Naperville District 203 and Indian Prairie District 204 are among the top 50 school districts in the country, according to latest rankings from Niche.
Niche released its 2025 lists for the Best K-12 Schools and Districts in America this week. Against thousands of public districts across the country, Indian Prairie came in at No. 29 and Naperville at No. 41 in the national rankings.
Among lllinois districts, District 204 was listed at No. 10 followed by District 203 at No. 11.
Niche is an online rating database that annually ranks and reviews factors that figure into where someone decides to settle down — schools, work, public safety. Earlier this year, Niche ranked Naperville the No. 1 best city to live in America.
For its 2025 school rankings, Niche evaluated more than 11,000 school districts nationwide, including more than 93,000 public schools and 30,000 private schools. Niche combined data from sources such as the U.S. Department of Education with input from students, alumni and parents to compile its assessment.
Quality of teachers, facilities, extracurricular activities, graduation rates, state level test scores and enrollment figures all factored into the rankings.
Niche did note that for its 2025 K-12 lists, it removed all SAT/ACT-related factors to reflect the deemphasis on standardized testing in college admissions in recent years.
Topping the list of best school districts in America was Adlai E. Stevenson High School District No. 125 in Lincolnshire. Two more Illinois school districts rounded out the top 3 in the state, with Glenbrook High School District 225 in Glenview and Evanston Township High School District No. 202 coming in at No. 2 and No. 3, respectively.
In all, Illinois had 12 school districts that cracked the top 50.
Beyond where they fell in ratings, districts 203 and 204 both received an overall A+ grade from Niche. As part of the rankings, districts are awarded a “report card” with a list of grades for categories from academics and sports to diversity and clubs.
Individually, several Naperville-area schools also posted high marks in Niche’s 2025 rankings.
All five district 203 and 204 high schools placed in the top 25 public high schools in Illinois.
Neuqua Valley earned the 10th spot; Metea Valley, 14th; Naperville North, 20th; Naperville Central, 22nd; and Waubonsie Valley, 24th.
At No. 95, Neuqua Valley was the only one to place in the top 100 public high schools in America.
Eleven of the 50 highest-ranked public middle/junior high schools in Illinois also were from districts 203 and 204.
In District 203, Kennedy Junior High School ranked No. 1, followed by Washington Junior High at No. 18; Madison Junior High at No. 21; Lincoln Junior High at No. 22; and Jefferson Junior High at No. 29.
District 204’s Scullen Middle School ranked No. 6, followed by Gordon Gregory Middle at No. 7; Clifford Crone Middle at No. 9; Francis Granger Middle at No. 19; Thayer J. Hill Middle at No. 20; and Still Middle at No. 33.
Nationally, Kennedy was the sole area middle/junior high school to rank in the top 100, snagging the No. 87 spot out of 26,130 public middle schools ranked in the U.S.
As for elementary schools, 26 spots of the state’s top 50 list were made up of District 203 and District 204 sites. The highest ranking elementary schools statewide were District 204’s Graham, which came in at No. 2, and District 203’s Ellsworth, which was right behind at No. 3.
