# Great Schools Scraper (`crawlerbros/great-schools-scraper`) Actor Scrape 100,000+ US public schools from the NCES (National Center for Education Statistics) dataset. Search by school name, city, state, grade level, or look up by NCES ID. Get address, enrollment, teacher count, grade ranges, district, phone, website, and GPS coordinates. - **URL**: https://apify.com/crawlerbros/great-schools-scraper.md - **Developed by:** [Crawler Bros](https://apify.com/crawlerbros) (community) - **Categories:** Automation, Lead generation, Developer tools - **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, NaN bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing from $3.00 / 1,000 results This Actor is paid per event and usage. You are charged both the fixed price for specific events and for Apify platform usage. Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have. Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event ## What's an Apify Actor? Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases. In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours, and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store. In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server. Actors are written with capital "A". ## How to integrate an Actor? If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects. You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready. The best way to integrate Actors is as follows. In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md): ```bash npm install apify-client ``` In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md): ```bash pip install apify-client ``` In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): ````bash # MacOS / Linux curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash # Windows irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex ```bash In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md). If your project is in a different language, use the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md). For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below. For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt). # README ## Great Schools Scraper Scrape **100,000+ US public schools** from the NCES (National Center for Education Statistics) dataset. Search schools by name, city, state, or grade level — or look up specific schools by their NCES ID. Get enrollment numbers, teacher counts, grade ranges, school type, district ID, GPS coordinates, phone number, and website. ### What you get Each record includes: | Field | Description | |---|---| | `ncesId` | NCES school ID (unique national identifier) | | `name` | Official school name | | `address` | Street address | | `city`, `state` | Location | | `zip` | ZIP code | | `county` | County name | | `phone` | School phone number | | `website` | School or district website | | `level` | Grade level (ELEMENTARY, MIDDLE, HIGH, SECONDARY, etc.) | | `schoolType` | School type (Regular public, Charter, Special education, etc.) | | `enrollment` | Total student enrollment | | `fullTimeTeachers` | Number of full-time teachers | | `startGrade` | Lowest grade offered (e.g. KG, 01) | | `endGrade` | Highest grade offered (e.g. 05, 12) | | `districtId` | NCES district identifier | | `latitude`, `longitude` | GPS coordinates | | `sourceUrl` | Link to NCES data record | | `scrapedAt` | Timestamp of data collection | ### Input options #### Mode: Search (`mode=search`) Search schools by name and apply filters: ```json { "mode": "search", "query": "Lincoln Elementary", "state": "CA", "maxItems": 25 } ```` Filter by grade level: ```json { "mode": "search", "state": "TX", "schoolLevel": "HIGH", "city": "Austin", "maxItems": 50 } ``` #### Mode: Lookup by NCES ID (`mode=byNcesId`) Fetch specific schools by their NCES IDs: ```json { "mode": "byNcesId", "ncesIds": ["064214011007", "360003101838"], "maxItems": 10 } ``` ### Input parameters | Parameter | Type | Description | |---|---|---| | `mode` | string | **Required.** `search` or `byNcesId` | | `query` | string | School name search query | | `state` | string | Filter by US state (2-letter code) | | `city` | string | Filter by city name | | `schoolLevel` | string | Grade level: ELEMENTARY, MIDDLE, HIGH, SECONDARY, PREKINDERGARTEN, OTHER | | `ncesIds` | array | List of NCES IDs for `byNcesId` mode | | `maxItems` | integer | Max records to return (1–10,000, default 100) | ### School levels | Value | Description | |---|---| | ELEMENTARY | Grades K–5 or K–6 | | MIDDLE | Grades 6–8 or 7–8 | | HIGH | Grades 9–12 | | SECONDARY | Combined middle + high school | | PREKINDERGARTEN | Pre-K programs | | OTHER | Alternative and other programs | ### School types | Code | Type | |---|---| | 1 | Regular public school | | 2 | Special education school | | 3 | Vocational/Technical school | | 4 | Alternative/Other school | | 5 | Reportable program | | 7 | Charter school | ### Use cases - **Education market research** — Find all schools in a city, county, or state by grade level - **Sales prospecting** — Identify schools with large enrollment for education product outreach - **Policy research** — Analyze public school distribution across regions - **Parent tools** — Look up schools in a specific area by type and grade range - **District analysis** — Group schools by district ID to analyze district-level patterns - **Enrollment trends** — Compare school sizes across states and school types - **School comparison** — Look up specific schools by NCES ID for detailed information ### Finding NCES IDs NCES IDs can be found in: - The [NCES School Search](https://nces.ed.gov/ccd/schoolsearch/) tool - State education department websites - District rosters and public data portals - Previous scrapes of this actor (the `ncesId` field) ### FAQ **Is this free to use?** Yes — no API key or credentials required. Data is sourced from the publicly accessible NCES (National Center for Education Statistics) dataset via OpenDataSoft. **How many schools are in the dataset?** Over 100,000 US public schools across all 50 states and the District of Columbia. **Is private school data included?** The dataset primarily covers public schools. Some charter and alternative schools are included. **How current is the data?** The dataset is periodically updated from NCES records. Most records reflect data from 2019–2022. **What does NCES mean?** NCES is the National Center for Education Statistics — the primary federal agency for collecting and analyzing educational data in the United States, part of the US Department of Education. **Why are some enrollment numbers missing?** The NCES dataset uses -999 as a sentinel for unreported values. This actor strips those automatically so only real enrollment figures appear in the output. ### Data source Data is sourced from the [US Public Schools dataset](https://public.opendatasoft.com/explore/dataset/us-public-schools/) on OpenDataSoft, which aggregates NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) records for all public elementary and secondary schools in the United States. # Actor input Schema ## `mode` (type: `string`): What to fetch. ## `query` (type: `string`): School name or partial name (e.g. 