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By NOAH WORTHAM | Managing Editor 

According to the 2025 rankings released by Niche.com, all four school districts inside Shelby County are among the top 30 districts in the state.

That includes Hoover City Schools, Alabaster City Schools, Pelham City Schools and Shelby County Schools. All three of the city school districts are ranked inside the top 15, while Shelby County Schools earned the No. 26 spot.

Niche.com ranks schools based on several criteria, including Academics, Administration, Clubs and Activities, College Prep, Diversity, Food, Resources and Facilities, Sports and Teachers. Niche evaluates schools based on these categories and assigns grades in each category.

Hoover was the highest-ranked school system in the county at No. 5 for Best School Districts in Alabama.

HSC received an overall Niche grade of A-plus with an A in Academics, an A in Teachers, an A-plus in Clubs and Activities, an A-minus in Diversity, an A-plus in College Prep and an A in Administration.

Hoover City Schools has 18 campuses and serves 13,557 students in Pre-K and grades K-12 with a student-teacher ratio of 14 to 1. According to state test scores, 56 percent of students are at least proficient in math and 70 percent in reading.

Hoover City Schools also ranked at No. 1 for Best Schools Districts for Athletes in Alabama and at No. 8 for Best Places to Teach in Alabama.

Behind Hoover was Alabaster City Schools at No. 9 for Best School Districts in Alabama and at No. 1 for Best School Districts in Shelby County due to Hoover being split between Shelby and Jefferson counties.

 

Alabaster City School received an overall niche ranking of A-plus with an A-minus in Academics, an A in Teachers, an A-plus in Clubs and Activities, an A in Diversity, an A in College Prep and an A-plus in Administration. ACS serves 6,425 students at five schools in Pre-K and grade K-12.

Alabaster City Schools also ranked at No. 5 for Best School Districts for Athletes in Alabama and No. 17 for Most Diverse Schools Districts in Alabama.

Next on the list was Pelham City Schools at No. 14. Pelham received an overall Niche grade of A with an A-minus in Academics, an A in Teachers, an A in Clubs and Activities, an A in Diversity, an A in College Prep and an A in Administration.

Pelham has 3,407 students at its four schools in Pre-K and grades K-12 with a student-teacher ratio of 17 to 1. According to state test scores, 30 percent of students are at least proficient in math and 57 percent in reading.

Pelham City Schools also ranked at No. 3 for Most Diverse Schools Districts in Alabama and at No. 20 for Districts with the Best Teachers in Alabama.

Shelby County Schools was ranked at No. 26 for Best School Districts in Alabama.

SCS received an overall Niche grade of A-minus with an A-minus in Academics, an A-minus in Teachers, A B-plus in Clubs and Activities, a B-plus in Diversity, an A-minus in College Prep and a B-plus in Administration.

Shelby County Schools is comprised of 31 schools with 21,097 students in Pre-K and grades K-12. According to Niche.com, 38 percent of SCS’ students are proficient in math and 60 percent are proficient in reading. Shelby County Schools has a student-teacher ratio of 17 to 1 and an average graduation rate of 94 percent.

Shelby County Schools also ranked No. 22 for Best School District for Athletes in Alabama and at No. 55 for Districts with Best Teachers in Alabama.