HiveCheck
SCHOOL INTELLIGENCE · FULL REPORT
LAST UPDATED SEPTEMBER 29, 2026

The Spence School

New York, NY·Independent K-12·NAIS member·421 employees on the 990

$63.8M
Revenue FY2025
IRS 990 latest
4.1
CFI
HiveCheck estimate, −4 to 10 · adequate — monitor
813
Enrollment
School website, accessed Sep 2026
8
Years on file
Through FY2025
THE STRATEGIC READ

The Spence School has expenses growing faster than revenue: 3.9% versus 0.4% per year over three years, a 3.6-point gap. Expenses exceeded revenue by 12.8% on the latest Form 990. Net assets equal 4.8 years of expenses (buildings and restricted gifts included). Worth asking whether the expense growth is funding a deliberate investment or compounding year over year.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Spence School scores between 3 and 5 on HiveCheck's Composite Financial Index (CFI) estimate, the range HiveCheck labels adequate — monitor. Net assets equal 4.8 years of expenses (buildings and restricted gifts included). Revenue is 84% tuition-dependent (HiveCheck peer-group median 85%), concentrated but in line with most independent day schools. Staff compensation runs 59% of expenses, about par for its matched peer group. Expenses grew faster than revenue over three years, 3.9% vs 0.4% per year. HiveCheck's CFI estimate: 4.1 on a scale of −4 to 10, in the range HiveCheck labels adequate — monitor.
4.1
CFI · HiveCheck estimate
Between 3 and 5 on HiveCheck's estimate, the range HiveCheck labels adequate — monitor.
4.8yrs
Net assets (years of expenses)
Includes buildings and restricted gifts; not cash
-12.8%
Revenue minus expenses
FY2025 · Form 990
813
Enrollment
School website, accessed Sep 2026; NCES PSS 2021-22: 769
TRAJECTORY OUTLOOK

Expenses have outgrown revenue at The Spence School: expenses have grown 3.9% per year against 0.4% revenue growth, a 3.6-point gap held over three years. Expenses already exceeded revenue by 12.8% on the latest Form 990. Net assets equal about 4.8 years of expenses, but they include buildings and restricted gifts, so they are not a measure of how long the school could cover the gap. If the same gap holds for three more years, that compression compounds.

Linear extrapolation only. Schools regularly course-correct via tuition increases, capital campaigns, or expense controls. This is the if-nothing-changes outlook, not a prediction.

FINANCIAL HEALTH

FINANCIAL HEALTH

COMPOSITE FINANCIAL INDEX · HIVECHECK ESTIMATE
WHAT IS THE COMPOSITE FINANCIAL INDEX?

The Composite Financial Index (CFI) combines four financial ratios into one score. It was developed by KPMG and Prager, Sealy & Co. and is used across higher education and, through NBOA, by independent schools. HiveCheck estimates it from each school’s Form 990, the way the CFI’s co-authors apply it to independent schools.

THE FOUR RATIOS (WEIGHT)
  • Primary reserve (35%) — expendable net assets next to a year of expenses.
  • Viability (35%) — expendable net assets next to long-term debt.
  • Return on net assets (20%) — are net assets growing?
  • Net operating revenues (10%) — did revenue exceed expenses on the 990?

Expendable net assets are the net assets a school could spend: they leave out buildings (net of their debt) and permanent endowment. HiveCheck estimates them from the 990; they are not cash. A school with no long-term debt gets viability’s top score only if they cover about five months of expenses.

HOW TO READ THE SCORE

The scale runs from −4 to 10, and the CFI’s authors treat 3 as the threshold of financial health. HiveCheck’s labels: 5+ strong; 3 to 5 adequate — monitor; 1 to 3 watch; 0 to 1 re-engineer; below 0 distressed. A label describes a range, not a school. The CFI was built to follow one school over time, so read the trend first.

How HiveCheck estimates the CFI, with sources

HiveCheck is not affiliated with or endorsed by NACUBO, NBOA, KPMG, or Prager, Sealy & Co.

SOURCE
KPMG, Prager, Sealy & Co., and Attain, Strategic Financial Analysis for Higher Education, 7th ed. (2010); Tahey & Salluzzo, Calculation of Composite Financial Index (CFI) When There Is No Property-Related Debt (NBOA, 2018).
4.1
SCALE −4 TO 10 · HIVECHECK LABELS 5+ STRONG

Adequate — monitor — 4.1 on a scale that runs from −4 to 10. HiveCheck labels 5 and above strong; the CFI’s authors treat 3 as the threshold of financial health. 4.1 is between 3 and 5, the range HiveCheck labels adequate — monitor. It combines four measures from the Form 990: the net assets a school could spend next to a year of expenses and next to its long-term debt, whether net assets are growing, and whether revenue exceeded expenses.

THE TREND · CFI ESTIMATE BY FISCAL YEAR

Across 8 fiscal years, the estimate went from 9.3 (FY2018) to 4.1 (FY2025). Its average over the latest 5 years is 4.7, and it was at or above 3 in 8 of 8 years (the line at 3 marks the threshold of financial health).

Financials through FY2025 · 8 yrs on file

FY2025 is the newest public filing on record — not a data gap. IRS Form 990s publish on a one-to-two-year lag, so a school’s most recent audited year usually isn’t available yet. This report always uses the latest filing the IRS has released.

The Spence School reported $63.8M in revenue against $72.0M in expenses in fiscal year 2025: expenses exceeded revenue by 12.8% on the Form 990.

Verify any number in this report against the source IRS Form 990 look up on irs.gov ↗.

$63.8M
REVENUE FY2025
Trend FY2018 to FY2025, current $63.8M.$63.8M
IRS FORM 990 ↗
$342.6M
NET ASSETS
Trend FY2018 to FY2025, current $342.6M.$342.6M
IRS FORM 990 ↗
-12.8%
REVENUE MINUS EXPENSES
Trend FY2018 to FY2025, current -12.8%.-12.8%
IRS FORM 990 ↗
HOW TO READ REVENUE, NET ASSETS, AND REVENUE MINUS EXPENSES

Revenue is the total revenue reported on Form 990 for the fiscal year — tuition, fees, contributions, investment income, and other revenue lines combined. Net assets are everything the school owns (cash, investments, buildings, land, endowment) minus what it owes, at year-end (Form 990 Part X, line 32). Much of it can’t be spent: buildings and land, and gifts donors restricted. It is not cash on hand.

Revenue minus expenses is (revenue − expenses) / revenue on the Form 990. It is not an operating margin: 990 revenue includes gifts for buildings and endowment and realized investment gains, and 990 expenses include depreciation, a non-cash cost. One year can swing either way, so read it against the multi-year trend.

SOURCE
IRS Form 990, Parts VIII (revenue), IX (expenses), and X (balance sheet) — public filings. Learn more →
4.8 yrs
NET ASSETS, IN YEARS OF EXPENSES
WHAT DOES NET ASSETS IN MONTHS OF EXPENSES MEASURE?

What this measures: total net assets on the Form 990 divided by a year of expenses, shown in months. Net assets are everything a school owns (cash, investments, buildings, land, endowment) minus what it owes. Much of it can’t be spent: buildings, and gifts donors restricted. For cash available to operate, ask the business office for days of cash on hand or unrestricted liquid reserves; the 990 doesn’t report them.

SOURCE
IRS Form 990 Part X (total net assets, line 32) and Part IX (total expenses). Learn more →
Everything the school owns minus what it owes, campus and restricted gifts included. Not cash on hand.

Net assets equal about 4.8 years (57 months) of expenses. That total includes buildings, land, endowment, and other restricted gifts, so it is not money the school could spend if revenue stopped.

Expendable net assets, the CFI’s measure, leave out permanent endowment and buildings net of their debt: about 11 months of expenses (a HiveCheck estimate).

2.3x
VIABILITY
WHAT IS THE VIABILITY RATIO?

Viability is expendable net assets ÷ long-term debt: how the net assets a school could spend (total net assets less permanent endowment and buildings net of debt, estimated from the 990) compare with what it has borrowed.

HOW TO READ IT
  • Below 1.0x — long-term debt exceeds expendable net assets.
  • 1.25x — the CFI’s threshold of financial health.
  • 4.2x+ — the ratio’s top score in the CFI.
WHAT THE DENOMINATOR IS

Long-term debt from Form 990 Part X (bonds + mortgages + notes), not total liabilities. Deferred revenue — largely tuition families have already paid for the coming year — and ordinary payables are excluded, because they are obligations to deliver education, not borrowed money. The CFI reads debt by coverage alone, not by its interest rate; the interest line below adds that context.

SOURCE
IRS Form 990 Part X and Schedule D Part V. Ratio from KPMG, Prager, Sealy & Co., and Attain, Strategic Financial Analysis for Higher Education, 7th ed. (2010); Tahey & Salluzzo, Calculation of Composite Financial Index (CFI) When There Is No Property-Related Debt (NBOA, 2018). Learn more →
Expendable net assets per dollar of long-term debt. Form 990 Part X: bonds + mortgages + notes.
Interest paid: $613K, about 2.1% of average long-term debt, 0.9% of expenses. Form 990 Part IX line 20. The CFI doesn’t look at interest rates.
HOW TO READ NET ASSETS IN MONTHS AND VIABILITY

Net assets in months of expenses is total net assets on the Form 990 divided by a month of expenses. Total net assets include buildings, land, endowment, and other restricted gifts, so the figure is not money the school could spend if revenue stopped. The CFI uses expendable net assets instead: total net assets less permanent endowment and less buildings and equipment net of their debt. HiveCheck estimates that figure from the 990. Neither is cash; for cash available to operate, ask the business office for days of cash on hand, which the 990 doesn’t report.

Viability is expendable net assets per dollar of long-term debt from Form 990 Part X (bonds + mortgages + notes), not total liabilities. The CFI’s authors treat 1.25x as the threshold of financial health; below 1.0x, the net assets a school could spend fall short of what it has borrowed long-term.

SOURCE
IRS Form 990 Parts IX (expenses) and X (net assets, buildings, debt) and Schedule D Part V (endowment). Ratios from KPMG, Prager, Sealy & Co., and Attain, Strategic Financial Analysis for Higher Education, 7th ed. (2010); Tahey & Salluzzo, Calculation of Composite Financial Index (CFI) When There Is No Property-Related Debt (NBOA, 2018). Learn more →
WHAT IS BEHIND THE LIABILITIES
WHAT IS BEHIND THE LIABILITIES?

“Total liabilities” on a school’s balance sheet mixes three very different things. Long-term debt (tax-exempt bonds, mortgages, notes) is money the school actually borrowed and must repay with interest. Deferred revenue is largely tuition families have already paid for the coming year — an obligation to teach, not to repay; the cash is already in the bank. Other is ordinary payables and accrued expenses that any operating institution carries.

The distinction matters: a school that collects next year’s tuition in advance can show tens of millions in “liabilities” that are not debt at all, making a debt-averse balance sheet look leveraged unless the lines are separated the way they are here.

SOURCE
IRS Form 990 Part X, lines 19 (deferred revenue), 20 (tax-exempt bonds), 23 (secured mortgages and notes), 24 (unsecured notes and loans), and 26 (total liabilities). Learn more →
LONG-TERM DEBT
$29.1M
DEFERRED REVENUE
$30.6M
OTHER
$1.5M

Total liabilities $61.1M = $29.1M long-term debt (bonds, mortgages, notes) + $30.6M deferred revenue (largely tuition families have already paid for next year: an obligation to teach, not to repay) + $1.5M other.

