The International Schools Database, helping parents compare over 3,000 international schools to learn about class offerings, teacher qualifications, and extracurricular activities and a variety of other factors, analysed offers in 76 cities across 50 countries.

Each year, the International Schools Database collects price data from international schools across the globe. Last week the 2022 data was released.

The US is home to the most expensive international schooling in the world in New York City, it found.

In the past year, the maximum international schools prices in New York City exceeded $60,000 annually, with Avenues International School in Manhattan charging a record $62,700 per year in tuition and fees.

San Francisco earned a spot on the list as well, coming in as the fourth most expensive city for international schools worldwide. China, Switzerland and the UK all joined the US in dominating the top 10 list of most expensive cities.

China had the most cities in the top 10 list, with Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou all taking spots.

And London made its way into the top 10 this year, edging out Toronto, which appeared in last year’s list. The American School in London is not only the most expensive option in London, but at over $47,000 per year, it’s the only school in London in the 40K range.

A significant finding noted by numerous school leaders in recent conversations with The PIE, is the rising median price. In 2022, the median price in 43 cities rose, and the degree of the increases varied wildly.

“For the third year in a row Copenhagen remains the least expensive city for international education”

Malaysia claimed the top spot for least expensive city for international school last year, with Ipoh-Perak, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia coming in at just over $3,000. Other cities on the least expensive list by continent included Copenhagen.

“Something surprising is that for the third year in a row Copenhagen remains the least expensive city for international education, despite it having a quite high cost of living,” International Schools Database co-founder, Andrea Robledillo, told The PIE. She also shared that in Denmark public and private schools are subsidised by the government.

“This explains why education is so affordable – comparatively speaking – in a country with a reputation for being a high-cost location,” she added.

In Africa, Cape Town  came in as the least expensive and in the Americas, Lima, Peru earned the designation. “It will be interesting to see how this changes over the coming years,” concluded Robledillo.

Andrea and Gerardo Robledillo co-founded the International Schools Database after challenging searches for international school for their own children, and in an attempt to make life easier for ex-pat families.

In discussing the key findings from the data, International Schools Database reported, “In our analysis for 2022 we added four new cities – Riga, Vilnius, Bali, and Ipoh-Perak, which shows the increasing demand for international schools in these destinations.”