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HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY

Best Schools in Hillsborough County

Independent rankings of schools in Hillsborough County, built from director interviews and verified data — never from school payments.

488 schools indexed

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Hillsborough County has 488 K-12 schools we currently track — a mix of 221 private and 57 charter campuses across multiple neighborhoods. Annual tuition ranges from $299/yr to $37.0K/yr, with a median of $10K/yr across schools that publish a number. Tampa has the highest concentration with 391 schools, followed by Brandon (18). 168 of these schools accept Florida Step Up / FES scholarships — roughly 34% of the list — so families using state-funded scholarships have real choice here.

Admissions processes vary by school. AdmitCompass surfaces the deadlines, test requirements, and tuition for each campus on its detail page, so families can build a balanced reach / target / safety list. 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: NYC, Manhattan, Brooklyn.

Showing 10 of 488 Hillsborough County 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
    Seffner Christian Academy

    Seffner·Hillsborough County·Grades PK-12·~1,230 students

    State-licensed

    Accepts scholarshipsLearning supportChristianCo-edAffordable
    Likely · admission likelihood · free

    Families like yours are admitted here most of the time.

    Tuition$14.5K/yr
    TypeChristian
    Students~1,230
  2. 2
    American Youth Academy

    Tampa·Hillsborough County·Grades PK-12·~1,223 students

    State-licensed

    Accepts scholarshipsLearning supportIslamicCo-edAffordable
    Target · admission likelihood · free

    A solid match — families like yours are often admitted here.

    Tuition$12.2K/yr
    TypeIslamic
    Students~1,223
  3. 3
    Carrollwood Day School

    Tampa·Hillsborough County·Grades PK3-12·~1,019 students

    State-licensed

    Learning supportSecularCo-ed
    Target · admission likelihood · free

    A solid match — families like yours are often admitted here.

    Tuition$27K/yr
    TypeSecular
    Students~1,019
  4. 4
    Academy of the Holy Names

    Tampa·Hillsborough County·Grades PK-12·~993 students

    State-licensed

    Accepts scholarshipsLearning supportCatholicCo-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$24.3K/yr
    TypeCatholic
    Students~993
  5. 5
    Jesuit High School

    Tampa·Hillsborough County·Grades 9-12·~860 students

    State-licensed

    Accepts scholarshipsLearning supportCatholic
    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$23.9K/yr
    TypeCatholic
    Students~860
  6. 6
    Universal Academy Of Florida

    Tampa·Hillsborough County·Grades PK-12·~820 students

    State-licensed

    Accepts scholarshipsIslamic/muslimCo-edAffordable
    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$14.9K/yr
    TypeIslamic/muslim
    Students~820
  7. 7
    Cambridge Christian School

    Tampa·Hillsborough County·Grades K-12·~800 students

    State-licensed

    Accepts scholarshipsLearning supportChristianCo-edAffordable
    Likely · admission likelihood · free

    Families like yours are admitted here most of the time.

    Tuition$15K/yr
    TypeChristian
    Students~800
  8. 8
    Tampa Catholic High School

    Tampa·Hillsborough County·Grades 9-12·~781 students

    State-licensed

    Accepts scholarshipsCatholicCo-edAffordable
    Likely · admission likelihood · free

    Families like yours are admitted here most of the time.

    Tuition$16.9K/yr
    TypeCatholic
    Students~781
  9. 9
    Saint Johns Episcopal Parish Day School

    Tampa·Hillsborough County·Grades PK-08·~602 students

    State-licensed

    EpiscopalianCo-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$21.2K/yr
    TypeEpiscopalian
    Students~602
  10. 10
    St. Mark the Evangelist Catholic School

    Tampa·Hillsborough County·Grades PK-8·~601 students

    Accepts scholarshipsCatholicCo-edAffordable
    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$11.5K/yr
    TypeCatholic
    Students~601
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 schools in Hillsborough County?
Across the 488 schools on this list, annual tuition ranges from $299/yr to $37.0K/yr, with a median of $10K/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 Hillsborough County?
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.
Do these schools accept Step Up / FES scholarships?
168 of the 488 schools on this page accept Florida's Step Up For Students / FES-EO / FES-UA scholarships. That covers most or all of tuition for income-eligible families. Each school's detail page lists the specific scholarship programs accepted.
What's the smallest and largest school on this list?
Faith Christian Academy - Falcon Academy is the smallest with 1 students; Strawberry Crest High School IB Programme is the largest at 2531. 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 9, 2026. Rankings reflect director interviews and public DOE/NCES data. How we verify and rank.