This split feeds the score above: the viability ratio (35% of the CFI estimate) divides expendable net assets by the $29.1M of long-term debt only — prepaid tuition and ordinary payables are separated from debt in this read.

SEE THE LINE-BY-LINE DETAIL
Tax-exempt bonds PART X LINE 20
Money borrowed through tax-exempt bond issues — typically the cheapest long-term financing a school can get.
$29.1M
Deferred revenue PART X LINE 19
Largely next year's tuition, already collected.
$30.6M
Everything else PART X LINE 17, 18, 21, 22, 25
Payables, accrued expenses, escrow, and remaining Part X lines (not itemized separately here).
$1.5M
BOND ISSUES (SCHEDULE K, LATEST FILING)
February 2022 · $30.4M issued
EXPANSION/ACQUISITION OF SPACE

What the 990 does not tell us: interest rates, maturities, or covenants — those are not disclosed anywhere on the form. The issue dates above tell you the rate ERA the school locked in; the rate itself is never filed.

A NOTE ON THE BORROWING

Long-term debt rose from about $10.4M (FY2020) to $29.1M (FY2025) while net assets grew from $311.8M to $342.6M. Net assets kept pace with the borrowing, a pattern consistent with planned low-rate financing of campus investment rather than financial stress. Viability here is computed on true long-term debt, not total liabilities. The bonds behind this were issued February 2022.

REVENUE DIVERSIFICATION
PROGRAM REVENUE
84.5% · $53.9M
CONTRIBUTIONS
9.3% · $6.0M
INVESTMENT INCOME
5.0% · $3.2M
OTHER
1.2% · $771K
WHY REVENUE MIX MATTERS

Program revenue = tuition and fees. Contributions = annual fund + capital campaigns + restricted gifts. Investment income = interest, dividends, and realized gains on investments sold, as the 990 reports them (Part I line 10) — not the endowment draw. Other captures auxiliary lines (summer programs, rentals, dining).

A school deriving 90%+ from program revenue is highly sensitive to a tuition shock — a class that fails to fill, an unexpected attrition spike. With a balanced mix (program + contributions + investment), a soft year on tuition does not translate one-for-one into a revenue downturn. Mature boarding schools and established day schools with endowments typically show contribution and investment shares of 5–20% combined; newer schools and smaller day schools sit closer to 95% program revenue.

These four slices are the 990’s top-level revenue lines. The filing itemizes finer detail (tuition vs. auxiliary program fees, government grants vs. private gifts, rental and event income) that would need a deeper Part VIII parse — a planned refinement, not yet shown.

SOURCE
IRS Form 990 Part VIII (statement of revenue) — public filings; mix thresholds reflect standard independent-school financial practice. Learn more →
3-YEAR GROWTH (CAGR)
WHAT DOES CAGR MEAN?

CAGR stands for compound annual growth rate: the steady per-year growth rate that would carry the three-years-ago figure to today’s figure. A 5% revenue CAGR reads as “revenue grew as if by 5% every year for three years” — it smooths out one lumpy year so the trend is readable.

Revenue growing at least as fast as expenses is the relationship worth watching. Expenses compounding faster than revenue is how structural deficits form.

SOURCE
Computed across the most recent three filing years on IRS Form 990. Learn more →
0.4%
REVENUE / YR
3.9%
EXPENSES / YR
0.8%
NET ASSETS / YR
HOW TO READ THREE-YEAR CAGR

CAGR (compound annual growth rate) smooths year-over-year variation by reporting the constant annual rate that would produce the same end-state over the period. The load-bearing relationship to watch is revenue CAGR ≥ expense CAGR. When expenses outpace revenue over three years, the gap between revenue and expenses narrows even if the latest year still shows revenue above expenses.

Net-asset CAGR tracks total net assets, buildings, endowment, and restricted gifts included. A positive figure means net assets grew; a persistently negative one means they shrank.

SOURCE
Compound annual growth rate computed across the most recent three filing years on IRS Form 990. Learn more →
REVENUEEXPENSES
84.5%
TUITION DEPENDENCY
Trend FY2018 to FY2025, current 84.5%.84.5%
IRS FORM 990 ↗
59.3%
COMP RATIO
Trend FY2018 to FY2025, current 59.3%.59.3%
IRS FORM 990 ↗
HOW TO READ TUITION DEPENDENCY AND COMP RATIO

Tuition dependency is the share of total revenue that comes from program service revenue (tuition + fees). NAIS DASL benchmarks place the K-12 day-school median at roughly 85%. Below 70%, the revenue base is diversified beyond tuition (typical of mature boarding schools); above 90%, it is concentrated in tuition — worth asking how an unfilled class or an attrition spike would be absorbed.

Comp ratio is salaries + benefits as a share of total operating expenses. Per ISM benchmarks for independent schools, the typical range is 55–70%. Above 70% can signal salary pressure outpacing revenue growth; below 55% is unusual and may indicate large outsourced contracts or non-comp capital expense in the period.

SOURCE
NAIS Data and Analysis for School Leadership (DASL) for tuition mix; Independent School Management (ISM) for compensation ratio benchmarks. Learn more →
HEAD OF SCHOOL · SCHEDULE J
Head of School
Position and total compensation as filed on the Form 990; individual name withheld.
$954K
TOTAL COMP · FY2025

From this school’s IRS Form 990 Schedule J — a publicly filed federal disclosure. Schedule J reports pay for the calendar year ending within the fiscal year. If you’re the school and this looks wrong, email us.

ABOUT HEAD-OF-SCHOOL COMPENSATION

Head-of-School total compensation is reported on IRS Form 990 Schedule J, columns (B) and (F): base compensation, bonus and incentive compensation, other reportable compensation, deferred compensation, and nontaxable benefits combined. The figure shown here is the total of those columns for the head of school as named on the most recent filing. The title shown alongside the figure is that person’s Schedule J designation — a tax-filing label — not necessarily their functional title at the school.

Schedule J lists only people paid more than $150,000 in total, so it doesn’t show heads paid less. Schedule J reports pay for the calendar year ending within the fiscal year.

Compensation varies widely with school size, region, and association membership. NAIS and ISM publish annual benchmark ranges; CASE tracks fundraising-leadership compensation. The Schedule J value is the most defensible apples-to-apples source because it is the same disclosure every 501(c)(3) school files with the IRS.

SOURCE
IRS Form 990 Schedule J — compensation information for officers, directors, trustees, key employees, and highest-compensated employees of nonprofit organizations. Publicly available. Learn more →
COMP COST PER EMPLOYEE
WHAT DOES COMP COST PER EMPLOYEE MEASURE?

Salaries and benefits divided by the 990’s employee count (W-2s issued during the year, part-time and seasonal staff included), excluding the top earners listed on Schedule J. Includes benefits and payroll taxes; not average pay.

HOW IT’S COMPUTED

(salaries_benefits − Σ top_comp.total_comp) ÷ (total_employees − count(top_comp))

For FY2025: salaries+benefits $42.7M · 421 employees on the 990 · 8 top-comp rows totaling $3.9M · 413 remaining employees.

WHY IT MATTERS

The head’s pay gets the headlines; this shows what the school spends on compensation per employee below the top earners. Read it as a cost, not a salary: it includes benefits and payroll taxes and counts every W-2 employee, part-time and seasonal staff included.

LIMITATIONS

This is a cost per employee, not average pay or a faculty median. The 990 doesn’t separate classroom teachers from administrative, athletics, dining, maintenance, or after-school staff, and its employee count mixes full-time with part-time and seasonal staff. The dollars include benefits and payroll taxes, so the figure runs well above pay alone. Schools with outsourced operations (dining, maintenance) will read higher than schools that employ that staff directly. Schedule J reports pay for the calendar year ending within the fiscal year. Salaries and benefits are fiscal-year totals, so the subtraction mixes two slightly different years. A true faculty median requires NAIS DASL. We omit this metric entirely when fewer than six employees remain after the top-comp subtraction.

SOURCE
IRS Form 990 Part IX (salaries and benefits), Part I line 5 (employees), and Schedule J (top-compensated roster). Computed by HiveCheck — approximate, 990-only. Learn more →
$93,848
/ YR

Salaries and benefits divided by the 990’s employee count (W-2s issued during the year, part-time and seasonal staff included), excluding the top earners listed on Schedule J. Includes benefits and payroll taxes; not average pay.

IRSForm 990 · through FY2025 · 8 years on fileCFIHiveCheck estimate · method: KPMG, Prager, Sealy & Co., and Attain; school adaptation: Tahey & Salluzzo (2018)
PEER COMPARISON

PEER COMPARISON

Among 30 peer schools in HiveCheck’s matched peer group (closest matches by size, location, and associations), The Spence School’s position by metric is below. The gray band shows the peer distribution from the bottom quarter to the top quarter; the tick marks label each quartile position. The purple marker is The Spence School.

Revenue minus expenses
-12.8%
BOTTOM QUARTER3.1%6.6%10.5%TOP QUARTER14.3%-12.8%
-12.8% revenue minus expenses — lower than all 30 of its peer schools
HOW WE COMPARE
HOW THIS COMPARISON IS BUILT?

We compare this school against its peer cohort on this metric and count how many peers it sits above. We never frame this as “top X%” or “bottom X%” because the right reading depends on the metric’s natural direction.

POLARITY (WHICH WAY IS GOOD?)
  • Revenue minus expenses, net assets ÷ expenses — higher is better.
  • Tuition dependency, comp ratio — higher is riskier (more concentration, less flex).

About the peer set. Peers are matched on size cohort (Form 990 revenue + employee band), region, and association overlap. NCES Private School Universe Survey enrollment is shown on the Community Demographics panel for the 1,556 of 1,639covered schools matched to that survey — but peer cohort matching still uses the 990-derived size proxy so every school (matched or not) resolves against the same criteria.

SOURCE
HiveCheck peer benchmarks, computed from each school's IRS Form 990 filings. Learn more →
What this means: out of the 30 other schools we compare it to, this school’s revenue minus expenses is lower than 30 of them — at the bottom of its group.
n = 30 peers in this calculation
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

What it measures. Revenue minus expenses as a share of revenue, calculated as (revenue − expenses) / revenue on the IRS Form 990. It is not an operating margin: 990 revenue includes gifts for buildings and endowment and realized investment gains, and 990 expenses include depreciation, a non-cash cost.

How to read it. Higher means revenue ran further above expenses on the filing. One year can swing with a capital gift or an investment gain, so read it against the school’s multi-year trend.

SOURCE
IRS Form 990 Parts VIII (revenue) and IX (expenses). Learn more →
Tuition dependency
84.5%
BOTTOM QUARTER74.0%LOWER-MIDDLE84.8%UPPER-MIDDLE89.5%TOP QUARTER92.9%84.5%
84.5% tuition dependency — higher than 13 of its 30 peer schools
HOW WE COMPARE
HOW THIS COMPARISON IS BUILT?

We compare this school against its peer cohort on this metric and count how many peers it sits above. We never frame this as “top X%” or “bottom X%” because the right reading depends on the metric’s natural direction.

POLARITY (WHICH WAY IS GOOD?)
  • Revenue minus expenses, net assets ÷ expenses — higher is better.
  • Tuition dependency, comp ratio — higher is riskier (more concentration, less flex).

