Independent rankings of Independent (non-religious) Middle schools in Pinellas County, built from director interviews and verified data — never from school payments.
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AdmitCompass tracks 57 independent (non-religious) middle-level schools in Pinellas County. Annual tuition ranges from $115/yr to $24K/yr, with a median of $14.6K/yr across schools that publish a number. Clearwater has the highest concentration with 17 schools, followed by St. Petersburg (10). 37 of these schools accept Florida Step Up / FES scholarships — roughly 65% of the list — so families using state-funded scholarships have real choice here.
Middle-school admission is the most competitive transition point at many independent schools. Expect a standardized test (ISEE, SSAT, or in-house), a writing sample, and teacher recommendations from 4th or 5th grade. Every school is re-verified through direct outreach to admissions teams; data is refreshed on a 180-day cadence and timestamped on each profile.
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.
Clearwater·Pinellas County·Grades PK-12·~323 students
State-licensed
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.
Clearwater·Pinellas County·Grades PK-12·~279 students
State-licensed
Families like yours are admitted here most of the time.
Largo·Pinellas County·Grades PK-08·~273 students
State-licensed
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.
Clearwater·Pinellas County·Grades PK-09·~165 students
State-licensed
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.
Clearwater·Pinellas County·Grades KG-12·~160 students
State-licensed
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.
Tarpon Springs·Pinellas County·Grades KG-12·~151 students
State-licensed
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.
Palm Harbor·Pinellas County·Grades PK-08·~129 students
State-licensed
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.
Palm Harbor·Pinellas County·Grades PK-08·~125 students
State-licensed
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.
Clearwater·Pinellas County·Grades PK-12·~110 students
State-licensed
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.
Palm Harbor·Pinellas County·Grades KG-12·~91 students
State-licensed
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.
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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Our 2-minute quiz factors in grades, budget, location, and goals to surface the best-fit schools from this list.