'Lincoln Elementary', 'Jefferson High'). Optional — you can search by state/city/level alone. Used in mode=search. ## `state` (type: `string`): Filter by US state (2-letter abbreviation, e.g. CA, TX, NY). ## `city` (type: `string`): Filter by city name (case-insensitive). ## `schoolLevel` (type: `string`): Filter by grade level. ## `ncesIds` (type: `array`): List of NCES school IDs (e.g. '060000100118'). Used in mode=byNcesId. ## `maxItems` (type: `integer`): Maximum number of school records to return (1–10000). ## Actor input object example ```json { "mode": "search", "state": "CA", "maxItems": 100 } ``` # Actor output Schema ## `schools` (type: `string`): Dataset containing all scraped school records. # API You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup. ## JavaScript example ```javascript import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client'; // Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token // Replace the '' with your token const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '', }); // Prepare Actor input const input = { "mode": "search", "state": "CA", "maxItems": 100 }; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("crawlerbros/great-schools-scraper").call(input); // Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any) console.log('Results from dataset'); console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`); const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems(); items.forEach((item) => { console.dir(item); }); // 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs ``` ## Python example ```python from apify_client import ApifyClient # Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token # Replace '' with your token. client = ApifyClient("") # Prepare the Actor input run_input = { "mode": "search", "state": "CA", "maxItems": 100, } # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("crawlerbros/great-schools-scraper").call(run_input=run_input) # Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any) print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"]) for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items(): print(item) # 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start ``` ## CLI example ```bash echo '{ "mode": "search", "state": "CA", "maxItems": 100 }' | apify call crawlerbros/great-schools-scraper --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=crawlerbros/great-schools-scraper", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer " ] } } } ``` ## OpenAPI specification ```json { "openapi": "3.0.1", "info": { "title": "Great Schools Scraper", "description": "Scrape 100,000+ US public schools from the NCES (National Center for Education Statistics) dataset. Search by school name, city, state, grade level, or look up by NCES ID. Get address, enrollment, teacher count, grade ranges, district, phone, website, and GPS coordinates.", "version": "1.0", "x-build-id": "Um3d9k7ksmm1O9ofz" }, "servers": [ { "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2" } ], "paths": { "/acts/crawlerbros~great-schools-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-crawlerbros-great-schools-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } }, "/acts/crawlerbros~great-schools-scraper/runs": { "post": { "operationId": "runs-sync-crawlerbros-great-schools-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK", "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema" } } } } } } }, "/acts/crawlerbros~great-schools-scraper/run-sync": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-crawlerbros-great-schools-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } } }, "components": { "schemas": { "inputSchema": { "type": "object", "required": [ "mode" ], "properties": { "mode": { "title": "Mode", "enum": [ "search", "byNcesId" ], "type": "string", "description": "What to fetch.", "default": "search" }, "query": { "title": "School name search", "type": "string", "description": "School name or partial name (e.g. 'Lincoln Elementary', 'Jefferson High'). Optional — you can search by state/city/level alone. Used in mode=search." }, "state": { "title": "State", "enum": [ "", "AL", "AK", "AZ", "AR", "CA", "CO", "CT", "DE", "FL", "GA", "HI", "ID", "IL", "IN", "IA", "KS", "KY", "LA", "ME", "MD", "MA", "MI", "MN", "MS", "MO", "MT", "NE", "NV", "NH", "NJ", "NM", "NY", "NC", "ND", "OH", "OK", "OR", "PA", "RI", "SC", "SD", "TN", "TX", "UT", "VT", "VA", "WA", "WV", "WI", "WY", "DC" ], "type": "string", "description": "Filter by US state (2-letter abbreviation, e.g. CA, TX, NY).", "default": "CA" }, "city": { "title": "City", "type": "string", "description": "Filter by city name (case-insensitive)." }, "schoolLevel": { "title": "School level", "enum": [ "", "ELEMENTARY", "MIDDLE", "HIGH", "PREKINDERGARTEN", "SECONDARY", "OTHER" ], "type": "string", "description": "Filter by grade level." }, "ncesIds": { "title": "NCES IDs (mode=byNcesId)", "type": "array", "description": "List of NCES school IDs (e.g. '060000100118'). Used in mode=byNcesId.", "items": { "type": "string" } }, "maxItems": { "title": "Max items", "minimum": 1, "maximum": 10000, "type": "integer", "description": "Maximum number of school records to return (1–10000).", "default": 100 } } }, "runsResponseSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "data": { "type": "object", "properties": { "id": { "type": "string" }, "actId": { "type": "string" }, "userId": { "type": "string" }, "startedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "finishedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "status": { "type": "string", "example": "READY" }, "meta": { "type": "object", "properties": { "origin": { "type": "string", "example": "API" }, "userAgent": { "type": "string" } } }, "stats": { "type": "object", "properties": { "inputBodyLen": { "type": "integer", "example": 2000 }, "rebootCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "restartCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "resurrectCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "computeUnits": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "options": { "type": "object", "properties": { "build": { "type": "string", "example": "latest" }, "timeoutSecs": { "type": "integer", "example": 300 }, "memoryMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 1024 }, "diskMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 2048 } } }, "buildId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultKeyValueStoreId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultDatasetId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultRequestQueueId": { "type": "string" }, "buildNumber": { "type": "string", "example": "1.0.0" }, "containerUrl": { "type": "string" }, "usage": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 1 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "usageTotalUsd": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "usageUsd": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } } } } } } } } } ```