Noblesville Schools

Noblesville enrolled 10,348 students in 2025-26. Since 2005-06 enrollment has grown 33%; the regional peer median grew 33% and the median Indiana corporation shrank 11%. The chart indexes each series to its 2005-06 level.

Enrollment and the funding count

Indiana's tuition support formula pays on average daily membership (ADM), counted each September and again in the spring; ADM excludes pre-kindergarten, which the enrollment count includes. Noblesville's fall ADM was 10,352 in 2023-24, 0.98 per enrolled student.

IDOE State Tuition Support Annual Reports, Appendix A (fall count, non-virtual plus virtual ADM), and IDOE enrollment (October count).

Students, 2025-26

Home values against nearby districts

Across the five most recent Census releases (2016–20 to 2020–24), the median owner-occupied home in Noblesville averaged $296,760, 12% above the median of the 12 districts within 25 miles ($265,900). That ranks 5th of 13 in the area and at the 97th percentile of Indiana districts (state median $158,850).

U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates, median value of owner-occupied homes (table B25077), in nominal dollars. Consecutive releases share four of their five survey years, so the average is a smoothed level rather than five independent years. Nearby districts are those whose NCES office address lies within 25 miles of Noblesville's: Zionsville (14 mi, $475,780); Carmel Clay (6 mi, $418,580); Westfield-Washington (6 mi, $354,080); Hamilton Southeastern (5 mi, $325,800); New Palestine (24 mi, $278,760); Brownsburg (24 mi, $271,960); MSD Washington Township (11 mi, $259,840); Mt Vernon (14 mi, $247,800); Lebanon (23 mi, $197,640); Greenfield-Central Com (23 mi, $191,100); MSD Pike Township (17 mi, $188,140); Beech Grove City (23 mi, $143,000).

Where resident students go, fall 2025

Of 11,467 students who live in the district, 10,033 attend Noblesville schools: a retention rate of 87.5%, 52nd of 290 statewide. 1,434 leave: 679 on Choice Scholarships to private schools, 251 to charter schools and 504 to other public corporations. 71 students transfer in. The largest destinations:

IDOE enrollment (October count) and fall 2025-26 transfer report. Retention = resident students enrolled in the corporation as a share of all students who live there (“settled”).

On the spring 2025 ILEARN, 60.2% of Noblesville students were proficient in English/language arts and 56.7% in math, against 38.2% and 40.7% for the median Indiana corporation. That ranks 13th and 40th among 290 corporations. Against the peer median it trails in math, science, IREAD-3 and the SAT.

IDOE assessment, graduation and federal accountability files. Rank is among Indiana's public school corporations with a reported result (1st = highest). Only the 2025 ILEARN release is on file, so there is no trend line here.

In 2024-25, 9.3% of Noblesville students were chronically absent (missing 10% or more of the school year), against 10.3% in the peer median and 13.2% in the median Indiana corporation. That is 58th lowest of 290. Before the pandemic, in 2018-19, the rate was 6.6%.

IDOE chronic absenteeism file, 2012-13 to 2024-25. A student is chronically absent after missing 10% or more of enrolled days.

Noblesville spent $12,999 per pupil on current operations in FY2024, against $12,109 for the peer median and $11,831 for the median Indiana corporation. Local property tax provided 35% of revenue (peer median 32%, Indiana median 25%) and state aid 49% (Indiana median 55%).

U.S. Census Bureau annual school finance survey (F-33), current spending per pupil, nominal dollars, excluding the teacher-retirement payments the state makes on corporations' behalf (reported inconsistently in FY2023). Capital and debt payments are not current spending.

For taxes payable in 2026 the corporation certified $75.1M across its funds, at a combined rate of $1.2510 per $100 of net assessed value. The operating referendum adds $24.7M ($0.3700 per $100). Referendum debt for capital projects adds $5.3M. Indiana's property-tax caps do not apply to referendum levies, which makes an operating referendum the one local operating revenue source outside the caps.

Noblesville and its regional peers, pay 2026

Noblesville's operating referendum rate is the 2nd highest of these 13 corporations. Statewide, 66 of 290 school units levied an operating referendum for taxes payable 2026.

Indiana Department of Local Government Finance, Certified Budget, Levy, CNAV and Rate by Fund files. Operating referendum = funds 0022, 0023 and 0025; referendum debt = 0187 and 0287. Rates are per $100 of net assessed value; referendum funds are levied on a different assessed-value base from the other funds, so the rates are summed as published.

Voters approved the current operating referendum in November 2018 with about 59% of the vote, for 8 years at 37¢ per $100 of assessed value (up from 18.9¢). It expires December 31, 2026. The pay 2026 levy collected $24.7M under it.

The renewal question on the November 3, 2026 ballot asks for a maximum rate of 57¢ per $100 for 8 years, through December 31, 2034, with a maximum annual levy of $43,842,578. The district has said it would set the first-year rate at 38.5¢.

If it passes, the county auditor estimates the tax bill on a median home ($350,000 assessed value) would rise by $955 a year.

Noblesville has put 5 referendum questions to voters since 2010; all passed. Statewide, DLGF records 190 operating referendum questions from 2009 through 2025, and 133 passed (70%).

Ballot terms and the 2018 result are from public sources: Noblesville Schools referendum page; Fox59 and WRTV coverage. Earlier results: DLGF historic referenda records.

Wherever this briefing sets Noblesville beside other school corporations, it uses the groups below. A group figure is the middle value across its members, each counted equally, so one large member cannot dominate it.

Peers 12 school corporations

The 12 Indiana districts (public school corporations) most like Noblesville on four equally weighted factors: total enrollment (compared as a ratio), current spending per pupil, students per teacher and the share of students eligible for free or reduced-price meals, each difference scaled by how much the factor varies across districts, and none more than two standard deviations away on any one. The group starts with nearby districts that match closely (within half a standard deviation on average) and fills the rest from anywhere in the state. Peers carry the achievement, spending and staffing comparisons.

Regional peers 12 school corporations

The 12 districts (public school corporations) within 25 miles of Noblesville, straight line between district offices, whose profile on the same four factors is comparable: on average within one standard deviation. They carry enrollment, property taxes and home values, and their median sits beneath the peer median elsewhere. A district in both groups appears in both lists.

“Indiana median” is the middle value across Indiana's public school corporations. Corporations that enroll mostly virtual students are left out of both groups. Spending is F-33 current spending excluding state on-behalf payments; students per teacher is the NCES Common Core of Data count.