Best School Suburbs in Sydney 2026
These are the best school access suburbs in Sydney, drawn from SuburbCheck's data on every Sydney suburb. Ranked by School Score — a national percentile combining the quality of nearby schools (ACARA ICSEA ratings) with school choice (how many schools are within reach). A score of 80 or above places a suburb in the top 20% nationally for access to strong schools. Scores update as new government data is released.
Last updated 12 June 2026.
- 1BalmainNSW 2041 · Inner West$3.05M10,454 people100
- 2CremorneNSW 2090 · North Sydney$4.16M11,263 people100
- 3Crows NestNSW 2065 · North Sydney$3.08M4,974 people100
- 4DarlinghurstNSW 2010 · Sydney$2.85M10,615 people100
- 5East LindfieldNSW 2070 · Ku-ring-gai$4.03M3,710 people100
- 6EdgecliffNSW 2027 · Woollahra$2.91M2,499 people100
- 7GordonNSW 2072 · Ku-ring-gai$3.78M8,795 people100
- 8GreenwichNSW 2065 · Lane Cove$3.96M5,469 people100
- 9KirribilliNSW 2061 · North Sydney$5.12M3,629 people100
- 10Neutral BayNSW 2089 · North Sydney$2.82M10,090 people100
- 11RosevilleNSW 2069 · Ku-ring-gai$4.03M10,340 people100
- 12St LeonardsNSW 2065 · Willoughby$4.81M7,212 people100
- 13TurramurraNSW 2074 · Ku-ring-gai$3.38M12,850 people100
- 14WoollahraNSW 2025 · Woollahra$4.67M7,189 people100
- 15ArtarmonNSW 2064 · Willoughby$3.77M9,417 people99
- 16Balgowlah HeightsNSW 2093 · Northern Beaches$4.62M3,546 people99
- 17BeecroftNSW 2119 · Hornsby$2.57M10,291 people99
- 18Bellevue HillNSW 2023 · Woollahra$11.93M10,590 people99
- 19BronteNSW 2024 · Waverley$5.76M7,166 people99
- 20CammerayNSW 2062 · North Sydney$3.59M7,088 people99
- 21Castle CoveNSW 2069 · Willoughby$3.94M2,643 people99
- 22CollaroyNSW 2097 · Northern Beaches$3.40M7,944 people99
- 23KillaraNSW 2071 · Ku-ring-gai$3.84M10,620 people99
- 24Lane CoveNSW 2066 · Lane Cove$3.30M12,363 people99
- 25MosmanNSW 2088 · Mosman$6.24M28,329 people99
Frequently asked questions
Which suburb in Sydney has the best schools?
Balmain tops SuburbCheck's School Score ranking for Sydney, with a School Score of 100/100. The score reflects the quality (ICSEA) of nearby schools and how much school choice the area offers, benchmarked against every Australian suburb.
How is the School Score calculated?
The School Score is a national percentile (0–100) that combines the average ICSEA rating of the schools in and around a suburb with school choice (how many schools are within reach). It is led by quality — a score of 80 or above puts a suburb in the national top 20% for access to strong schools. ICSEA is used because the ACARA dataset has no NAPLAN figures.
What is ICSEA?
ICSEA (Index of Community Socio-Educational Advantage) is ACARA's measure of the socio-educational background of a school's students, on a scale where 1000 is the national average. It's the standard like-for-like benchmark for comparing schools across Australia; higher-ICSEA schools tend to post stronger academic results.