St. Marys School Photo - St. Mary's is the longest, consistently running parochial school in TN, founded by The Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia, in Nashville, in 1878.

Best Tennessee Religiously Affiliated Private Schools (2025)

For the 2025 school year, there are 414 religiously affiliated private schools serving 86,840 students in Tennessee (68% of all schools).
The average tuition cost is $11,082, which is lower than the Tennessee private school average tuition cost of $13,438.
The most common religiously affiliated schools are Christian (31% of schools), Baptist (17% of schools) and Catholic (11% of schools).

Top Ranked Tennessee Private Schools by Religious Affiliation (2025)

Religious Affiliation
# Schools
# Students
% Minority
5
98
-
71
11,569
14%
44
14,054
20%
129
32,657
25%
11
3,703
25%
6
875
54%
8
737
12%
12
1,790
9%
19
3,019
9%
20
997
24%
9
3,276
8%

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