Best San Francisco suburbs for schools

Ranked almost entirely on the Schools category — within-state proficiency, student–teacher ratio, graduation rate and schools nearby — with the two poll questions about children and teenagers at 20% once a place has enough responses.

Updated Sep 2026·59 suburbs considered, 10 listed

Mill Valley$2.00M+ median · 24.8 min commute

Schools B+Cost of living CResidents inactive

Schools score
overall 68 B−

San Anselmo$1.58M median · 30.2 min commute

Schools B+Cost of living CResidents inactive

Schools score
overall 65 C+

Intersection of Camino Ricardo and Moraga Way, looking east toward Moraga Road. The fire station is on the right and the old pear orchard is on the left.

Moraga$1.66M median · 30.6 min commute

Schools B+Cost of living CResidents inactive

Schools score
overall 62 C

Orinda$1.86M median · 36.1 min commute

Schools B+Cost of living CResidents inactive

Schools score
overall 65 C+

Lafayette$2.00M+ median · 29.3 min commute

Schools B+Cost of living C+Residents inactive

Schools score
overall 67 C+

Albany$1.20M median · 30.8 min commute

Schools B+Cost of living BResidents inactive

Schools score
overall 69 B−

Larkspur City Hall — 400 Magnolia Ave., Larkspur, Marin County, California. Contributing property of the Larkspur Downtown Historic District, and on the Nationa

Larkspur$2.00M median · 27.5 min commute

Schools BCost of living C+Residents inactive

Schools score
overall 67 C+

Danville$1.68M median · 32.5 min commute

Schools BCost of living BResidents inactive

Schools score
overall 70 B−

San Ramon$1.51M median · 34.7 min commute

Schools BCost of living C+Residents inactive

Schools score
overall 65 C+

Burlingame$2.00M+ median · 30.7 min commute

Schools BCost of living B−Residents inactive

Schools score
overall 67 C+

This list's weighting

Schools 80%Resident poll (Q5, Q6) 20%

Poll components only count for places with eight or more resident responses; for the others the remaining weights re-normalise to 100%.

Other San Francisco lists

Best San Francisco suburbs for families Most affordable San Francisco suburbs Shortest commutes to Downtown San Francisco Most walkable San Francisco suburbs Best San Francisco suburbs for young professionals How we score San Francisco suburbs →

Photos from Wikimedia Commons: Mill Valley (SWENOWENSON · CC BY-SA 4.0); San Anselmo (Pi.1415926535 · CC BY-SA 4.0); Moraga (en:User:JD Lisa · Public domain); Orinda (Erica Fischer · CC BY 2.0); Lafayette (Stacey Baca · CC BY-SA 3.0); Albany (Das osmnezz · CC0); Larkspur (Sanfranman59 · CC BY-SA 3.0); Danville (Agwatkin · CC BY-SA 4.0); San Ramon (FASTILY · CC BY-SA 4.0); Burlingame (Javelinca · CC BY-SA 4.0).