About the peer set. Peers are matched on size cohort (Form 990 revenue + employee band), region, and association overlap. NCES Private School Universe Survey enrollment is shown on the Community Demographics panel for the 1,556 of 1,639covered schools matched to that survey — but peer cohort matching still uses the 990-derived size proxy so every school (matched or not) resolves against the same criteria.

SOURCE
HiveCheck peer benchmarks, computed from each school's IRS Form 990 filings. Learn more →
higher tuition dependency = less diversified revenue
What this means: out of the 30 other schools we compare it to, this school’s tuition dependency is higher than 13 of them — in the lower half of its group.
n = 30 peers in this calculation
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

What it measures. Share of total revenue that comes from program-service revenue (tuition + fees) on the Form 990. Independent schools without significant endowments often run 85–95% tuition-dependent; schools with strong fundraising or large endowment payouts sit lower.

How to read it. Higher is riskier — concentration means a tuition shock (an unfilled class, an attrition spike) translates directly into a revenue shock. NAIS DASL benchmarks place the K-12 day-school median at roughly 85% tuition-dependent. Below 70%, the revenue base is diversified beyond tuition (typical of mature boarding schools); above 90%, it is concentrated in tuition.

SOURCE
NAIS Data and Analysis for School Leadership (DASL) — admissions, enrollment, and finance benchmarks. Learn more →
Comp ratio
59.3%
BOTTOM QUARTER53.0%LOWER-MIDDLE58.6%UPPER-MIDDLE63.5%TOP QUARTER71.7%59.3%
59.3% comp ratio — higher than 17 of its 30 peer schools
HOW WE COMPARE
HOW THIS COMPARISON IS BUILT?

We compare this school against its peer cohort on this metric and count how many peers it sits above. We never frame this as “top X%” or “bottom X%” because the right reading depends on the metric’s natural direction.

POLARITY (WHICH WAY IS GOOD?)
  • Revenue minus expenses, net assets ÷ expenses — higher is better.
  • Tuition dependency, comp ratio — higher is riskier (more concentration, less flex).

About the peer set. Peers are matched on size cohort (Form 990 revenue + employee band), region, and association overlap. NCES Private School Universe Survey enrollment is shown on the Community Demographics panel for the 1,556 of 1,639covered schools matched to that survey — but peer cohort matching still uses the 990-derived size proxy so every school (matched or not) resolves against the same criteria.

SOURCE
HiveCheck peer benchmarks, computed from each school's IRS Form 990 filings. Learn more →
higher comp ratio = salaries + benefits consume more of the budget
What this means: out of the 30 other schools we compare it to, this school’s comp ratio is higher than 17 of them — in the upper half of its group.
n = 30 peers in this calculation
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

What it measures. Salaries + benefits as a share of total operating expenses (Form 990 Part IX, line totals). Captures how much of the cost base is human capital — the dominant cost structure at every independent school.

How to read it. Higher = leaner room for non-comp investment. ISM’s independent-school benchmarks typically land in the 55–70% range. Above 70% can signal salary pressure outpacing revenue; below 55% is unusual and worth investigating (possible unusual non-comp expense or outsourced staffing).

SOURCE
Independent School Management (ISM) — financial-health and compensation benchmarks for K-12 independent schools. Learn more →
Net assets ÷ expenses
4.76x
BOTTOM QUARTER1.40xLOWER-MIDDLE2.31xUPPER-MIDDLE3.47xTOP QUARTER4.52x4.76x
4.76x net assets ÷ expenses — higher than 28 of its 30 peer schools
HOW WE COMPARE
HOW THIS COMPARISON IS BUILT?

We compare this school against its peer cohort on this metric and count how many peers it sits above. We never frame this as “top X%” or “bottom X%” because the right reading depends on the metric’s natural direction.

POLARITY (WHICH WAY IS GOOD?)
  • Revenue minus expenses, net assets ÷ expenses — higher is better.
  • Tuition dependency, comp ratio — higher is riskier (more concentration, less flex).

About the peer set. Peers are matched on size cohort (Form 990 revenue + employee band), region, and association overlap. NCES Private School Universe Survey enrollment is shown on the Community Demographics panel for the 1,556 of 1,639covered schools matched to that survey — but peer cohort matching still uses the 990-derived size proxy so every school (matched or not) resolves against the same criteria.

SOURCE
HiveCheck peer benchmarks, computed from each school's IRS Form 990 filings. Learn more →
What this means: out of the 30 other schools we compare it to, this school’s net assets ÷ expenses is higher than 28 of them — near the top of its group.
n = 30 peers in this calculation
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

What it measures. Net assets divided by total annual expenses. Net assets include buildings, land, and restricted endowment, so this is not a measure of money the school could spend. HiveCheck uses total net assets (Form 990 Part X) because the 990 doesn’t separate the spendable part.

How to read it. Higher means more net assets per dollar of expenses. Schools that own large campuses or hold large endowments read high even when little of that is available to spend.

SOURCE
IRS Form 990 Part X (total net assets) and Part IX (total expenses). Learn more →
HOW TO READ THE PERCENTILE

A percentile tells you where this school sits in the peer distribution. p30 means the school is at or above 30% of peers on that measure — only 70% of peers are higher. The right reading depends on the metric’s natural direction: for revenue minus expenses and net assets ÷ expenses higher is better; for tuition dependency and comp ratio higher is riskier. The one-line hint under each chart calls out the polarity.

Some metrics show fewer peers than the panel total (n_peers_in_calc) — that happens when peers don’t have an overlapping filing year for that specific ratio. The displayed percentile is computed only against peers that filed in the same window.

About the size cohort. Peer cohort matching uses IRS Form 990 employee count + max-revenue tier — proxies for school size, since the 990 doesn’t carry student counts. Real per-school enrollment from the NCES Private School Universe Survey is shown on the Community Demographics panel for the1,556 of 1,639 covered schools matched to that survey; peer cohort matching still uses the 990 size proxy so every school (matched or not) resolves against the same criteria.

SOURCE
HiveCheck peer benchmarks, computed from each school's IRS Form 990 filings. Learn more →
PEERS30 schools · revenue + employee band + region + associationIRSForm 990 FY2025
COMMUNITY & MARKET

The market underneath the school: who lives here, whether they can pay, whether they will give, who they choose instead, and which way the money is moving.

The local paying-capacity score runs high here, and so does the local giving-capacity score. Paying Capacity reads 85 / 100 and Giving Capacity 90 / 100 for the 10128 area. That giving read is the local philanthropic climate, not this school's donor base — its actual fundraising shows in its own 990 contributions, since gifts come from families, grandparents, and alumni wherever they live.

NEIGHBORHOOD MAP

THE MARKET, MAPPED

Figures on this card are for a 45-minute drive from campus.
DRIVE TIME FROM CAMPUS

Changes the market figures on this map and everything marked with a purple edge. 45 minutes is the standard HiveCheck market.

min

Within 45 minutes: about 265,943 school-age children in families who can likely afford tuition, in neighborhoods across 342 ZIP codes; 720 private schools, 78 of them covered by HiveCheck (this one included).

Loading the neighborhood map…

DRIVE TIME (MIN)Up to 1010–1515–2020–3030–45beyond the selected time
Dot size: families who can likely afford tuitionSchools HiveCheck coversother private schoolsthis school

Sources: drive times from openrouteservice on OpenStreetMap data, © OpenStreetMap contributors; neighborhoods from the U.S. Census Bureau (ACS 2020–2024, TIGER/Line); private schools from the NCES Private School Universe Survey (2021–22); places from GeoNames; borders from Natural Earth.

COMMUNITY DEMOGRAPHICS

COMMUNITY DEMOGRAPHICS

Figures on this card are for a 45-minute drive from campus.
DRIVE TIME
min

About the area: these numbers describe the community around the school — the neighborhoods nearest the school (its ZIP-code area) — a closer-in read than the whole metro. They come from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, which pools five years of responses for a reliable picture. Cost-of-living and wealth-context signals are layered on from HUD (the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development) and BEA (the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis) where available.

THIS SCHOOL · NCES PSS
HOW IS THIS SCHOOL'S ENROLLMENT SOURCED?

The Private School Universe Survey (PSS) is the federal census of U.S. private schools, conducted every two years by NCES with the U.S. Census Bureau collecting responses. The NCES file HiveCheck uses holds about 22,000 private schools. It reports total enrollment, per-grade enrollment, FTE teachers, and basic school identity.

VINTAGE

This school’s most recent NCES record: 2021-22. The newest NCES release is the 2021-22 survey (published 2023); NCES has not yet published the 2023-24 survey. When a school is missing from the 2021-22 file, HiveCheck shows its latest earlier count and labels it with that year.

MATCH QUALITY

HiveCheck → NCES match for this school: auto exact at 95% confidence (PPIN BB162151). Match was made by joining state + normalized school name + city.

CAVEATS

Per-grade bands are summed from the PSS per-grade enrollment columns (Pxxx). When a school has a transitional / postgrad program, the total enrollment may include students not assigned to a standard grade band. PSS is voluntary but achieves > 95% response across the universe.

SOURCE
NCES Private School Universe Survey 2021-2022 public-use file, accessed from https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/pss/. Biennial census administered by the National Center for Education Statistics with U.S. Census Bureau data collection. Learn more →
769
TOTAL ENROLLMENT
Grades K–12, pre-K included
124
FTE TEACHERS
NCES PSS
6.2:1
STUDENT / TEACHER
K–12 students / FTE (NCES)
2021-22
SOURCE VINTAGE
NCES PSS
—
PREK
59
K
270
1–5
177
6–8
263
9–12

School-reported: 813 students, on the school’s own website (spenceschool.org), read September 26, 2026; the page doesn’t say which school year the figure is for.

THE SCHOOL’S DRAW AREA · NEIGHBORHOODS IN 342 ZIP CODES, 45-MINUTE DRIVE
~265,900

school-age children live in families who can likely afford tuition, within a ~45-minute drive.

YOUR ADDRESSABLE MARKET
MIXED INCOME AREA

Heads up — this area has two distinct income clusters (roughly $25K–$250K). Your realistic market is concentrated in the higher-income ZIP codes below.

17.7%
Families earning $200K+
$101,187
Typical family income

Families come from neighborhoods in 342 ZIP codes — including Brooklyn, NY, Brooklyn, NY, and Corona, NY. Total population is 11,179,433, of whom 1,650,474 are school-age (5–17).

About 6% of the area’s school-age children are in 5 ZIP codes (Brooklyn, NY, Brooklyn, NY, and Corona, NY).

Counted neighborhood by neighborhood: every Census block group (about 1,500 people) whose exact drive time from the campus is 45 minutes or less.

ZIP CODES BY TYPICAL FAMILY INCOME
$50K$100K$150K$200K$250KMEDIAN $101K

Each dot is one ZIP code’s neighborhoods within the drive — bigger dots have more school-age children. The school’s home ZIP is filled purple; the vertical purple line marks the typical family income across the whole draw area.

