Education news

Austin high school ranks among America's best in 2025, per U.S. News

Austin has some incredible high schools.

A prestigious Austin high school is living up to its reputation for top-tier education after being ranked among the best high schools in the country, according to U.S. News and World Report's just-released annual rankings.

Austin Independent School District's Liberal Arts and Science Academy is clocking in as the fourth best high school in Texas, and the No. 36 best high school nationwide.

U.S. News annually evaluates about 24,000 public high schools on six factors: college readiness, college curriculum breadth, state assessment proficiency, state assessment performance, underserved student performance, and graduation rates. New for this year's batch of rankings, U.S. News discontinued its list of top magnet schools, citing a lack of new data from source Common Core of Data. The national best STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) and charter school rankings were unaffected.

Topping the 2025 list of best U.S. high schools is BASIS Tuscon North, a charter school in Tuscon, Arizona.

The Liberal Arts and Science Academy moved up two spots on the overall best high schools list after previously ranking 38th in last year's list. LASA also ranked No. 74 nationally among the best STEM schools, down from No. 52 in 2024.

"Students and families need data to help them make one of the most important decisions of their academic journey. Our Best High Schools rankings provide the insights to help them identify schools that will prepare students for college success," said U.S. News managing editor for education LaMont Jones, Ed.D., in a press release. "Access to information isn't just helpful — it's essential for planning a student's future."

Three additional Austin-area charter schools ranked among the top 100 in the country: Idea Rundberg College Preperatory (No. 48), Meridian School in Round Rock (No. 69), and Chaparral Star Academy (No. 84). Idea Rundberg also ranked as the 28th best high school in Texas (down from No. 22 last year), while Meridian School moved up two spots and now stands at No. 42 for 2025. Chaparral Star Academy fell several spots from its former No. 45 rank in 2024 and now appears as the 54th best high school in Texas.

Four more Austin schools that rank among Texas' 100 best are:

No. 17 – Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders, Austin ISD (down from No. 15 last year)
No. 51 – Westlake High School, Eanes ISD, Austin (up from No. 53 last year)
No. 63 – Westwood High School, Round Rock ISD, Austin (up from No. 74 last year)
No. 89 – Vandegrift High School, Leander ISD, Austin (up from No. 96 last year)

Other Texas high schools that rank among the best in the U.S.
These 10 additional Texas high schools made it onto U.S. News' national list of the top 100 high schools for 2025-2026:

Dallas ISD's School for the Talented and Gifted, No. 9 (down from No. 6 last year). TAG also ranked No. 33 nationally among the best STEM high schools.
Dallas ISD's Irma Lerma Rangel Young Women's Leadership School, No. 15 (up from No. 23 last year).
Dallas ISD's School of Science and Engineering, No. 23 (up from No. 29 last year). SEM also ranked No. 46 among the best STEM schools.
Houston ISD’s Carnegie Vanguard High School, No. 42 (down from No. 31 last year).
Grand Prairie ISD's Collegiate Institute, No. 54 (down from No. 30 last year). The Collegiate Institute also ranked No. 13 nationally among the best charter high schools.
BASIS San Antonio - Shavano Campus, No. 58 (up from No. 64 last year). The Shavano Campus also ranked No. 18 nationally among the best STEM high schools and No. 14 nationally among the best charter high schools.
Houston ISD’s DeBakey High School for Health Professions, No. 75 (down from No. 70 last year).
Dallas ISD's Judge Barefoot Sanders Law Magnet, No. 84 (up from No. 85 last year).
Lubbock ISD's Talkington School for Young Women Leaders, No. 95 (up from No. 105 last year).
San Antonio ISD's Young Women's Leadership Academy, No. 98 (up from No. 106 last year).

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income analysis

This is the family income needed for one parent to stay home in Texas

Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash

With costs to raise a child soaring over $20,000 a year in Texas, some households might decide to have one parent work while the other stays at home to raise their child.

The cost of raising a child has ballooned in major cities like Austin, forcing many families to weight the choice between paying for child care or having one parent stay home full-time.

A recent analysis from SmartAsset determined the minimum income one parent needs to earn to support their partner staying at home to raise one child in all 50 states. In Texas — not just Austin — that amount is just under $75,000.

The study used the MIT Living Wage Calculator to compare the annual living wages needed for a household with two working adults and one child, and a household with one working adult, a stay-at-home parent, and one child. The study also calculated how much it would cost to raise a child with two working parents based on factors such as "food, housing, childcare, healthcare, transportation, incremental income taxes and other necessities."

A Texas household with one working parent would need to earn $74,734 a year to support a stay-at-home partner and a child, the report found. If two parents worked in the household, necessitating some additional costs like childcare and transportation, it would require an additional $10,504 in annual income to raise their child.

SmartAsset said the cost to raise a child in Texas in a two-working-parent household adds up to $23,587. Raising a child in Central Texas, however, is slightly more expensive. A separate SmartAsset study from June 2025 determined it costs $24,118 to raise a child in the Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos metro.

In the report's ranking of states with the highest minimum income needed to support a family with one working adult, a stay-at-home parent, and one child, Texas ranked 32nd on the list.

In other states like Massachusetts, where raising a child can cost more than $40,000 a year, the report acknowledges ways families are working to reduce any financial burdens.

"This often includes considerations around who’s going to work in the household, and whether young children will require paid daycare services while parents are occupied," the report said. "With tradeoffs abound, many parents might seek to understand the minimum income needed to keep the family afloat while allowing the other parent to stay home to raise a young child."

The top 10 states with the lowest minimum income threshold to support a three-person family on one income are:

West Virginia – $68,099
Arkansas – $68,141
Mississippi – $70,242
Kentucky – $70,408
North Dakota – $70,949
Oklahoma – $71,718
Ohio – $72,114
South Dakota – $72,218
Alabama – $72,238
Nebraska – $72,966

texas income smartasset family

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income analysis

This is the family income needed for one parent to stay home in Texas