How to find highly-ranked public and private Contra Costa County schools (for cities like Clayton, Concord, Walnut Creek, etc).

If you are new to living in the East Bay region of Northern California, say in Contra Costa County, and you have kids, then you know you need to start looking at a school for your children.

You have choices when it comes to schools. You can do public school or private school. But to make that choice, you need to know a little bit more information to make the right choice.

There are websites that can help you find the perfect preschool, elementary school, middle school or high school for your kids in the East Bay.

First, try and look at a map of your city and you can see which schools are closest to you. After all, convenience and location are really important. You can do this schooldigger.com.

For example say you want to see a map of all schools in Concord, California. Go to the Concord, CA SchoolDigger website and scroll down to view the map. There, then magnify the area around your house to see the local public and private schools, then click on the icons to see more information about each school site.

Next, once you've decided your school or narrowed it down to a city, you can find out the most highly-ranked schools near you. To do this, go to greatschools.org.

For example, to find the highest-ranked public schools in Walnut Creek, click here.  To find the highest-ranked public schools in Concord, click here.  And to find the highest-ranked public schools in Clayton, click here. These are just rankings for public schools, as private school rankings and data are not easily found.

Good luck in your search for the best schools in Contra Costa County.