SEE THE 342 ZIP CODES
Each row is the part of that ZIP code inside the 45-minute drive, its neighborhoods within reach rather than the whole ZIP. Sorted by population; the school’s home ZIP is marked with ·.
ZIPCommunityTypical income$200K+% BA+Pop.
11208Brooklyn, NY$73K8.0%17.9%107,087
11368Corona, NY$77K7.5%15.0%105,862
11385Ridgewood, NY$95K12.7%34.5%101,458
11373Elmhurst, NY$76K8.1%28.8%99,307
11226Brooklyn, NY$85K13.6%37.8%98,058
10467Bronx, NY$54K4.6%21.8%97,085
11221Brooklyn, NY$94K15.7%43.5%94,239
11207Brooklyn, NY$66K7.2%19.7%93,183
10025New York, NY$144K30.4%69.7%91,969
11219Brooklyn, NY$60K7.0%19.7%90,828
11206Brooklyn, NY$75K12.3%33.5%90,825
11212Brooklyn, NY$56K3.4%15.8%89,332
11220Brooklyn, NY$75K9.3%26.2%89,068
11214Brooklyn, NY$73K10.7%33.0%88,357
11230Brooklyn, NY$79K12.2%43.0%87,699
10456Bronx, NY$44K1.8%14.2%87,150
11236Brooklyn, NY$87K12.3%27.8%85,090
11233Brooklyn, NY$74K9.9%32.7%84,686
11355Flushing, NY$61K7.1%24.3%81,411
10457Bronx, NY$51K2.4%12.6%80,729
10029New York, NY$53K9.7%35.1%80,490
11377Woodside, NY$78K9.2%33.2%78,627
11204Brooklyn, NY$73K8.4%29.4%77,962
11375Forest Hills, NY$117K22.4%61.0%77,619
11223Brooklyn, NY$75K10.0%33.9%77,473
10452Bronx, NY$44K2.0%16.3%77,020
10002New York, NY$64K12.1%38.6%76,881
10453Bronx, NY$40K3.1%13.2%75,931
10458Bronx, NY$46K2.0%18.4%74,017
10462Bronx, NY$69K5.7%26.8%73,889
10468Bronx, NY$53K2.1%16.7%73,869
11203Brooklyn, NY$74K10.9%28.3%73,738
07305Jersey City, NJ$91K12.8%33.8%73,626
11201Brooklyn, NY$176K43.7%78.9%73,544
11229Brooklyn, NY$75K13.3%41.8%73,088
10701Yonkers, NY$76K9.7%29.3%72,844
10466Bronx, NY$84K9.9%26.5%72,536
11234Brooklyn, NY$102K19.4%37.4%72,027
11218Brooklyn, NY$104K19.5%48.1%71,723
07002Bayonne, NJ$86K12.9%39.7%70,951
11209Brooklyn, NY$100K18.4%52.8%70,635
07055Passaic, NJ$62K7.0%16.5%70,002
10463Bronx, NY$80K11.4%42.6%69,921
11215Brooklyn, NY$179K46.3%80.6%69,570
11211Brooklyn, NY$121K27.1%51.6%68,074
11372Jackson Heights, NY$87K11.8%36.0%68,022
10023New York, NY$175K41.2%82.8%67,999
10469Bronx, NY$93K11.4%28.2%67,282
11434Jamaica, NY$91K12.2%23.0%66,756
11213Brooklyn, NY$77K10.6%36.7%66,713
07087Union City, NJ$69K8.6%27.8%66,463
10024New York, NY$199K44.9%82.7%66,106
10027New York, NY$79K15.9%51.3%66,021
11432Jamaica, NY$89K11.9%36.6%64,689
10472Bronx, NY$46K5.1%13.5%64,011
07093West New York, NJ$82K10.7%34.0%63,758
07047North Bergen, NJ$88K12.8%32.3%61,250
07111Irvington, NJ$66K5.5%21.1%60,867
11216Brooklyn, NY$109K20.9%56.3%60,665
10460Bronx, NY$44K2.9%14.8%60,322
10009New York, NY$104K22.3%61.9%60,201
11210Brooklyn, NY$91K14.8%40.4%59,012
10473Bronx, NY$67K7.5%24.9%58,855
07030Hoboken, NJ$185K44.6%82.4%58,668
10031New York, NY$72K11.3%41.1%58,411
10128New York, NY$167K40.3%77.8%57,669
11238Brooklyn, NY$153K33.3%73.6%57,454
11225Brooklyn, NY$91K15.2%49.6%57,453
10032New York, NY$65K6.7%40.5%56,966
11435Jamaica, NY$84K11.4%33.1%56,685
07105Newark, NJ$61K4.5%15.2%56,617
10033New York, NY$80K11.6%39.2%54,913
07302Jersey City, NJ$176K45.2%81.8%54,606
10003New York, NY$176K41.8%83.7%54,053
11354Flushing, NY$73K8.4%35.7%53,832
07306Jersey City, NJ$77K11.6%50.9%53,758
10451Bronx, NY$44K5.3%21.0%52,535
07104Newark, NJ$67K6.8%24.3%51,791
11205Brooklyn, NY$104K20.3%48.6%51,622
10461Bronx, NY$76K10.1%27.9%51,282
07003Bloomfield, NJ$117K20.2%48.3%50,751
10016New York, NY$167K39.9%81.7%50,694
11419South Richmond Hill, NY$96K15.1%19.1%50,448
11235Brooklyn, NY$69K11.8%45.2%50,416
07304Jersey City, NJ$75K12.1%40.5%49,444
10459Bronx, NY$42K2.6%14.1%48,471
10028New York, NY$185K47.6%83.6%48,361
10011New York, NY$158K38.5%80.5%48,136
11413Springfield Gardens, NY$116K17.0%31.3%47,668
07202Elizabeth, NJ$74K6.5%12.5%47,427
10465Bronx, NY$99K15.7%30.5%47,114
11420South Ozone Park, NY$104K13.4%23.2%47,054
11249Brooklyn, NY$135K30.3%52.0%46,723
10019New York, NY$155K34.9%78.1%46,270
07601Hackensack, NJ$95K12.9%41.2%46,057
11357Whitestone, NY$108K21.1%39.2%45,652
10801New Rochelle, NY$112K23.6%43.2%45,640
11101Long Island City, NY$131K29.1%66.5%45,507
11217Brooklyn, NY$164K40.9%70.1%44,268
11228Brooklyn, NY$96K17.8%37.9%44,095
10455Bronx, NY$42K3.4%17.1%44,055
07107Newark, NJ$59K3.6%13.2%43,895
11374Rego Park, NY$95K14.9%50.4%43,423
11237Brooklyn, NY$89K13.3%43.7%43,262
11365Fresh Meadows, NY$88K12.9%39.2%42,905
10475Bronx, NY$63K3.6%29.5%42,829
07307Jersey City, NJ$94K18.3%47.0%42,635
11222Brooklyn, NY$134K26.3%65.7%42,355
07666Teaneck, NJ$147K33.0%57.6%41,876
11367Flushing, NY$91K14.6%46.7%41,069
07032Kearny, NJ$84K9.9%30.7%40,614
11412Saint Albans, NY$106K15.5%26.3%40,225
07024Fort Lee, NJ$123K26.0%66.0%40,067
11421Woodhaven, NY$98K14.9%27.1%39,914
11433Jamaica, NY$78K11.3%18.9%39,536
11105Astoria, NY$112K20.0%54.5%39,336
10034New York, NY$82K10.7%38.8%39,213
10035New York, NY$55K7.4%30.5%39,008
10040New York, NY$77K8.7%39.4%38,853
10454Bronx, NY$31K3.3%13.4%38,850
10705Yonkers, NY$83K14.8%28.7%38,597
07109Belleville, NJ$94K16.2%32.2%38,065
07103Newark, NJ$58K4.3%24.3%37,844
11358Flushing, NY$95K16.7%37.9%37,822
07011Clifton, NJ$87K9.5%24.1%37,711
11379Middle Village, NY$102K18.4%35.4%37,703
11418Richmond Hill, NY$92K11.8%32.6%37,347
11106Astoria, NY$91K12.8%50.9%37,337
10026New York, NY$89K20.0%54.9%37,188
10021New York, NY$185K46.2%79.0%37,159
11378Maspeth, NY$87K12.5%28.3%36,991
07501Paterson, NJ$56K4.4%8.4%36,388
11231Brooklyn, NY$158K38.5%66.2%36,313
10550Mount Vernon, NY$74K8.2%24.0%36,285
07410Fair Lawn, NJ$155K34.6%63.5%35,610
10022New York, NY$181K46.1%85.3%35,292
11364Oakland Gardens, NY$109K20.6%50.0%35,282
11369East Elmhurst, NY$86K8.6%20.7%34,754
11580Valley Stream, NY$153K30.7%39.4%34,440
07013Clifton, NJ$129K24.7%40.3%33,926
11422Rosedale, NY$124K22.4%35.1%32,845
10065New York, NY$183K41.1%86.3%32,788
07026Garfield, NJ$85K12.1%25.4%32,783
10704Yonkers, NY$123K16.5%37.3%32,733
11103Astoria, NY$91K14.3%51.9%32,689
10030New York, NY$55K8.9%34.9%32,344
11102Astoria, NY$111K17.1%58.3%32,198
11417Ozone Park, NY$92K16.4%24.6%31,862
07206Elizabethport, NJ$76K8.0%9.2%31,581
11414Howard Beach, NY$117K21.5%31.9%31,308
10010New York, NY$174K39.0%74.5%30,757
10001New York, NY$149K36.5%71.3%30,259
11232Brooklyn, NY$96K17.7%35.7%30,201
07110Nutley, NJ$135K28.8%52.7%30,012
07631Englewood, NJ$125K22.9%47.0%29,638
11423Hollis, NY$89K13.7%33.2%29,624
11370East Elmhurst, NY$86K8.3%24.4%29,538
11361Bayside, NY$108K17.7%45.4%28,582
07108Newark, NJ$49K5.7%18.5%28,548
10039New York, NY$57K2.8%26.3%28,442
07621Bergenfield, NJ$130K23.7%49.3%28,411
07201Elizabeth, NJ$62K4.5%13.2%27,824
10014New York, NY$191K47.1%85.6%27,758
11429Queens Village, NY$115K19.2%28.9%27,685
07112Newark, NJ$68K5.7%22.1%27,561
10036New York, NY$108K22.9%68.4%26,921
10710Yonkers, NY$121K25.0%44.5%26,783
07652Paramus, NJ$147K31.6%52.6%26,568
07208Elizabeth, NJ$73K7.4%19.0%26,371
11104Sunnyside, NY$84K14.3%53.3%26,332
10583Scarsdale, NY$213K59.1%79.6%26,264
10013New York, NY$157K39.3%72.7%26,197
07644Lodi, NJ$107K16.5%29.3%26,082
10305Staten Island, NY$86K14.5%30.9%25,784
07010Cliffside Park, NJ$100K16.4%41.1%25,781
11001Floral Park, NY$149K33.3%52.5%25,760
11427Queens Village, NY$102K18.7%38.5%25,621
07106Newark, NJ$74K9.5%17.7%25,412
11416Ozone Park, NY$91K14.7%25.3%24,393
07522Paterson, NJ$56K4.2%11.1%24,154
10471Bronx, NY$114K25.0%59.3%24,048
07424Little Falls, NJ$112K19.8%47.9%23,938
10012New York, NY$174K39.5%85.1%23,905
11040New Hyde Park, NY$162K37.8%56.3%23,407
11436Jamaica, NY$91K16.8%22.9%23,157
11356College Point, NY$99K12.9%26.6%23,120
07029Harrison, NJ$90K12.8%46.2%22,866
10075New York, NY$181K40.4%87.4%22,665
07071Lyndhurst, NJ$121K21.0%41.8%22,463
10703Yonkers, NY$97K17.7%27.6%22,035
11003Elmont, NY$131K26.9%36.0%22,012
10552Mount Vernon, NY$122K22.8%49.6%21,935
07094Secaucus, NJ$151K36.1%63.3%21,778
10038New York, NY$147K35.6%63.7%21,629
10708Bronxville, NY$159K32.8%66.1%21,565
11563Lynbrook, NY$147K27.9%42.6%21,445
07407Elmwood Park, NJ$103K18.0%35.1%21,412
07205Hillside, NJ$115K13.9%27.9%20,948
07450Ridgewood, NJ$206K54.2%78.8%20,774
07514Paterson, NJ$75K7.5%12.0%20,446
07017East Orange, NJ$73K9.3%21.2%20,426
07650Palisades Park, NJ$104K15.3%50.4%20,290
11581Valley Stream, NY$139K27.9%47.3%20,264
11415Kew Gardens, NY$96K13.5%53.4%19,986
07506Hawthorne, NJ$112K21.4%47.0%19,628
11426Bellerose, NY$109K18.2%44.6%19,147
07503Paterson, NJ$66K7.1%17.4%19,125
11360Bayside, NY$110K20.9%50.1%19,052
07070Rutherford, NJ$160K31.4%61.2%18,894
11411Cambria Heights, NY$115K20.2%35.3%18,741
11362Little Neck, NY$128K20.1%53.8%18,492
10805New Rochelle, NY$108K18.1%39.1%18,378
07628Dumont, NJ$148K25.3%50.4%18,318
11428Queens Village, NY$100K14.9%32.1%18,250
11021Great Neck, NY$139K33.4%67.8%18,102
07675Westwood, NJ$192K41.1%62.1%17,841
10538Larchmont, NY$202K52.3%82.6%17,497
07086Weehawken, NJ$143K30.9%67.4%17,295
07646New Milford, NJ$128K25.8%47.6%16,995
07310Jersey City, NJ$171K44.7%88.7%16,768
10543Mamaroneck, NY$127K26.4%52.8%16,696
07031North Arlington, NJ$101K15.5%38.3%16,461
07508Haledon, NJ$86K13.0%27.7%16,426
11239Brooklyn, NY$42K4.4%24.9%16,410
10037New York, NY$70K9.6%44.0%16,316
10804New Rochelle, NY$232K64.0%85.8%16,222
07502Paterson, NJ$94K8.6%13.2%16,085
07670Tenafly, NJ$203K53.1%78.8%15,319
10470Bronx, NY$100K19.2%39.8%15,183
10017New York, NY$140K33.3%85.9%15,102
07022Fairview, NJ$64K10.4%23.1%15,099
07020Edgewater, NJ$136K33.9%72.0%14,759
10803Pelham, NY$191K49.7%72.5%14,459
07663Saddle Brook, NJ$137K26.7%36.9%14,419
11224Brooklyn, NY$84K10.1%45.9%14,409
07504Paterson, NJ$79K12.0%12.8%14,251
07114Newark, NJ$61K4.8%13.1%14,128
10304Staten Island, NY$107K14.9%24.6%14,019
07018East Orange, NJ$62K5.0%23.5%13,941
11004Glen Oaks, NY$137K24.2%47.4%13,727
07660Ridgefield Park, NJ$109K16.9%34.3%13,235
10553Mount Vernon, NY$95K14.4%39.1%12,697
11366Fresh Meadows, NY$127K22.1%54.7%12,595
07513Paterson, NJ$71K6.0%13.0%12,420
07102Newark, NJ$53K4.9%40.9%12,280
07043Montclair, NJ$222K62.6%84.3%12,271
07524Paterson, NJ$54K2.9%8.5%12,247
07452Glen Rock, NJ$203K55.0%73.6%12,154
07604Hasbrouck Heights, NJ$120K24.1%42.0%12,115
07661River Edge, NJ$181K42.8%67.2%12,091
07012Clifton, NJ$126K25.1%51.0%12,019
07057Wallington, NJ$89K11.9%38.7%11,889
10044New York, NY$121K28.7%73.2%11,520
07657Ridgefield, NJ$132K24.6%46.3%11,498
10522Dobbs Ferry, NY$162K36.9%69.8%11,443
10474Bronx, NY$45K2.1%13.3%11,270
07643Little Ferry, NJ$110K19.7%35.6%10,996
10706Hastings On Hudson, NY$208K54.0%75.5%10,886
10018New York, NY$144K36.8%78.1%10,857
07040Maplewood, NJ$133K24.4%59.4%10,504
07075Wood Ridge, NJ$142K30.6%53.3%10,455
10280New York, NY$222K53.2%86.3%10,439
07073East Rutherford, NJ$97K12.9%46.3%10,313
07607Maywood, NJ$128K25.9%46.3%10,093
07083Union, NJ$116K17.2%37.2%9,581
10707Tuckahoe, NY$137K31.4%63.3%9,556
10709Eastchester, NY$173K46.4%66.6%9,467
07603Bogota, NJ$102K19.3%32.3%9,360
10007New York, NY$240K67.3%86.2%9,349
07605Leonia, NJ$134K30.6%61.1%9,336
07676Township Of Washington, NJ$181K42.0%58.8%9,323
07626Cresskill, NJ$169K40.6%60.9%9,174
10005New York, NY$198K45.2%85.7%9,134
07042Montclair, NJ$177K46.2%76.2%9,000
07624Closter, NJ$194K48.0%66.4%8,606
07649Oradell, NJ$216K54.9%71.7%8,235
07512Totowa, NJ$113K16.1%37.2%8,100
11030Manhasset, NY$172K43.8%80.9%7,549
11363Little Neck, NY$141K30.1%56.3%7,223
07642Hillsdale, NJ$176K45.6%61.9%7,133
11109Long Island City, NY$217K59.0%87.7%6,790
07630Emerson, NJ$153K32.2%57.4%6,492
07072Carlstadt, NJ$134K25.8%31.0%6,378
07028Glen Ridge, NJ$223K63.7%82.8%6,255
10913Blauvelt, NY$208K48.2%56.2%6,189
11020Great Neck, NY$183K41.3%58.4%6,120
10069New York, NY$231K52.9%95.1%6,089
07662Rochelle Park, NJ$111K22.0%49.0%5,869
10983Tappan, NY$169K39.8%64.6%5,747
07648Norwood, NJ$163K40.9%62.3%5,724
07014Clifton, NJ$142K28.8%52.6%5,723
10282New York, NY$250K73.1%84.9%5,545
07632Englewood Cliffs, NJ$212K58.5%74.3%5,362
10530Hartsdale, NY$166K34.9%60.7%5,139
10502Ardsley, NY$233K58.4%78.6%4,998
07640Harrington Park, NJ$177K44.2%73.0%4,954
07627Demarest, NJ$210K52.9%76.0%4,911
07677Woodcliff Lake, NJ$216K55.9%81.6%4,370
07423Ho Ho Kus, NJ$236K65.9%82.5%4,270
07036Linden, NJ$82K13.8%17.4%4,267
11557Hewlett, NY$149K35.9%65.1%4,169
07647Northvale, NJ$111K30.2%47.6%4,058
10523Elmsford, NY$130K26.7%41.4%4,054
07481Wyckoff, NJ$191K48.6%68.6%3,908
10464Bronx, NY$118K13.7%46.5%3,828
10006New York, NY$188K45.7%85.5%3,666
07505Paterson, NJ$25K0.4%8.7%3,619
07463Waldwick, NJ$169K44.6%63.1%3,437
07641Haworth, NJ$215K61.3%74.1%3,363
07311Jersey City, NJ$250K62.1%90.3%3,241
10004New York, NY$250K55.5%89.4%3,233
07009Cedar Grove, NJ$189K37.5%49.2%3,184
07074Moonachie, NJ$88K16.8%29.7%3,126
10303Staten Island, NY$69K16.9%32.6%3,108
10533Irvington, NY$192K48.5%76.4%3,055
10962Orangeburg, NY$116K22.6%60.3%2,711
07088Vauxhall, NJ$102K17.8%31.8%2,689
07606South Hackensack, NJ$77K16.4%28.9%2,669
10968Piermont, NY$136K38.7%66.4%2,514
07079South Orange, NJ$153K30.6%63.9%2,411
10607White Plains, NY$208K55.2%61.6%2,302
10964Palisades, NY$182K38.8%50.0%2,238
11005Floral Park, NY$90K20.7%71.6%2,174
07656Park Ridge, NJ$223K57.3%56.6%2,123
10162New York, NY$110K31.8%72.5%2,027
11530Garden City, NY$132K29.4%57.0%1,960
07470Wayne, NJ$121K9.4%45.4%1,956
10302Staten Island, NY$68K12.8%19.3%1,793
07620Alpine, NJ$227K53.5%76.1%1,588
07645Montvale, NJ$140K37.8%53.6%1,506
11518East Rockaway, NY$88K9.8%42.4%1,447
11516Cedarhurst, NY$172K38.6%46.2%1,335
10976Sparkill, NY$26K5.5%32.2%1,315
07432Midland Park, NJ$144K27.7%62.5%1,243
07203Roselle, NJ—5.6%19.6%1,032
11010Franklin Square, NY$160K27.0%42.1%1,017
11565Malverne, NY$161K38.0%46.2%1,015
10960Nyack, NY$221K52.1%76.5%969
07041Millburn, NJ$250K59.5%91.2%906
11559Lawrence, NY$39K4.1%8.8%874
10528Harrison, NY—33.0%65.5%717
10199New York, NY$250K59.3%88.6%429
THE SCHOOL'S HOME ZIP CODE FOR REFERENCE · CENSUS COMMUNITY SURVEY 2020-2024
57,976
POPULATION (AROUND THE SCHOOL)
$147,772
MEDIAN HH INCOME
77.9%
BACHELOR'S OR HIGHER
42.9%
HOUSEHOLDS WITH KIDS <18
4,848
SCHOOL-AGED (5-17)
39.3%
HOUSEHOLDS $200K+
Share of total households
HOW TO READ THESE DEMOGRAPHIC SIGNALS

