Best School Districts Near Princeton, NJ, Ranked by SAT

By Charlie Wu, Realtor since 2015 · Updated Oct 25, 2026

For many families, the school district decides the home search before anything else does. Here is how the public high schools around Princeton compare on the SAT, using 2024-25 New Jersey public high school average SAT totals. The SAT is one academic measure, not the whole story, but it is a clear and comparable one. For a closer look at each district, see our school district guides.

Four of New Jersey’s top five are here

The headline is striking: four of the five highest scoring public high schools in New Jersey sit in the Greater Princeton area, leaving aside the selective magnet and county vocational schools that admit students by application. Only Millburn, in North Jersey, scores higher. West Windsor-Plainsboro South, West Windsor-Plainsboro North, Montgomery, and Princeton take the next four spots in the state. Several other strong districts in the corridor place comfortably inside the state’s top 40.

Greater Princeton high schools by SAT (2024-25)

Average SAT total and section scores, 2024-25 New Jersey public high schools. NJ Rank is the school’s position among New Jersey’s traditional public high schools by total SAT; see how the ranking works below. Highlighted rows are the four Greater Princeton schools in the statewide top five; Millburn is shown as the statewide number one for reference.

How this ranking works

The scores come from the New Jersey Department of Education’s 2024-25 School Performance Reports. A school’s SAT total is its average Math score plus its average Reading and Writing score. The ranking covers New Jersey’s traditional public high schools, the ones a student attends based on where the family lives. It leaves out selective magnet and county vocational schools, such as Bergen County Academies, High Technology High School, and Edison Academy Magnet School, along with charter schools, because those admit students by application or lottery rather than by address. Several of them post higher averages than Millburn.

Averages reflect only the students who took the SAT, and the share who take it varies by school. In the same state data, participation was about 88% at West Windsor-Plainsboro South, 85% at North, 86% at Montgomery, 73% at Princeton, and 63% at Millburn. The Greater Princeton schools post their scores with a larger share of students testing.

What the scores tell you, and what they do not

A total above 1200 places a school near the top 40 of New Jersey’s traditional public high schools, so the entire group above is strong by state standards. The West Windsor-Plainsboro, Montgomery, and Princeton cluster is genuinely among the best in New Jersey on this measure. That said, the SAT captures academics only. Different rankings weigh academics, sports, household income, and diversity differently, which is why the same school can look average on one site and elite on another. Decide which factors matter most to your family, then read any single ranking, including this one, as one input rather than the verdict.

School quality shows up in home prices

Strong districts get capitalized into home values. Buyers pay a premium to be inside the West Windsor-Plainsboro, Princeton, and Montgomery attendance areas, and that premium tends to hold up well over time. If schools are driving your search, it is worth mapping price differences district by district before you fall for a specific house, because the same budget buys very different homes across these towns.

Check the boundary, not the mailing address

School assignment follows municipal and district lines, not the town on your mailing address. A home with a “Princeton” postal address can sit in a different municipality and feed entirely different schools. Before you make an offer based on a district, confirm the exact attendance area for that specific address. See our note on why a Princeton address is not always Princeton.

Data: New Jersey Department of Education School Performance Reports, 2024-25 average SAT scores, ranked by The Wu Team among traditional public high schools (magnet, county vocational, and charter schools excluded). Scores reflect academic results only and change year to year. Confirm current attendance boundaries and program details with the district before relying on them for a purchase.

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