‘You pay through your ZIP code’: Google engineer explains hidden cost of US public schools  

A viral post by a Google engineer has ignited discussion about the real cost of education in the United States, challenging the widely held belief among many Indian families that schooling there is essentially free.  

Aditya Goyal, an engineer with Google, shared his observations on LinkedIn after returning to India and hearing frequent complaints about the rising cost of school education, particularly in cities like Bangalore.  

“In Bangalore, a typical private school costs $4,000-5,000 per year,” Goyal wrote, adding that international curriculum schools offering IB or IGCSE programmes can cost twice as much. Premium institutions such as The International School Bangalore may charge more than $15,000 annually — a major financial burden for many Indian families.  

The conversation, he noted, often ends with a familiar reassurance: “At least schools in the US are free.”  

The ‘school district’ reality  

Goyal said he once believed the same when he first moved to the United States. Early housing decisions were based on lifestyle considerations such as proximity to work, restaurants, parks or nightlife.  

That changed once he had a child.  

“The most important question becomes: what school district is this house in?” he wrote.  

Having lived in several American cities including Cincinnati, Philadelphia, Charlotte, Jersey City and Austin, Goyal said he noticed a consistent pattern: neighbourhoods with higher-rated public schools tend to have significantly higher housing prices and rents.  

Families, he argued, are not just buying homes — they are effectively buying access to specific school districts.  

This dynamic also helps explain why many US cities have neighbourhoods popularly known as “Mini India” or Asian community clusters, which often fall within school zones with better academic ratings.  

‘Free on paper’  

While public education in the United States is technically free, Goyal said quality varies significantly across districts.  

Even in schools rated 7 out of 10 or higher on platforms like GreatSchools, only about 50-60 per cent of students meet grade-level proficiency in subjects such as maths and reading.  

Living in the catchment areas of these better-performing schools frequently comes with steep costs, including higher property prices, elevated rents and property taxes that can exceed $10,000-15,000 annually.  

“The tuition isn’t charged per child,” he wrote. “It’s charged per house.”  

The ‘elite availability gap’  

In a follow-up post, Goyal described what he called the “elite availability gap” — the uneven distribution of highly rated schools across American metropolitan areas.  

Some high-income suburban clusters have relatively abundant high-performing schools, though access comes with high housing costs.  

Examples include suburbs like Frisco and Plano, where about 85 per cent of schools are rated 7/10 or higher, and areas such as Leander and Round Rock where the share is about 60 per cent.  

But in many large urban districts, high-performing public schools are far rarer and often concentrated in wealthier neighbourhoods.  

In regions such as the Bay Area, roughly a quarter of schools reach that rating threshold, while the share drops further in districts like Charlotte-Mecklenburg, Austin ISD and Dallas ISD. In Philadelphia, fewer than 10 per cent of schools meet the benchmark.  

Goyal’s conclusion highlights a broader structural issue: although American public schooling does not require direct tuition payments, the quality of education is closely tied to local housing markets and tax structures.  

In practice, he suggested, families are still paying for education — just not in the way many expect.  

“Public education in the US may be free on paper,” he wrote. “But the real question is whether you are paying for school through tuition… or through your ZIP code.”