The Census Bureau’s community survey pools five years of responses to produce the most statistically reliable picture of a community around the school. Vintage 2020-2024 means the pooled survey period. This is the school's ZIP-code area, a far sharper read of the immediate draw area than a whole-metro average.

Population sizes the catchment universe. Median HH income is reported per household, not per individual — the standard wealth signal. Bachelor’s or higher is a strong proxy for the independent-school candidate pool: education-completion patterns correlate tightly with private-school enrollment in U.S. metros.

Households with kids <18 and school-aged (5–17) size the K-12 market specifically. Households $200K+ is the tuition-affordability ceiling proxy — independent-school tuitions for upper grades typically require household income at or above this band.

SOURCE
U.S. Census Bureau's community survey (the American Community Survey, ACS5). Geographic level: ZIP-area (ZCTA) when available, else metro (CBSA) or county FIPS. Learn more →
COST OF LIVING
$1.4M
MEDIAN HOME VALUE
ACS5 owner-occupied
—
2-BR FAIR MARKET RENT
HUD
WHY COST OF LIVING MATTERS HERE

Cost-of-living context is a second-order signal for the independent-school market. Higher housing costs tend to concentrate wealth (and willingness-to-pay) in the metro; they also raise the salary floor a school must hit to retain faculty. Median home value is the typical ownership signal; Fair Market Rent is the federal benchmark used to set Section 8 vouchers and is a defensible cross-metro comparison for housing pressure.

