Schools and a quality education are important in Carlsbad. In fact, two-thirds of Carlsbad’s elementary schools rank nine or 10—the highest rankings available—on www.greatschools.org.

The region is also home to many world-renowned research and higher education institutions. World-renowned research and higher education institutions in the region.

Schools in Carlsbad are run by school districts, not by the city. Residents in the City of Carlsbad are served by four school districts:

Public schools

• Carlsbad Unified School District 
• Encinitas Union School District 
• San Dieguito Union High School District 
• San Marcos Unified School District 

Nearby community colleges

• MiraCosta Community College 
• Palomar Community College 

San Diego area's largest universities

• California State University, San Marcos 
• San Diego State University 
• University of California, San Diego 
• University of San Diego 
• University of Phoenix 

San Diego area's research institutions

• The Burnham Institute
  www.burnham.org  
• Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation
  www.gnf.org
• Howard Hughes Medical Institute
  www.hhmi.org
• Hubbs-Sea World Research Institute
  www.hswri.org
• Human BioMolecularResearch Institute
  www.hbri.org
• La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology
  www.liai.org
• La Jolla Institute for Molecular Medicine
  www.ljimm.org
• The Neurosciences Institute
  www.nsi.edu
• Profil Institute for Clinical Research, Inc.
  www.profil-research.com
• Salk Institute for Biological Studies
  www.salk.edu
• Scripps Institution of Oceanography
  www.sio.ucsd.edu
• The Scripps Research Institute
  www.scripps.edu
• Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies, Inc.
  www.tpims.org
• University of California, San Diego
  health.ucsd.edu/Pages/default.aspx 
• The Vaccine Research Institute of San Diego (VRISD)
  www.vrisd.org