You want better schools than the ones you have. There are three usual answers — buy into a top district, or stay and pay for private, or give up — and one that almost nobody prices: rent in the top district. Residency is what buys a seat in a public school, and a lease establishes residency exactly like a deed does.
The thing that decides it is not the tuition and not the house price. It is the mortgage you already have. Set the inputs to your own situation and the ranking will reorder itself.
Cheapest over 10 years: Stay in Salem, keep your mortgage, pay tuition. It beats the next best option — “Rent in Lexington, use the public schools” — by about ≈$70,000 in present value.
Option
10-year cost (PV)
First-year cash
Stay in Salem, keep your mortgage, pay tuition3.25% on $300k remaining · $246k equity left in the house · private tuition
≈$475,000
≈$55,000
Rent in Lexington, use the public schoolsHUD 3BR benchmark, $5k/mo · public schools
≈$545,000
≈$60,000
Buy in Salem today, pay tuition6.5% on a $575k 3BR · private tuition
Buy in Lexington, use the public schools6.5% on a $1.35M 3BR · public schools
≈$710,000
≈$115,000
Present value over 10 years of everything you pay, minus what you get back at sale — discounted at 4%. Buying assumes 20% down at 6.5%, 2% closing costs, 1% maintenance and 5% to sell. Staying charges the equity you leave in the house, because not liberating it is a real cost. Rents are HUD FY2026 Small Area Fair Market Rents for a 3BR; prices are our 3BR estimates for Salem and Lexington. Tuition inflates 4%/yr. Estimates for comparison, not financial advice.
What this cannot tell you
It cannot tell you whether the schools are better for your child. Our tiers are editorial groupings, and a district seat is not the same product as a specific private school with a specific program. It prices one thing: money.
Renting has costs the model leaves out — broker fees, moving, deposits, and the real one, a landlord who sells and moves your family mid school-career. A deed cannot be evicted. If two options land within about 5% of each other, treat them as tied and decide on everything else.
The move that survives all of it: rent in the district for a year or two, find out whether the town is what you hoped, and buy from the inside with far better information than an open house gives you.
