school — we don’t have a verified acceptance rate yet. Similar schools admit a solid share of applicants. A general signal by school type, not a personalized estimate.

    Tuition$86K/yr
    TypePrivate
    Students~280
  6. 6
    BASIS Independent Brooklyn

    Brooklyn·Kings County·Grades PK-12·~577 students

    SecularCo-ed
    Selective · estimate by type · data coming soon

    Selective private school — we don’t have a verified acceptance rate yet. Similar schools admit a solid share of applicants. A general signal by school type, not a personalized estimate.

    Tuition$39.5K/yr
    TypeSecular
    Students~577
  7. 7
    Bay Ridge Preparatory School

    Brooklyn·Kings County·Grades PK-12·~550 students

    State-licensed

    Co-ed
    Selective · estimate by type · data coming soon

    Selective private school — we don’t have a verified acceptance rate yet. Similar schools admit a solid share of applicants. A general signal by school type, not a personalized estimate.

    Tuition$38.5K/yr
    TypePrivate
    Students~550
  8. 8
    Cooke School and Institute

    New York·New York County·Grades PK-12·~230 students

    Director-verified · NCES

    Verified by directorCo-ed
    Selective · estimate by type · data coming soon

    Selective private school — we don’t have a verified acceptance rate yet. Similar schools admit a solid share of applicants. A general signal by school type, not a personalized estimate.

    Tuition$110K/yr
    TypePrivate
    Students~230
  9. 9
    Adelphi Academy of Brooklyn

    Brooklyn·Kings County·Grades PK-12·~200 students

    NCES

    Co-ed
    Selective · estimate by type · data coming soon

    Selective private school — we don’t have a verified acceptance rate yet. Similar schools admit a solid share of applicants. A general signal by school type, not a personalized estimate.

    Tuition$27.2K/yr
    TypePrivate
    Students~200
  10. 10
    The Aaron School

    New York·New York County·Grades K-12·~180 students

    Director-verified · State-licensed

    Verified by directorCo-ed
    Selective · estimate by type · data coming soon

    Selective private school — we don’t have a verified acceptance rate yet. Similar schools admit a solid share of applicants. A general signal by school type, not a personalized estimate.

    Tuition$78.5K/yr
    TypePrivate
    Students~180
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.

Read the full methodology.

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Frequently asked questions

What's the average tuition for high schools in NYC?
Across the 50 schools on this list, annual tuition ranges from $22.5K/yr to $145K/yr, with a median of $62.4K/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; Horace Mann School is the largest at 1800. 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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Data last updated June 6, 2026. Rankings reflect director interviews and public DOE/NCES data. How we verify and rank.