SOURCE
U.S. Census Bureau's community survey (median home value, owner-occupied units); U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Fair Market Rent (40th percentile of standard-quality rental units in the metro). Learn more →
CENSUSACS5 2020-2024
PAYING CAPACITY

Can families here afford tuition?

Figures on this card are for a 45-minute drive from campus.
DRIVE TIME
min

The typical family within a 45-minute drive earns $101,187. At about $70,076 in net program revenue per student, that’s 69% of that income — A major share of income.

How this verdict is set
HOW THE PAYING-CAPACITY VERDICT IS SET?

The verdict is a plain read on tuition affordability at the catchment level, computed as net program revenue per student (usually after financial aid) divided by the typical household income in the school’s 45-minute drive-time draw area.

THRESHOLDS
  • Low relative to incomes — the per-student figure is 15% or less of the typical household income.
  • A sizable share of income — the per-student figure is between 15% and 30% of the typical household income.
  • A major share of income — the per-student figure exceeds 30% of the typical household income.
INPUTS

Net program revenue per student is the school’s IRS 990 program-service revenue divided by enrollment — a rough estimate of the average price after aid, not the sticker price, and it can include camps or room and board. Typical income is the population-weighted median household income across the Census neighborhoods (block groups) within a 45-minute drive of the school, from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey.

CAVEATS

This is a draw-area read, not a household-level guarantee. Real paying families are drawn from the higher-income tail of the distribution; the median is the anchor, not the enrolled family. The per-student figure is a 990-derived estimate that trails the current year and may not reflect a recent tuition change.

SOURCE
HiveCheck proprietary metric derived from IRS Statistics of Income, U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, and Federal Housing Finance Agency data. 45-minute drive-time catchment. Learn more →
17.7%
of households earn $200K+
Households above the ACS $200K bracket — the conventional full-pay proxy.
$101,187
typical family income
Population-weighted across the neighborhoods within a 45-minute drive.

~265,900 school-age children live in families who can likely afford you — the addressable pool. See Community Demographics for how that pool is distributed across the draw area.

WHAT THIS MEANS

Net program revenue per student exceeds 30% of the typical household's income here; for the 17.7% of local households earning $200K+ it is at most about 35% of income. Worth asking what share of enrollment is full-pay versus aided.

The per-student figure is Form 990 program revenue divided by enrollment, usually net of aid and sometimes including camps or room and board; income is a population-weighted draw-area estimate (U.S. Census ACS); this is a draw-area read, not a household-level guarantee. It reads parent affordability in the draw area — geography does not measure the school’s fundraising, which comes from its own families, grandparents, and alumni.

CENSUSACS5 2020-2024 · 45-minute drive catchmentIRS 990Net program revenue per studentHIVECHECKPaying Capacity v2
GIVING PROFILE

GIVING PROFILE

HOW WE READ GIVING
HOW WE READ GIVING?

Every number in this profile comes from this school’s own IRS Form 990 filings — nothing from outside data.

Four signals build the read. TREND compares the average of the earliest half of the school’s non-PPP years to the latest half, so one big gift can’t drive the direction. CONSISTENCY reads year-to-year swings against the typical year — a broad donor base moves less than reliance on a few large relationships. SHARE OF REVENUE is gifts as a share of total revenue. NET ASSETS VS. EXPENSES reads total net assets against a year of expenses (buildings and restricted gifts included, so not cash); we never publish a back-calculated endowment dollar.

PPP years (FY2021 and FY2022) stay on the bar, greyed and tagged, but are excluded from every calculation — many independent schools booked PPP loans on the contributions line. Amended returns are collapsed to the latest filing for each tax year, so the same year never counts twice.

What the 990 can’t tell you: donor concentration (Schedule B is redacted on public filings, so the year-to-year swings above are the honest proxy), government-grant share (folded into the contributions line), and cost per dollar raised (fundraising expense is reported too inconsistently to trust). Named as gaps, not filled with guesses.

SOURCE
IRS Form 990, contributions & grants (Part VIII line 1h) plus net assets and investment income from the same filings. Learn more →
THE READ · FROM 6 NON-PPP YEARS OF 990s

Contributed revenue is variable. Year-to-year gifts have swung across a wide band with no single dominant year, with net assets equal to about 4.8 years of expenses (buildings and restricted gifts included). The 990 redacts donor counts, so the pattern is visible but the donor base behind it is not.

WORTH ASKING IN DILIGENCE

How many households give at the leadership level in a normal year, and how many of those relationships transfer if the Head changes?

$10.6Ma year in gifts & grants (avg. FY2018–FY2025, excludes PPP years)

Gifts run about 17% of revenue. Most recent filing (FY2025): $6.0M.

FY18FY19$26.8MFY20FY21PPPFY22PPPFY23FY24FY25

FY2021–22 shown lighter — PPP loans inflated contributions those years, so they’re left out of the trend, consistency, and share-of-revenue math.

Figures are nominal. Consumer prices rose about 28% from FY2018 to FY2025, so flat giving is a real-terms decline.

TREND · 6-YEAR
HOW THE TREND READ IS BUILT?

The direction of contributions and grants (IRS Form 990 Part VIII line 1h) over the school’s non-PPP filings. We average the earliest half of the years and compare that to the latest half — so one big year at either end can’t drive the read on its own.

Bands with four or more usable years: a change of at least +20% reads RISING, at least -20% reads DECLINING, anything between reads STEADY. With only three usable years we hold to a stricter ±30% gate on the verdict and label the cell “direction only” so it can’t disagree with the verdict.

What would move it: a capital campaign, a lapsed lead donor, a Head-led development push. Caveat: the 990 folds annual fund and campaign gifts into one line, so we can’t split them here.

SOURCE
IRS Form 990 Part VIII line 1h (contributions & grants). Learn more →
Falling

Contributions slipped from $15.1M (FY2018-2020) to $6.1M (FY2023-2025) — down about 60%.

CONSISTENCY
HOW THE CONSISTENCY READ IS BUILT?

How steadily contributions come in year to year — we measure how far each non-PPP year swings from the school’s typical one (a coefficient of variation).

Bands with four or more usable years: swings under 30% of the typical year read STEADY, 30-60% read VARIABLE, above 60% read VOLATILE. A single year more than three times the typical one, landing in the latest two years, is a spike override to VARIABLE.

Not scored when the average giving base runs under $10k, or when a year is negative (a refund or restatement). Caveat: this is the honest proxy for donor concentration — Schedule B is redacted on public 990s, so we’re reading the pattern, not the roster.

SOURCE
IRS Form 990 Part VIII line 1h (contributions & grants). Learn more →
Volatile

Year-to-year gifts swing widely — could be campaign timing, could be a small circle of episodic donors. Public 990s redact donor counts (Schedule B), so the 990 doesn’t say which.

SHARE OF REVENUE
HOW THE SHARE-OF-REVENUE READ IS BUILT?

Gifts and grants as a share of total revenue, averaged over the non-PPP years — how much of total revenue gifts actually carry, versus tuition-only economics.

Bands: under 5% reads SMALL SHARE (the school runs largely on tuition). Between 5% and 10% reads TYPICAL SHARE for a day school. Above 10% reads MAJOR SHARE — a defining piece of the revenue mix.

Not scored with fewer than three non-PPP filings, or when the school doesn’t break out total revenue on its 990. What it can’t see: whether that share is annual fund, capital campaign, or grant.

SOURCE
IRS Form 990 Part VIII (contributions divided by total revenue). Learn more →
Major share

Gifts run about 17% of revenue — a defining piece of the revenue mix. And that share has been falling.

NET ASSETS VS. EXPENSES
HOW THE NET-ASSETS READ IS BUILT?

The school’s total net assets against a year of expenses (net assets ÷ total expenses), from the same 990 filings. Net assets include buildings, land, endowment, and other restricted gifts, so this is not cash or money the school could spend. We never publish a back-calculated endowment dollar — that estimate is unreliable.

Bands: under 0.5 years, 0.5 to 1, 1 to 2, and over 2 years of expenses.

When the net-assets ratio isn’t on file we fall back to investment income: a median under about $25k/year reads LOW INVESTMENT INCOME; more than that reads INVESTMENT INCOME, without sizing the endowment. Not scored with fewer than three non-PPP filings.

SOURCE
IRS Form 990 Part X (net assets), Part IX (total expenses), and Part I line 10 (investment income). Learn more →
Over 2 yrs

Net assets exceed two years of expenses (the over-2x band), buildings and restricted gifts included.

Net assets include buildings, land, and restricted gifts, which aren’t spendable, so the net-assets read is not a measure of cash. We don’t back-calculate an endowment dollar figure from investment income; that estimate is unreliable.

LOCAL MARKET CONTEXT

The surrounding 45-minute area includes 34 higher-capacity ZIP codes — market context only, not a read on this school’s donor base. Independent-school giving is relationship-based (parents, grandparents, alumni) and those relationships reach well beyond geography.

GOVERNMENT MONEY, SEPARATED

The contribution bars above include government grants in FY2018 ($778K), FY2019 ($408K), FY2020 ($422K), FY2021 ($561K), FY2022 ($431K), FY2023 ($444K), FY2024 ($733K), FY2025 ($567K) — Form 990 Part VIII line 1e, where PPP-era relief lands. The trend math already excludes the PPP years; the private-gift line (1f, $5.3M in the latest year) is the number a private-giving read rests on.

WHAT THE 990 CAN’T TELL YOU

Three things public 990s don’t disclose, so we don’t guess:

  • Donor concentration. Schedule B (top donors) is redacted on public filings, so we can’t show whether one or two families drive the total. The year-to-year swings above are the closest available proxy.
  • Government-grant share. The 990 folds grants into the contributions line with no clean sub-total, so PPP years in particular inflate the raw figure. FY2021 and FY2022 are excluded from every calculation above.
  • Cost per dollar raised. Fundraising expense is reported so inconsistently on school 990s (many report zero) that the ratio would mislead — so we don’t show it.
HOW TO READ THIS

Every number here comes from this school’s own IRS Form 990. The bar shows contributions and grants (Part VIII line 1h) as reported, year by year. The trend, consistency, share-of-revenue, and net-assets reads are all computed from those same filings. Nothing here comes from outside data about the surrounding area.

Four signals build the read. TREND compares the average of the earliest half of the years to the average of the latest half, so one big year can’t drive the direction. CONSISTENCY reads year-to-year swings — steadier series are consistent with a broader donor base, though Schedule B redaction means this is a pattern read, not a roster. SHARE OF REVENUE compares gifts to total revenue — how much of total revenue gifts actually carry vs. tuition-only economics. NET ASSETS VS. EXPENSES reads total net assets against a year of expenses, with investment income as the fallback; net assets include buildings and restricted gifts, so it is not a measure of spendable reserves.

PPP years (FY2021, FY2022) are excluded from every calculation. Many independent schools booked PPP loans as contributions on the 990, so those two years overstate real giving. They still show on the bar, greyed and tagged “PPP,” so nothing is hidden.

The verdict is a direction, not a rating. RISING, STEADY, DECLINING, VARIABLE — a plain read of how the school’s own giving history has moved. A “worth asking in diligence” prompt sits underneath because the 990 tells you the shape, not the story behind it.

