The ranking holds 7 schools with an international accreditation or an authorised programme. International Baccalaureate programmes are taught at 4 of them. The British Cambridge route, IGCSE and A-Level, at 1. A year of school costs from €1 560 to €26 450.
2 schools publish a monthly fee rather than a yearly one and do not say how many payments they charge over a school year. We count such a year as ten payments: that is the number charged by the schools that do state it, and that is how long the school year runs in most countries of the ranking.
We do not take reviews from maps and directories: their terms forbid it, and nobody checks the quality there. Everything below comes from the official registers of the accrediting organisations and from the schools' own sites, and every fact carries its source and the date of the check.
| Cheapest | $1 762 a year | École Française de Hambourg - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry |
| Median | $2 824 a year | top of the fee range at 4 schools with a published fee |
| Most expensive | $29 881 a year | International School of Hamburg |
| Free | 2 schools | Hansa-Gymnasium Bergedorf, Helene-Lange-Gymnasium Hamburg |
Figures are converted to dollars at a weekly rate; schools publish their fees in their own currency. One-off charges, meals, transport and uniform are not included unless the school says otherwise. Fees for schools in Hamburg are taken from published price lists, not from what third parties say.
4 of the 7 schools in the ranking are private. The other 3 are state schools, set out below. The type of school does not affect the score: private and state schools sit in one list and are scored by the same formula, and only verifiable data moves the number.
2 schools in Hamburg teach an international programme with no tuition fee: Hansa-Gymnasium Bergedorf, Helene-Lange-Gymnasium Hamburg. On value for money such schools get the top score, because they sit outside the price range altogether.
3 schools with an international accreditation are funded by the state: Hansa-Gymnasium Bergedorf, Helene-Lange-Gymnasium Hamburg, Deutsch-Französisches Gymnasium Hamburg. Admission to these schools is usually competitive, and tuition is free or markedly cheaper than at a private school. In the ranking they stand alongside private schools and are scored on the same nine criteria.
Schools in Hamburg with an IB programme (4): International School of Hamburg, Hansa-Gymnasium Bergedorf, Helene-Lange-Gymnasium Hamburg, WABE International School. Authorisation is confirmed against the International Baccalaureate register.
The British Cambridge programme - IGCSE and A-Level - is taught at 1 school in Hamburg: Phorms Campus Hamburg.
These schools stand in the suburbs, up to 19 km from the centre of Hamburg. Each card names the school's own town; they are gathered here because a family in Hamburg chooses between them as between districts of one place.
A facility counts only when the school names it outright on its own site: a modern campus is not a swimming pool. School transport: 1 school.
Comparing schools on a single feature is useless: the most expensive is not the best, and a famous name says nothing about what is backed by documents. The score is therefore built from nine criteria with different weights - from academic programmes and accreditation to facilities, clubs and fees relative to other schools in the country.
A criterion counts towards the score only when there is verifiable data behind it. That is why every score says how many of the nine criteria were counted: at schools in Hamburg that is 7.9 out of 9 on average. A school with a detailed site and a school with no site cannot earn an equally reliable score, and that is shown rather than hidden.
Ratings and reviews from Google Maps and other map services are not used: their terms forbid aggregation. Only verified reviews left here count. Full methodology →
Published fees run from $1 762 to $29 881 for a school year. The cheapest is École Française de Hambourg - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, the most expensive International School of Hamburg. The median for the senior stage is $2 824 a year. Tuition is free at 2 schools: Hansa-Gymnasium Bergedorf, Helene-Lange-Gymnasium Hamburg. Fees are converted into dollars at a weekly rate; schools publish them in their own currency. 2 schools publish a monthly fee rather than a yearly one and do not say how many payments they charge over a school year. We count such a year as ten payments: that is the number charged by the schools that do state it, and that is how long the school year runs in most countries of the ranking.
International School of Hamburg comes first with 80.5 points out of 100, counted from 8 of the 9 criteria. Next come Hansa-Gymnasium Bergedorf (74.6) and Helene-Lange-Gymnasium Hamburg (74.4). The score is built from data anyone can check: accreditations found in official registers, programmes, facilities and published fees. A place in the ranking is not for sale.
The ranking holds 7 schools: 4 private and 3 state (Hansa-Gymnasium Bergedorf, Helene-Lange-Gymnasium Hamburg, Deutsch-Französisches Gymnasium Hamburg). Private and state schools go into the ranking on equal terms.
International Baccalaureate programmes are taught at 4 schools: International School of Hamburg, Hansa-Gymnasium Bergedorf, Helene-Lange-Gymnasium Hamburg, WABE International School.
IGCSE and A-Level are offered by 1 school: Phorms Campus Hamburg.
The earliest intake starts at 1 year old. 3 schools have a preschool section.
The score of every school adds up from nine criteria with different weights: academic programmes, accreditation, facilities, clubs, the fee against other schools in the country, reviews, university destinations, safety and teachers. A criterion counts only when there is data behind it that can be checked, so every score says how many of the nine were counted. Right now that is 7.9 out of 9 on average. We do not use reviews from maps or directories.