Best Private Schools in NYC under $20K

54 schools match. Top 10 ranked by size, tuition fit, and freshness of our data.

NYC has 54 private K-12 schools in our database, drawn from FLDOE, NCES, and direct outreach to school directors. Annual tuition ranges from $6.2K/yr to $18.3K/yr, with a median of $10.6K/yr across schools that publish a number. Brooklyn has the highest concentration with 13 schools, followed by Staten Island (11).

Private schools on this page set their own admissions criteria. Most ask for a school visit, prior records, and a family interview; competitive K and 6th-grade entry points often fill 6-9 months before the start of school. 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: Scholarship-friendly, Tuition-Free.

  1. 1

    St. Francis Preparatory School

    Fresh Meadows, Queens County · Grades 9-12

    Tuition
    $12.1K/yr
    Type
    private
    • ~2,500 students
  2. 2

    Archbishop Molloy High School

    Briarwood, Queens County · Grades 9-12

    Tuition
    $12.6K/yr
    Type
    private
    • ~1,550 students
  3. 3

    Xaverian High School

    Brooklyn, Kings County · Grades 9-12

    Tuition
    $14.3K/yr
    Type
    private
    • ~1,100 students
  4. 4

    St. Joseph by-the-Sea High School

    Staten Island, Richmond County · Grades 9-12

    Tuition
    $11.5K/yr
    Type
    private
    • ~1,100 students
  5. 5

    Monsignor Farrell High School

    Staten Island, Richmond County · Grades 9-12

    Tuition
    $12.5K/yr
    Type
    private
    • ~900 students
  6. 6

    Holy Cross High School

    Flushing, Queens County · Grades 9-12

    Tuition
    $12.5K/yr
    Type
    private
    • ~750 students
  7. 7

    Christ the King Regional High School

    Middle Village, Queens County · Grades 9-12

    Tuition
    $11.5K/yr
    Type
    private
    • ~750 students
  8. 8

    St. John's Preparatory School

    Astoria, Queens County · Grades 9-12

    Tuition
    $10.7K/yr
    Type
    private
    • ~700 students
  9. 9

    St. Joseph Hill Academy

    Staten Island, Richmond County · Grades PK-12

    Tuition
    $12K/yr
    Type
    private
    • ~650 students
  10. 10

    Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School

    Brooklyn, Kings County · Grades 9-12

    Tuition
    $13.0K/yr
    Type
    private
    • ~600 students
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.

Frequently asked questions

What's the average tuition for schools in NYC?
Across the 54 schools on this list, annual tuition ranges from $6.2K/yr to $18.3K/yr, with a median of $10.6K/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 to private schools in NYC?
Selective private schools review transcripts, teacher recommendations, an admissions test (ISEE or SSAT for grades 5-12), and an in-person visit. Acceptance rates vary widely — some schools accept nearly every qualified applicant, while top-tier programs admit fewer than 25%. Apply 9-12 months ahead of the start date.
What's the smallest and largest school on this list?
Cathedral Preparatory School and Seminary is the smallest with 120 students; St. Francis Preparatory School is the largest at 2500. 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.

Related lists

Adjacent searches families often run from here.

See your child's personalized match

Our 2-minute quiz factors in grades, budget, location, and goals to surface the best-fit schools from this list.

Find your match — take the 2-minute quiz