Key points:
- The most expensive cities in the world for international schools were located in 3 areas: the USA, China, and Europe
- Europe and Asia had the widest range of international school costs in 2025
- African cities had 4 of the lowest median costs in the world for international schools
- The Middle East was the only world region that was not included in either the 10 most expensive or the 10 least expensive cities for international schools
At the International Schools Database, we help local and expat parents choose the perfect international school for their children. Our database allows parents to find, research and compare international schools in cities across the world. Naturally, this means that we gather and analyse a huge amount of information about international schools.
Starting in 2019, we began using this data to evaluate the prices of international schools across the globe. We are now in our sixth year of this project, and we have been able to pinpoint certain price facts such as the most expensive regions, the regions with the biggest variety of prices, and more.
Below, we have analysed the worldwide price data from 86 cities in 52 countries, in graph and table forms. While we have used all price data available to us as of Dec 31st 2025, there may be additional schools and prices not included in each city. This is because they do not make their price data available or because it is unknown to us. Links to additional research focusing on each world region individually can be found at the bottom of this article and here can be found the results of the previous year 2024.
Worldwide Prices of International Schools Per Year
The graph below is known as a box plot graph. It shows a comprehensive view of the range of prices in each city, instead of just an average. A single average price may not necessarily represent the full picture of prices in each destination. Since there is a lot to unpack in this graph, we have also provided a little explanation on how to read the graph easily at the end of the article.
Highlights and takeaways from the research findings
When it comes to the most expensive international school costs in the world in 2025, there are three locations to take note of: the USA, China, and Europe. The 10 most expensive cities for international schooling in our research were all within these regions. Two of those cities were in the USA - New York, which was the most expensive in the world, and the San Francisco Bay Area. The median cost of an international school in New York in 2025 was $47,950 (costs there had a maximum of $72,300) and in San Francisco it was $36,772.
Four more of the top 10 cities were in China; specifically Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou. Of these, Beijing had the highest median cost in China for international schooling and the second highest in the world. The median cost for an international school in the city in 2025 was $38,078.
The remaining four European cities in the top 10 were in Switzerland and the United Kingdom; specifically Zurich-Zug, Lausanne-Vaud, Geneva, and London. In Europe, Zurich-Zug was the city with the highest median cost of international schools at $35,472. That makes it the fourth highest median cost in the world in 2025 for international schooling.
While Europe and Asia had some of the most expensive international school costs in the world in 2025, they were also represented among the top 10 least expensive cities. Denmark and Spain had the lowest median international school costs in Europe - $5,991 in Copenhagen, Denmark’s capital city, and $5,896 in Tenerife, one of Spain’s Canary Islands.
As for Asia, some of the least expensive international school costs both in the continent and the world were found in Malaysia, Indonesia and Cambodia. Ipoh-Perak in Malaysia was the city with the lowest median cost of international schools worldwide - $3,426 in 2025. The other Asian cities with some of the lowest median costs were Kuala Lumpur, Bali, and Phnom Penh. This shows that there is a very broad range of costs across these regions.
Africa was the only world region where the median costs of international schools did not exceed $10,000 per year in 2025. In fact 4 of the 10 lowest median costs in our research were in Africa - Casablanca in Morocco, Cape Town in South Africa, Mauritius, and Kampala in Uganda. Of these, Kampala had the lowest median cost for an international school at $4,153 - making it the second lowest in the world.
The Middle East is the only world region whose cities were not among either the most or least expensive for median international school costs. Like its name, costs in this region were spread throughout the middle range. Istanbul had the 11th highest median cost of 86 cities included in our research ($24,482 in 2025), while Amman was 73rd of 86 cities with a median cost of $6,559 for international schooling.
You can find a breakdown of exact prices for each city in the table below. But if you’d like even more analysis, we have also compiled price data by region; you can find links to this additional research at the bottom of this article. If you require any further information or have additional questions, don't hesitate to contact us at andrea@international-schools-database.com.
