St. Louis

Education & healthcare

Top universities, top hospitals, and a complicated school map.

St. Louis offers a tale of two school systems. On one hand, Metro Academic and Classical High School, part of St. Louis Public Schools, ranks #1 in Missouri and #22 nationally with a 99% graduation rate. KSDK On the other hand, SLPS as a whole scored just 66.5% on Missouri's 2024–2025 Annual Performance Report and was downgraded to provisional accreditation in January 2026. Enrollment has fallen to under 18,000 students, and the district faces a projected deficit exceeding $40 million. St. Louis Public Radio, 2025 · KSDK, 2026 · K12 Dive

Suburban districts deliver top-tier public education. Clayton, Ladue, Rockwood, and Parkway districts consistently score in the state's highest accredited tiers, with Clayton posting a 94.2% APR score in 2025. Kirkwood posted a 78% APR, but the 12-point drop from 90% was caused by a testing-administration error, not a decline in student learning. St. Louis Public Radio, 2025 A deep bench of elite private and Catholic schools includes John Burroughs, MICDS, and Whitfield (all A+ Niche grades, which are based on user reviews and self-reported data), and Saint Louis Priory, ranked the #1 Catholic high school in Missouri. Niche · Niche

In higher education, Washington University in St. Louis climbed to #20 in U.S. News & World Report's 2026 National Universities ranking. KSDK, 2026 Saint Louis University ranks #102 nationally. SLU The University of Missouri–St. Louis ranks #1 in Missouri for social mobility. UMSL Blog, 2024

On healthcare, Barnes-Jewish Hospital is the #1 hospital in Missouri and St. Louis, on the U.S. News Honor Roll for 22+ consecutive years, and nationally ranked in 11 adult specialties. Barnes-Jewish Hospital St. Louis Children's Hospital is ranked #1 in Missouri and #3 in the Midwest for pediatric care. St. Louis Children's Hospital Newsweek's World's Best Hospitals 2025 ranked Barnes-Jewish #25 in the United States. Newsweek, 2025

Caveats: SLPS accreditation is fragile — the state board will not vote on permanent reclassification until January 2027, leaving families in uncertainty. KSDK, 2026 The accreditation downgrade was triggered by a late audit filing, not a sudden drop in test scores; the state commissioner herself said the provisional tag "is not going to make that big of a difference" operationally. STLPR, 2026 WashU's $68,240 annual tuition (2025–2026) places it among the most expensive universities in the country, though its no-loan financial aid policy for domestic students significantly reduces net cost for qualifying families. WashU Source, 2025