Culver City's Most Expensive Neighborhoods By Elementary School

Culver City School District Home Price Comparison

This week I thought it would be interesting to see if Culver City's Elementary School District boundaries have any influence over home prices. The chart below compares the 4 elementary school districts that are populated by their respective geographical neighborhoods.

See map obtained from the CCUSD web site. (click on the image to enlarge)

The four schools are Farragut Elementary, Linwood E. Howe Elementary, El Rincon and La Ballona. El Marino Elementary is not included in this analysis, because it draws from all of Culver City.

As you can see from the API scores for 2013, Culver City schools rank pretty high on the API (Academic Performance Index). The State target is 800 or more.

There is roughly a 90-point difference in API scores between the top ranked school, Farragut and the two lowest scoring schools of El Rincon and La Ballona.

When we take a look at the chart below, (click on the image to enlarge) which is data taken off of the MLS for the last 6 months, we can see the average price per square foot paid in the Linwood Howe school area of $616.00 is significantly more when compared to $473 per square foot in the La Ballona school area.

The average Culver City home is roughly 1600.00 square feet in size so, in Linwood Howe's area this home would cost $985,000 compared to the same size home purchased in the La Ballona school area of $756,000. That's a $229,000 difference. Not insignificant.

Now, anyone who knows Culver City intimately understands there are many other factors influencing home prices apart from school performance.

As an example, since the advent of the development of the downtown area in the last 15 years or so, homes within walking distance of all the shops, restaurants and theaters have been more desirable. This is another key influencing factor of home prices in the Linwood Howe area.