Property values are informed by a variety of factors, including size of the home, amenities and location.
Increasingly, studies indicate that the local schools are also a big part of the valuation formula. Three studies in particular shed light on this topic.
Redfin: List Prices Higher by More Than $100K
At the elementary school level, a Redfin study (powered by Maponics data) of nearly 11,000 school attendance zones and 400,000+ home sales found that similar homes in nearby locations can differ in price by tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars, based on the performance of the schools in their school attendance zone (SAZ).
For example, in Alexandria, VA, a home in an SAZ with a better elementary school with nearly identical attributes to one in an SAZ with a lower performing school lists for an additional $130,000.
Image source: Redfin
Brookings Institution: Housing 2.4 Times More Expensive
A Brookings Institution report, “Housing Costs, Zoning, and Access to High-Scoring Schools,” found that housing near top performing public schools costs 2.4 times more than housing near low performing schools.
The report notes that in some cities, it’s cheaper to enroll your child in private school than to pay for housing in an SAZ with a high-scoring public school.
The Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT, metro region is no. 1 in the nation for disparity in housing costs among SAZs with high-performing vs. low-performing schools.
See the Brookings Institution’s interactive map for details on housing costs in other metro regions. Image source: Brookings Institution
Realtor.com: Over 50% of People Will Pay More
Realtor.com conducted a survey of 981 home buyers and their attitudes toward school boundaries. The vast majority – 91% – said school districts make a difference in their home buying decision, and over 50% said they’d be willing to pay more for a home in an SAZ with a top performing school.
Image source: Realtor.com
Maponics School Boundaries
Maponics School Boundaries cover 100% of the US student population at the school district level. We also have the highest school attendance zone coverage available in our School Boundaries dataset, with 82% of the US student population and 85% of the US high school population covered at the SAZ level.
Our data is updated quarterly and reviewed annually. We incorporate customer and end-user feedback into all our updates.
Maponics School Rankings are easily integrated with our School Boundaries, providing data on school performance rankings and percentiles, math and reading test scores and detailed school profiles.
Check out our School Boundaries Demo to see our data represented visually.