2017 04: Bay Area Sweet Spots

A recent New York Times article examines one of the biggest drivers in a families' decision to leave cities: school. Using data from a number of sources, the New York Times developed charts that look at school performance and median home sale price per square foot for five metro areas including New York/New Jersey, San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, and Minneapolis. For most of the cities studied, home prices rise with the quality of the school district but a number of districts break this pattern. The map shown highlights five Bay Area schools that perform above average, and have below average housing costs. The New York Times used median price per square foot to measure housing costs and the median number of grades ahead (or behind) for school district quality. In the San Francisco Bay Region, the price per square foot was around $500 while students were .28 grades ahead of their grade placement. The five Bay Area schools that were selected had the lowest home prices and the best performing schools in the region. Source: New York Times