# US Schools Directory: Public, Private & College Data (NCES) (`pankajbhatia/us-schools-directory`) Actor

Official NCES data on US public K-12 schools (enrollment, grades, teachers, student-teacher ratio, free lunch, demographics), private schools and colleges: address, district, coordinates. Filter by state, city, ZIP, level.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/pankajbhatia/us-schools-directory.md
- **Developed by:** [Pankaj Bhatia](https://apify.com/pankajbhatia) (community)
- **Categories:** Lead generation, Business
- **Security:** Limited permissions
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $0.50 / 1,000 schools

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
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.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## 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.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## US Schools Directory: Public, Private & College Data (NCES)

Get official **US school data** from the **National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)**. It covers about 100,000 **public K-12 schools**, with **enrollment**, lowest and highest grade, school level, charter and virtual status, district, **full-time teachers**, **student-teacher ratio**, **free and reduced-price lunch** counts and percentage, and students by race and gender. It also covers **private schools** and **colleges and universities**, with address, county, locale, metro area and coordinates. You can filter by **state**, **city**, **ZIP**, **name**, **district**, **school level**, **charter status** and **minimum enrollment**. Phone numbers are not returned. No login or API key is needed.

### Who is it for?

- **EdTech, publishers and school-supply companies** building B2B lists of schools and districts by size.
- **Real estate and relocation services** adding school data to listings.
- **Nonprofits, researchers and journalists** studying enrollment, poverty (free lunch) and staffing.
- **Recruiters and tutoring services** targeting regions.

### How to use it

1. Choose **school types** (the default is public K-12).
2. Pick **states** (the default is CA), and optionally a **city**, **ZIP codes** or **name**.
3. For public schools, optionally filter by **district**, **level** (elementary, middle, high), **charter** and **minimum enrollment**.
4. Set **Max results** and click **Start**.

### Input example

```json
{"schoolTypes": ["public"], "states": ["CA"], "city": "San Jose", "schoolLevel": "High", "minEnrollment": 500, "charter": "exclude"}
```

### Output example

```json
{"schoolType": "public", "ncesId": "060723000665", "name": "Del Mar High", "district": "Campbell Union High", "city": "San Jose", "state": "CA", "schoolLevel": "High", "enrollment": 1350, "teachersFte": 65.64, "studentTeacherRatio": 20.57, "freeReducedLunchPct": 69.6, "schoolYear": "2024-2025"}
```

### How much does it cost?

Pay-per-event: a small fee **per school** returned, plus a tiny per-run start fee. There is no subscription and no separate platform usage cost. For example, 1,000 schools cost about $0.50. Searches with no matches and error rows are **not charged**. Use **Max results** or **Maximum cost per run** to cap your spending.

### Use it through the API, integrations or AI agents

Run it from the Apify API, on a schedule, or connect it to Make, Zapier, n8n or Google Sheets. AI agents can find and call it through the Apify MCP server. Output is clean JSON with the same fields on every run.

### FAQ

**Is it legal?** Yes. NCES publishes the Common Core of Data (public schools), the Private School Survey and IPEDS college locations as public U.S. government data through official open map services. The data describes institutions, not students, and phone numbers are dropped.

**How current is it?** Public school data is from the latest Common Core of Data year (currently 2024-25). Private school and college locations come from their latest NCES releases. The `schoolYear` field shows the year.

**Why are some values empty?** NCES suppresses or omits values that a state didn't report. The tool returns those as empty rather than as NCES's negative codes.

**Do private schools and colleges have enrollment?** Not in these location datasets. Only public schools include enrollment and staffing.

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# Actor input Schema

## `schoolTypes` (type: `array`):

Which NCES datasets.

## `states` (type: `array`):

2-letter codes, e.g. CA, TX. Empty = all states.

## `city` (type: `string`):

e.g. San Jose.

## `zipCodes` (type: `array`):

5-digit ZIP codes.

## `nameContains` (type: `string`):

e.g. Academy, Lincoln.

## `districtContains` (type: `string`):

e.g. Los Angeles Unified.

## `schoolLevel` (type: `string`):

Filter by level.

## `charter` (type: `string`):

Include, exclude or only charter schools.

## `minEnrollment` (type: `integer`):

0 = any.

## `maxResults` (type: `integer`):

Total limit for the run.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "schoolTypes": [
    "public"
  ],
  "states": [
    "CA"
  ],
  "city": "",
  "zipCodes": [],
  "nameContains": "",
  "districtContains": "",
  "schoolLevel": "any",
  "charter": "any",
  "minEnrollment": 0,
  "maxResults": 200
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

One row per school with location and (for public schools) enrollment data.

# 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 '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "schoolTypes": [
        "public"
    ],
    "states": [
        "CA"
    ],
    "city": "",
    "zipCodes": [],
    "nameContains": "",
    "districtContains": "",
    "minEnrollment": 0,
    "maxResults": 200
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("pankajbhatia/us-schools-directory").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 '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "schoolTypes": ["public"],
    "states": ["CA"],
    "city": "",
    "zipCodes": [],
    "nameContains": "",
    "districtContains": "",
    "minEnrollment": 0,
    "maxResults": 200,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("pankajbhatia/us-schools-directory").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "schoolTypes": [
    "public"
  ],
  "states": [
    "CA"
  ],
  "city": "",
  "zipCodes": [],
  "nameContains": "",
  "districtContains": "",
  "minEnrollment": 0,
  "maxResults": 200
}' |
apify call pankajbhatia/us-schools-directory --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,pankajbhatia/us-schools-directory"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/00PglNREsG8GeVItP/builds/bzpbz5jX9QfMZpKA5/openapi.json