by Sheila Cox, Five Star Realtor | Updated October 2025
So let me give you the “411” on Katy TX schools. In my 15 yrs of experience, something that is very challenging for people to understand about the Houston-metro area is that some schools districts are very large and can have BOTH high-rated AND low-rated schools within the SAME school district. Katy ISD has approximately 74 schools and Fort Bend ISD (for Sugar Land TX) has over 84 schools! Naturally, with that many schools, some schools are going to be excellent and some may be low-performing. Of course, some school districts are better than others, but a home can be zoned to low-rated schools even if it is in a highly rated school district like Katy ISD. This means that you can’t focus on just a school district in your home search….you need to focus on the individual schools.
Also know that school ratings can and will fluctuate from year to year…generally moving up or down one point each year. For example, Seven Lakes HS was rated a 10 in 2020 but moved down to 8 (on greatschools.org) in 2024. Some Katy TX schools stay the same rating from year to year, but most move up or down every year.
NOTE: Seven Lakes HS is still the top-ranking high school in this area and is the 9th highest rated in the Houston Metroplex according to U.S. News and World Report 2025 reviews see details below. Plus, Tompkins HS is now 12th…both ahead of Clements HS in Sugar Land.
Niche is still ranking Katy ISD as be best school district in the entire Houston area (see below).
Source: https://www.niche.com/k12/search/best-school-districts/m/houston-metro-area/
And if you like School Digger, here’s their ratings in 2025.
Source: https://www.schooldigger.com
Another thing to know about Katy TX schools…a neighborhood may be zoned to multiple elementary, middle, and high schools. So you may want to live in large neighborhood like Cinco Ranch, but just know that your home may be zoned to one of eight elementary schools, six middle schools, and four high schools…depending on which part of Cinco Ranch you live. Or if you live in Cross Creek Ranch, the east side is zoned to Katy ISD but the west side is zoned to Lamar Consolidated ISD. So within the same neighborhood, you could be zoned to two different school districts!
Also know that school zones can and will change over time….especially in new home developments. For example, when Tamarron first opened, it was zoned to Katy ISD schools but quickly got rezoned to Lamar Consolidated ISD, due to over-crowding. And if a new neighborhood builds out quicker than schools are added, then you could be rezoned multiple times…and maybe to lower-performing schools than originally expected. So be very careful about choosing homes based on their current school zones! (This is why you need a local area real estate expert, like Sheila Cox, to find the right home.)
Why Schools Are Important – Even If You Don’t Have School-Aged Children
People typically move to the Katy area because of the schools. So even if you do not have school-aged children, you should try to buy a home zoned to a high-performing school. This is because the Katy TX school ratings can have an impact on long-term home values. And there also seems to be a correlation between the number of sex offenders in an area and the rating of the schools…the lower the school rating, the higher the number of sex offenders. This is important because studies show that a large number of sex offenders is an indicator of higher crime rates and lower property values.
Read more:
>> There Goes the Neighborhood
>> Sex offender data threatening home values
The following map shows the location of registered sex offenders from the Family Watchdog website. It shows that the older areas have higher numbers of sex offenders than the newer areas (which also tend to have higher-rated schools). Seriously, you can almost directly relate the volume of sex offenders in an area to the schools ratings.
Source: https://www.familywatchdog.us/showmap.asp#legend
Katy Independent School District
Many people move to Katy because of Katy TX schools and the award-winning and acclaimed school district: Katy ISD (Independent School District). Katy ISD serves over 95,000 students spread over a 180+ square mile area containing 74+ schools. As one of the largest employers in the Katy area, this school district employees over 11,000 people, including 5800+ teachers.
The ACT (American College Test) and SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test) scores in Katy schools are above the state and national averages. In addition, most of the high schools in Katy have a 95-98 percent graduation rate.
» See a list of Katy Homes for Sale Zoned to Best Schools
» See Katy ISD Info
» See Katy ISD information for newcomers
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Sheila is the author of KatyHomesForSaleTX.com – so you know that she knows the area! Winner of Five Star award every year since 2010.
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