Three things the 990 can’t tell you. Donor concentration (Schedule B is redacted on public filings). Government-grant share (folded into the contributions line, no clean sub-total). Cost per dollar raised (fundraising expense is reported too inconsistently to trust). Named as gaps rather than filled with guesses.

IRS 990Contributions & grants (Part VIII line 1h) · FY2018–FY2025IRS 990Investment income + net assets (balance sheet) · same filingsCENSUS + IRSlocal giving-climate context only
COMPETITIVE POSITION

COMPETITIVE POSITION

Figures on this card are for a 45-minute drive from campus.
DRIVE TIME
min
NY · no broad statewide ESA or voucher program on record (as of 2026).

State K-12 private-school-choice policy is changing on a legislative-session cadence; this entry was verified in mid-2026 and is shown as market context, not enrollment advice, and not a statement that this school participates or that any given family will qualify. Verify current program status, eligibility, and award amount with the state administrator before relying on it.

HOW WE READ COMPETITION
HOW WE READ COMPETITION?

Market fill is a single unduplicated ratio: total private-school enrollment inside the school’s 45-minute drive-time catchment ÷ school-age children in $200k+ households in that catchment. Bands: under 0.5 reads OPEN FIELD, 0.5-0.85 reads BALANCED, 0.85-1.1 reads CROWDED, 1.1 or above reads SEATS EXCEED THE POOL (private capacity larger than the affording pool).

The by-band chart is a relative-pressure read: each band’s private capacity is rescaled by that band’s share of school-age children (elementary 6/13, middle 3/13, high 4/13) so a K-12 school isn’t double-counted against a slice of the pool. Bars and hero sit on the same seats-per-affording-child scale.

Thin-market guard: when the affording pool inside the drive is under about 1,000 children we don’t call a verdict — the ratios get too noisy in isolated markets.

Sources: private-school counts come from the NCES Private School Universe Survey (biennial, currently the 2021-22 vintage); public and charter counts from the NCES Common Core of Data via the Urban Institute Education Data Portal; the affording pool from the U.S. Census ACS $200k+ bracket; drive-time areas from OpenStreetMap via openrouteservice.

What we can’t see: each competitor’s tuition, selectivity, or waitlist; the actual choice set a family weighs; the school’s own realized yield. A precise concentration score (HHI) waits on the PSS enrollment-history backfill.

SOURCE
NCES Private School Universe Survey, NCES Common Core of Data via Urban Institute Education Data Portal, U.S. Census ACS, OpenStreetMap / openrouteservice. Learn more →
THE READ · MARKET STRUCTURE IN THE CATCHMENT

A balanced market. About 720 private schools within 45 minutes; private seats fill roughly 64% of the pool of affording children.

WORTH ASKING IN DILIGENCE

With room in the market, what's kept enrollment from capturing more of it — awareness, price, or program?

RELATIVE PRESSURE BY GRADE BAND
Elementary
0.48×
Middle 6–8
0.49×
High 9–12
0.36×
Seats exceed pool (>1.0)Seats below pool (<1.0)A band this school serves

Relative pressure = per-band capacity of the schools that serve this band, divided by the same-band slice of the 45-minute affording pool. Above 1.0, that share of local capacity already exceeds its slice of the affording pool. Bands read on the same seats-per-affording-child scale as the market-wide fill above, so a school can sit in a "balanced" market while one band runs tighter than the others.

Overall market fill (unduplicated): about 64% of the pool of affording children sits in a private seat.

PRIVATE-SCHOOL SEATS PER 100 AFFORDING CHILDREN · 45-MINUTE DRIVE
64
ALL PRIVATE SCHOOLS
171,341 K–12 students at 720 schools
13
SCHOOLS HIVECHECK COVERS
33,692 K–12 students at 78 schools, this one included
All private schools:
every school within the drive in the federal NCES Private School Universe Survey (about 22,000 schools in the NCES file HiveCheck uses): independent, religious, Montessori, special-education and others.
Schools HiveCheck covers:
the 1,639 independent schools in HiveCheck’s coverage, nonprofits that file their own IRS Form 990 (about 70% are NAIS members), included because their filings are public, not by membership. They are a subset of all private schools. Many religious schools, including most Catholic parish and diocesan schools, don’t file their own 990, so they count among all private schools but aren’t in HiveCheck’s coverage.
MARKET FILL · UNDUPLICATED
Balanced

Private seats fill about 64% of the pool of affording children across the catchment — this school serves elementary, middle, and high.

MARKET DENSITY
Very dense

720 private schools, about 171,341 seats, 255 nonsectarian, within 45 minutes.

Whether that count is rising or falling needs the biennial PSS backfill.

CONCENTRATION & MIX
Fragmented

No single school dominates 720 players — a fragmented market. About 35% are nonsectarian.

A precise concentration score (HHI) needs per-school enrollment history.

PUBLIC & CHARTER OPTION
Heavy

The county runs 357 public schools enrolling 152,353 students, including 57 charters — the free alternative families weigh.County figures here cover only the school’s home county — the school’s 45-minute draw area can span several counties, so county-grain signals describe the core of the market, not all of it.

Its enrollment trend (the demand mirror) needs the annual CCD backfill.

WHAT THIS PANEL CAN’T SEE

Each competitor’s tuition, selectivity, or waitlist; the actual choice set a given family weighs; the school’s own realized yield against these rivals. PSS is biennial and released on a ~2-year lag — read direction over precision.

WHAT PRACTITIONERS WATCH
  • Private-seat saturation of the affording pool — how full the market already is, by grade band.
  • Competitive density and its trend — whether the field is thickening or thinning (entries vs closures).
  • Market concentration and the same-format competitor set — raw counts overstate the threat.
  • Public and charter free capacity — the alternative that anchors the demand mirror.
BY THE NUMBERS · PUBLIC & PRIVATE COUNTS
357
PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN COUNTY
Urban Institute · CCD 2022
152,353
PUBLIC K-12 ENROLLMENT
The pool families choose between
57
CHARTER SCHOOLS
Public-school alternatives in county
69%
PUBLIC FREE/REDUCED LUNCH
County need indicator · CCD 2023
FAMILIES THE SCHOOL CAN REALISTICALLY REACH — WITHIN ABOUT A 45-MINUTE DRIVE
265,943
AFFORDING SCHOOL-AGE CHILDREN
Est. in $200K+ households (45-min drive)
547 / 480 / 255
COMPETING PRIVATE SCHOOLS
Elementary / middle / high
255
OF THOSE, NONSECTARIAN
Non-religious independents
MARKET SATURATION

Across the whole 45-minute market, 720 private schools enroll about 171,341 students in total, against the 265,943 school-age children in families who can likely afford tuition. Private enrollment fills roughly 64% of the affording pool — a partly-saturated market.

78 schools HiveCheck covers (this one included) are in this market, enrolling about 33,692 K–12 students — 13 per 100 affording children, against 64 for all private schools. 6 of them have no NCES enrollment count, so their seats aren’t included.

Total enrollment summed across every distinct private school in the catchment, each counted once (NCES PSS); the by-band count above overlaps (a K–12 school appears in all three bands), so it exceeds the 720 distinct schools here. Affording pool is a conservative $200K+ proxy, so a ratio near 1 signals a market that also serves families below that line. Seats are K–12 in both counts (affording children are ages 5–17); HiveCheck-school seats use each school’s latest NCES count.

The most-saturated grade band here is middle-school — private seats there exceed the local pool of affording children.

Estimated net revenue per student: $70,076 — about 69% of the draw area's $101,187 median household income. IRS 990 program revenue ÷ enrollment; net of financial aid, not list tuition.

How this market estimate is built
HOW THE INDEPENDENT-SCHOOL MARKET ESTIMATE IS BUILT?

Affording children estimates school-age (5–17) residents in households earning $200K+ within a 45-minute drive of the school, summed neighborhood by neighborhood over every Census block group whose exact drive time from the campus is 45 minutes or less. Competing private schools counts every school in the NCES Private School Universe Survey within that same 45-minute drive, each by its exact drive time, by grade band; a K–12 school counts in every band it serves. The $200K cutoff is the available ACS bracket and is a conservative affordability proxy — many independent-school families earn less and pay with aid — so read the figure as a relative market signal across schools, not an exact addressable count. The biennial PSS vintage is a v1 limitation.

SOURCE
NCES Private School Universe Survey + U.S. Census ACS Learn more →
What does public K-12 enrollment tell you?
WHAT DOES PUBLIC K-12 ENROLLMENT TELL YOU?

This is the count of students enrolled in public K-12 schools in the county, from the NCES Common Core of Data via the Urban Institute Education Data Portal. It sizes the public-school pool that families weigh against an independent option.

SCOPE

This is a county aggregate, not a measurement of any single public school, and not a rating of any school. HiveCheck does not rate individual schools. Use it to read the scale and structure of the public-school market, not to compare named schools.

ATTRIBUTION

NCES Common Core of Data (CCD), via Education Data Portal, Urban Institute, under ODC Attribution License.

SOURCE
NCES Common Core of Data (CCD), via Education Data Portal, Urban Institute, under ODC Attribution License. Learn more →
MARKET STRUCTURE

This county runs a more fragmented public market: about 357 public schools serving roughly 152,353 students, an average near 427 per school. 57 of those are charter schools, a public alternative open to the same families an independent school enrolls from.

A note on quality signals
WHAT IS A NOTE ON QUALITY SIGNALS?

Any public-school signal HiveCheck shows here is a county-level aggregate, not a rating of any individual school. HiveCheck does not rate schools. Where we report a coarse signal (school counts, public enrollment), read it as the shape of the competitive market, not a quality judgment on a named campus.

ATTRIBUTION

NCES Common Core of Data (CCD), via Education Data Portal, Urban Institute, under ODC Attribution License.

SOURCE
NCES Common Core of Data (CCD), via Education Data Portal, Urban Institute, under ODC Attribution License. Learn more →
HOW TO USE THE COMPETITIVE SIGNAL

The NCES Common Core of Data is the federal census of U.S. public schools, sourced here through the Urban Institute Education Data Portal. The signal is market scale and structure: how many K-12 students sit in the public-school pipeline in this county, and how consolidated (few schools, large enrollment) or fragmented (many schools, smaller enrollment) that market is.

A county with a large, consolidated public system behaves very differently from one with many smaller schools and charter alternatives. An independent school reads this to understand switching dynamics and how much of the local market is already committed to a public option.

Every figure here is a county aggregate, not a school-level rating. NCES Common Core of Data (CCD), via Education Data Portal, Urban Institute, under ODC Attribution License.

SOURCE
NCES Common Core of Data (CCD), via Education Data Portal, Urban Institute, under ODC Attribution License. Learn more →
URBAN INSTITUTEEducation Data Portal · CCD 2022OSM / ORS45-min drive-time catchmentCENSUS ACSPool of affording children
TUITION & ENROLLMENT TRAJECTORY

TUITION & ENROLLMENT TRAJECTORY

HOW WE READ THIS TRAJECTORY
HOW WE READ THIS TRAJECTORY?

The trajectory is anchored on the school’s own IRS Form 990 tuition-and-fees line (Part VIII line 2) in nominal dollars, year by year — a figure that reflects enrollment, tuition price, financial aid, and other program fees together. We average the earliest half of the years and compare to the latest half. Bands: growth of at least +20% reads RISING, +5% to +20% reads HOLDING (roughly pacing inflation), -5% to +5% reads FLAT IN DOLLARS — A REAL-TERMS DECLINE, below -5% reads DECLINING. When year-to-year swings dominate (a coefficient of variation of 20% or more, four-plus years) the read is SWINGING instead of a direction.

