How School District Ratings Work

A plain-language explanation of our data sources, rating methodology, update schedule, and known limitations.

📊 Primary Data Source

All school district data on this site comes from the NCES Common Core of Data (CCD), the US Department of Education's annual census of public elementary and secondary education. It is the most comprehensive, authoritative, and free public dataset on US school districts.

Data Field	Source	Year
District names & LEAIDs	NCES CCD Directory	2024–2025
Enrollment (students)	NCES CCD Membership	2024–2025
Per-pupil spending	NCES CCD Fiscal	2022–2023 (latest available)
Number of schools	NCES CCD School Universe	2024–2025
Zip-to-district mapping	US Census TIGER/Line + NCES	2024
District boundary maps	US Census TIGER Web Services	Live

⭐ How Ratings Are Calculated

Each district receives a composite rating from 1 to 10 based on multiple NCES indicators. Ratings are normalized within each state so they reflect performance relative to peer districts in the same state, not a national average.

Per-Pupil Spending

Higher spending relative to state peers contributes positively to the score.

Enrollment Size

Used as a weighting factor; very small districts are flagged but not penalized.

Schools per Student

Ratio of schools to enrollment; proxy for class size and resource availability.

State Normalization

Scores are percentile-ranked within each state before converting to a 1–10 scale.

Rating scale: 9–10 = Great · 7–8 = Good · 5–6 = Average · 1–4 = Below Average

🤖 Machine-Readable Data & API

All district data is available as static JSON — no API key, no rate limits, no authentication required.

# By zip code
GET https://www.schooldistrictfinder.us/api/zip/90210.json

# By NCES LEAID
GET https://www.schooldistrictfinder.us/api/district/0604830.json

# Example response
{
  "zip": "90210",
  "district": "Beverly Hills Unified School District",
  "city": "Beverly Hills",
  "state": "CA",
  "county": "Los Angeles County",
  "rating": 9,
  "students": "3,500",
  "schools": "6",
  "per_pupil": "$21,000/yr",
  "leaid": "0604830"
}

Each zip page also embeds this data inline as <script type="application/json" id="district-data"> for parsers that read HTML. The LEAID field links to the NCES district database and the US Census TIGER school district boundary service.

🌐 District Boundary Maps

Interactive boundary maps on each district page are loaded live from the US Census Bureau TIGER Web Services. The LEAID field in our data is the key that connects to this service.

# Fetch district boundary GeoJSON directly from Census TIGER
# (Unified School Districts = layer 0)
GET https://tigerweb.geo.census.gov/arcgis/rest/services/TIGERweb/School/MapServer/0/query
  ?where=GEOID='0604830'
  &outFields=NAME,GEOID
  &outSR=4326
  &f=geojson

🔄 Update Schedule

District Data

Updated annually when NCES releases new CCD data (typically October–December).

Boundary Maps

Loaded live from Census TIGER — always current.

Per-Pupil Spending

Fiscal data typically lags enrollment data by 1–2 years.

⚠️ Known Limitations

Zip codes are not districts. A zip code can span multiple districts, and a district can span many zip codes. We map each zip to its primary district — the one serving the largest share of the zip's area. Fringe addresses may be in a different district.
Charter and private schools are not included in district assignments. NCES CCD covers public school districts only.
Intra-district school choice is not reflected. Some districts allow open enrollment across schools.
Ratings are relative, not absolute. A 7/10 in one state may not equal a 7/10 in another — scores are percentile-ranked within each state.
Always verify with your local district before making enrollment, housing, or school-choice decisions.

🔗 Primary Sources

NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) — main data source
NCES District Search — look up any district by LEAID
US Census TIGER School District Boundaries
Census SAIPE — School District Estimates