National ranking · Top 100 · data updated July 2026

The 100 Cities with Most Schools

Ranking the top 100 US cities by schools, drawn straight from NCES Common Core of Data.

100
Cities ranked
#1
Houston
769
Schools

Data updated July 2026

The headline finding

Houston, TX tops this list at 769 schools, making the top 100 requires at least 61.

Houston, TX
#1 · 769
61
#100 cutoff
100
cities in this ranking

Every figure here is read live from the same NCES Common Core of Data data rendered in the table below.

These 100 cities span 35 states. California has the most entries on this list: 18 (18% of the total). California state page.

How we calculate the state breakdown

The state count and leader above are a live tally of this list's own 100 rows, grouped by state. See the methodology page for the full source-to-figure lineage.

Top 12 cities by schools

Hover or tap a bar for the city, value and rank

Schools

What this shows Houston, Texas ranks #1 on schools among the cities in this ranking; the full top 100 is listed below.

Source NCES Common Core of Data As of July 2026

Which states show up most

State tally of this list's own rows

Cities on this list

What this shows California leads with 18 of the 100 spots on this list.

Source PlainCities tally of this ranking's own rows As of July 2026
Rank City Schools
1 Houston , TX 769
2 Chicago , IL 633
3 Los Angeles , CA 574
4 San Antonio , TX 552
5 Phoenix , AZ 441
6 Dallas , TX 361
7 New York , NY 355
8 Las Vegas , NV 310
9 Philadelphia , PA 303
10 Miami , FL 286
11 San Diego , CA 284
12 Tucson , AZ 274
13 Baltimore , MD 273
14 Fort Worth , TX 264
15 Austin , TX 262
16 Washington , DC 242
17 San Jose , CA 234
18 Columbus , OH 234
19 Denver , CO 232
20 El Paso , TX 219
21 Orlando , FL 208
22 Memphis , TN 206
23 Sacramento , CA 197
24 Jacksonville , FL 197
25 Albuquerque , NM 195
26 Detroit , MI 187
27 Colorado Springs , CO 185
28 Milwaukee , WI 181
29 Fresno , CA 180
30 Charlotte , NC 176
31 Cincinnati , OH 175
32 Tampa , FL 170
33 Kansas City , MO 155
34 Omaha , NE 155
35 Cleveland , OH 154
36 Portland , OR 151
37 Bakersfield , CA 146
38 Oklahoma City , OK 145
39 Pittsburgh , PA 145
40 Minneapolis , MN 141
41 Mesa , AZ 137
42 Atlanta , GA 137
43 Grand Rapids , MI 131
44 Seattle , WA 127
45 San Francisco , CA 123
46 Stockton , CA 123
47 Oakland , CA 118
48 Rochester , NY 111
49 Aurora , CO 105
50 Arlington , TX 104
51 Tulsa , OK 102
52 Baton Rouge , LA 101
53 Wichita , KS 99
54 Raleigh , NC 99
55 Toledo , OH 99
56 Salt Lake City , UT 96
57 Glendale , AZ 95
58 Richmond , VA 95
59 Corpus Christi , TX 94
60 Spokane , WA 94
61 Tacoma , WA 94
62 Vancouver , WA 88
63 Buffalo , NY 87
64 Katy , TX 86
65 Dayton , OH 84
66 Laredo , TX 84
67 Greensboro , NC 83
68 Knoxville , TN 83
69 Virginia Beach , VA 82
70 Newark , NJ 81
71 Anchorage , AK 79
72 San Bernardino , CA 79
73 Santa Ana , CA 79
74 New Orleans , LA 79
75 Reno , NV 79
76 Amarillo , TX 79
77 Lubbock , TX 79
78 Long Beach , CA 78
79 Modesto , CA 78
80 Riverside , CA 77
81 Little Rock , AR 76
82 Akron , OH 76
83 Fort Wayne , IN 75
84 Columbia , SC 75
85 Brownsville , TX 73
86 Springfield , MA 71
87 Plano , TX 71
88 Gilbert , AZ 70
89 Anaheim , CA 69
90 Chula Vista , CA 68
91 Durham , NC 68
92 Fayetteville , NC 68
93 Garland , TX 68
94 Frisco , TX 67
95 Lincoln , NE 66
96 Chandler , AZ 64
97 Des Moines , IA 64
98 Santa Rosa , CA 63
99 Salinas , CA 62
100 Springfield , MO 61

According to the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (2023 vintage, released December 2024), the underlying dataset behind this ranking spans 28,702 U.S. incorporated places and census-designated places nationally; this page shows the top 100 by schools. See our methodology for the full data-collection process.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Verify directly with the source agency: U.S. Census Bureau, FBI UCR, NOAA, NCES.

What to do with the cities with most schools list

Use this ranking to narrow the field, then dig into the specific places you're considering.

  • Houston, TX leads this list at 769 -- see its full profile before drawing conclusions from the rank alone. Houston profile
  • Put two specific cities side by side across every tracked metric, not just this one ranking. Compare cities
  • See every ranked city in Texas together, not just how Houston compares nationally. Texas state page

This ranking reflects the single schools metric only -- it is not a composite of everything that makes a city a good fit.

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Primary sources: Census ACS, FBI UCR, NOAA Climate Normals, NCES.

Related

Browse all city profiles → | Explore city rankings →
Data sourced from the U.S. Census Bureau. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainCities

Verify with U.S. Census Bureau →

Every figure on PlainCities is rendered directly from Census ACS source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on Census ACS source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.