RESILIENCE is the honest stand-in for retention — we can’t see the admissions system, so we read how tightly the tuition-revenue series holds together. PRICING compares 990-derived net revenue per student to local median household income, with bands at 15% and 30%. BIRTHS PIPELINE reads county live births, a ~5-year leading indicator: +5% or higher is a tailwind, -5% to -15% a headwind, below -15% a cliff.

What this profile can’t see: retention, the admissions funnel (inquiries → applications → yield), waitlist depth, summer melt, and whether the trajectory is price or headcount. The 990 shows enrollment, tuition price, financial aid, and other program fees combined, not each one apart.

Births-series notes: 2020 is absent — the Census skipped that vintage. When a county’s series ends more than two years ago we don’t call a pipeline (Connecticut’s counties were redrawn in 2022, so most CT schools sit on legacy FIPS with no post-2019 rows).

SOURCE
IRS Form 990 Part VIII line 2 (tuition & fees) and U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (county births). Learn more →
THE READ · FROM 8 YEARS OF 990s

Tuition & fees revenue is rising. The school’s own tuition-and-fees base climbed from about $41.8M a year to $50.6M, up about 21% across the window.

WORTH ASKING IN DILIGENCE

Is enrollment holding while tuition rises, or is headcount slipping under a higher sticker price? The 990 can't separate the two.

$53.9Ma year in tuition & fees (FY2025) · +40% over FY2018–FY2025
$38.6MFY18FY19FY20FY21FY22FY23FY24$53.9MFY25

Program-service revenue (IRS 990 Part VIII line 2) — tuition & fees, which PPP loans never touched, so every year counts. This reflects enrollment, tuition price, financial aid, and other program fees; the 990 can’t separate them.

Figures are nominal. Consumer prices rose about 28% from FY2018 to FY2025, so flat tuition revenue is a real-terms decline.

TUITION-BASE TRAJECTORY
Rising

Ran about $41.8M a year early on (FY2018–FY2021) versus $50.6M lately (FY2022–FY2025) — the base climbed across the window.

RESILIENCE
Variable

Year-to-year moves widen a bit, and grew straight through 2020–21. It’s the closest read we have on retention, which lives only in the school’s admissions system.

PRICING vs LOCAL MEANS
Major income share

Net revenue runs about $70K per student — roughly 69% of the area’s $101K median household income, against 265,943 school-age children in $200k+ households within the drive.

BIRTHS PIPELINE
Cliff

County births ran about 18,740 a year in 2011–2016 and about 14,596 in 2018–2024 (-22%) — the pool that reaches kindergarten in ~5 years is shrinking.

19,711’1113,030’24

County figures here cover only the school’s home county — the school’s 45-minute draw area can span several counties, so county-grain signals describe the core of the market, not all of it.

Births are the earliest pipeline signal — this year's births are the kindergarten-age pool in about five years. Bands: +5% or more reads Tailwind, -5% to -15% Headwind, below -15% Cliff.

WHAT THIS PROFILE CAN’T SEE

Retention and re-enrollment (the sector’s single most-watched enrollment metric), the admissions funnel (inquiries → applications → yield) and summer melt, waitlist depth, and whether the trajectory above is price or headcount — all live only in the school’s own admissions system. Named as gaps, not filled with guesses.

WHAT PRACTITIONERS WATCH
  • Enrollment trajectory. Direction first, magnitude second, volatility third — the headline every trustee wants to see.
  • Retention / re-enrollment. The leading indicator of school health. Lives in the SIS, so the resilience read above is the honest stand-in.
  • Net program revenue per student vs. local income. The affordability squeeze — a rising ratio narrows the addressable pool.
  • County births and the affording pool. The ~5-year leading indicators for the kindergarten-age pipeline and paying capacity.
AID & TUITION LINES (990)
WHAT ARE THE AID AND TUITION LINES?

Reported financial aid is Part IX line 2, grants to domestic individuals — for a school, overwhelmingly financial aid. Schools that report tuition net of aid show no line at all, so a missing figure is a reporting convention, not zero aid.

Itemized tuition is the Part VIII program line the school itself describes as tuition; the trajectory chart above uses TOTAL program revenue (tuition plus summer, auxiliary, and other program fees), so the itemized line is the cleaner tuition read, though it still mixes enrollment, price, and (where it is netted out) financial aid. The approximate aid share divides aid by tuition plus aid; treat it as directional, not an audited discount rate.

SOURCE
IRS Form 990 Part VIII (itemized program revenue) and Part IX line 2 (grants to domestic individuals). Learn more →
$8.5M
REPORTED AID
+51% since FY2018
14%
APPROX. AID SHARE
aid ÷ (tuition + aid)
$52.0M
ITEMIZED TUITION LINE
BY THE NUMBERS · AID, TUITION, MIGRATION & HOME PRICES
-37,172 returns
NET MIGRATION (HIGH-AGI)
IRS SOI migration TY2022 · high-AGI
-$16.44B
NET AGI FLOW
Money following the moves
+22.1%
HOME-PRICE TREND (3-YR)
FHFA HPI · ZIP3 101
rising
HOME-PRICE DIRECTION
Wealth-direction proxy
FHFA HOUSE PRICE INDEX · ZIP3 101
Home-price index trend: +22.1% over three years, rising.437.42

FHFA House Price Index over available quarters for ZIP3 101.

WHO IS MOVING
65,420
INBOUND RETURNS
Filed by households moving in
102,592
OUTBOUND RETURNS
Filed by households moving out

Home prices are still rising while affluent households are leaving on net — the two series point in different directions. Worth asking what is carrying local appreciation.

What does net migration tell you?
WHAT DOES NET MIGRATION TELL YOU?

Net migration is the inflow minus the outflow of tax returns for the county, read as a proxy for households moving in or out. A positive number means more affluent households arrived than left; a negative number is the reverse. The sign carries the meaning.

METHOD

HiveCheck reads the upper adjusted-gross-income brackets of the IRS Statistics of Income county-to-county migration file, so the signal weights toward the households a school recruits and cultivates.

CAVEATS

IRS SOI migration is released on roughly a two-year lag and is reported at the county level. Post-pandemic flows are noisier than historical norms, so read direction over precision.

SOURCE
Source: IRS Statistics of Income. Learn more →
What does the home-price trend tell you?
WHAT DOES THE HOME-PRICE TREND TELL YOU?

The FHFA House Price Index tracks repeat sales of the same homes over time, so it reads price direction cleanly without being skewed by the mix of what sold. HiveCheck reports the trailing three-year percent change and a one-word direction (rising, flat, or cooling) as a wealth-direction proxy.

SCOPE

Home-price data is published at the 3-digit ZIP / metro level, a broader area than the rest of this section, which works at the ZIP5 or county grain. Read it as regional context, not a block-level read.

WHY FHFA

HiveCheck uses FHFA because it is U.S. federal public-domain data with a clean repeat-sales method, rather than a proprietary consumer index with restrictive licensing.

SOURCE
Source: Federal Housing Finance Agency, House Price Index. Learn more →
IRS 990Tuition & fees · Part VIII line 2CENSUS PEPCounty birthsIRS SOICounty migration TY2022FHFAHouse price index · ZIP3 101
QUESTIONS TO ASK · INTERVIEW PREP

Five questions to ask the search committee

Generated from anomalies in this school's public IRS Form 990 filings. Most questions are anchored to a specific number so you can defend asking them. The point is not to interrogate — it is to show the board you have read the school carefully.

  1. Net assets equal roughly 4.8 years of expenses, campus and endowment included. What's the board's framework for when and how the school spends from its endowment and other unrestricted funds versus protects them?

    TRIGGERED BY: NET ASSETS ÷ EXPENSES = 4.8 YEARS

  2. Contributions and investment income are a real part of the revenue mix, about 9% and 5% respectively on the latest 990. Who are the school's most strategic donors and partners right now, and what's the alumni engagement story?

    TRIGGERED BY: CONTRIBUTIONS 9% + INVESTMENT INCOME 5% OF REVENUE

  3. FY2025 closed with expenses above revenue on the 990. What's the path back to break-even, and over what time horizon does the board expect to get there?

    TRIGGERED BY: REVENUE MINUS EXPENSES -12.8% OF REVENUE · FY2025

  4. Given the financial picture in recent filings, has the board engaged outside consulting support (strategic, financial, or operational) and what work has come out of that?

    TRIGGERED BY: EXPENSES ABOVE REVENUE OR NET ASSETS FALLING

  5. Your public filings show expenses growing faster than revenue over the last three years. How is the board thinking about the long-term operating model: a deliberate investment phase, or a trend you're working to bend?

    TRIGGERED BY: EXPENSE CAGR 3.9% VS REVENUE CAGR 0.4% (3-YEAR)

These are starting points, not a script. The strongest version of any question becomes specific once you walk the campus and meet the team.

TOP COMPENSATED · SCHEDULE J · FY2025
POSITION
TOTAL COMP
Head of School
$954,143
Director Finance & Operations
$579,344
Head of Middle School
$557,694
Director of Teaching/Learning
$384,080
Director of Curriculum
$378,323

Roles and compensation as filed on the public IRS Form 990 Schedule J. Schedule J reports pay for the calendar year ending within the fiscal year. Individual names are withheld.

GOVERNANCE

Board of trustees (IRS Form 990, Part VII)

Showing FY2023
24
Voting members
Total board size
24
Independent
IRS independence test (Part VI)
100%
% Independent
IRS Part VI Q1b
TITLE
NAME
Secretary
Arthur Chu
Vice President
Akuezunkpa Ude Welcome
Vice President
Anand Desai
Trustee
Anya Herz Shiva
Trustee
Dana Wallach Jones
Vice President
Kimberly Kravis
President
William L Jacob III
Trustee
Ahrin Mishan
Trustee
Alexis Mcgill Johnson
Trustee
Brooke Williams
Trustee
Bryce Markus
Trustee
C Cybele Raver
Trustee
Daryl Wout
Trustee
Emily Speyer
Trustee
Erica Desai
Trustee
Heather Berger
Trustee
James Shulman
Trustee
Jose Tavarez
Trustee
Joseph Drayton
Trustee
Judith Joseph Jenkins
Trustee
Kathryn Koch
Trustee
Meredith Rubel Lipsher
Trustee
Michael P Clifford
Trustee
Vanessa Cornell
IRSForm 990 Part VII · FY2023 · Officers, Directors, TrusteesNames and titles appear as filed on the school's public Form 990, Part VII. President, secretary, and treasurer are corporate officer roles every 501(c)(3) is required to fill — statutory positions on the charter and filing, not a map of who runs the school day to day. Independent under the IRS test: not paid as an officer or employee, no more than $10,000 as a contractor, and no transactions the 990 must report on Schedule L. Parents, alumni, and donors usually qualify.
SOURCES & FRESHNESS

Compiled by HiveCheck, a Lomuscio Labs product, on October 18, 2026 from public datasets — IRS Form 990 (through FY2025), U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-year estimates, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Education NCES, BEA, and HUD. Data was last refreshed 2026-08-31.

Community & Market section sources: Source: IRS Statistics of Income. NCES Common Core of Data (CCD), via Education Data Portal, Urban Institute, under ODC Attribution License. Source: Federal Housing Finance Agency, House Price Index. Drive times: map data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), routing by openrouteservice.