Best Public Schools in Zip Code 43718

ZIP code 43718 covers Belmont, Ohio, and contains three public schools — Union Local Elementary School (PK–5, 562 students), Union Local Middle School (6–8, 304 students), and Union Local High School (9–12, 382 students) — all part of the Union Local district, with 1,248 students in total. There is no alternative school in the ZIP. The district is rated 1 star, at the 29th percentile of Ohio districts, while each school earned 2 stars in 2025–26, ranging from the 32nd to the 43rd percentile.

Results vary sharply by school and subject. The elementary's bright spots are in the early grades, where Math 3 (78.5% vs. 62.1% state) and ELA 3 (67.1% vs. 63.4%) are above state, but Math 4 (53.2% vs. 67.3%) and Science 5 (50.0% vs. 62.7%) lag. The middle school's Algebra I proficiency of 100% is the highest number in the ZIP, far above the district's 46.1% and the state's 61.6%, though it likely reflects a small advanced cohort; other middle-school subjects sit below state, with ELA 7 at 41.9% against 62.7%. The high school shines in social studies (American Government 78.9% vs. 71.6%; American History 75.0% vs. 73.2%) and Biology (69.9% vs. 67.0%) and posts a 99.0% graduation rate, but math is weak: Geometry 22.2% vs. 43.3% and Algebra I 36.1% vs. 61.6%.

Attendance and economic need worsen as students move up. Chronic absenteeism rises from 19.3% at the elementary to 30.2% at the middle school and 38.0% at the high school, compared with the district's 27.8%. Free/reduced-lunch rates climb from 33.1% to 46.71% to 79.58%. Yet student–teacher ratios are smallest at the high school (11.7, versus 12.6 at the middle school and 15.1 at the elementary), and per-student spending is similar across the three schools, at about $9,275–$9,585 in 2018–19.