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In Manhattan, Upper East and West Sides. Tribeca, SoHo, Greenwich Village and IIRC Chelsea.
Zoned elementary schools in the above mentioned areas are highly sought and lately often full to capacity. This does not stop some from lying, scheming and otherwise doing anything possible to get their child or children into said schools. IIRC P.S. 6 now does an extensive check to make sure children being registered are indeed living within the zone.
In many of these areas years ago not only was there plenty of space but parents could request a variance if they lived out of zone and it was usually granted. This was for two reasons; not as many families with children lived in the area, and many that did sent their children to private schools.
As the COL is Manhattan has skyrocketed for even the upper middle class many parents have discovered their local zoned elementary schools are not that bad an option. Some will send their children to public school from K-8th grade then to prep/private high school, others plan to leave the city before their kid or kids reach high school age. Still more simply decide to take advantage of the better high schools NYC has to offer and see to it that their children test into said places.
Personally know of several parents straight and gay that have camped out on the streets of the Village to get their kids into the local elementary school's kindergarten.
Overall, District 26 in Queens and District 2 in Manhattan (Upper East Side below 96th St + all the rest of Manhattan below 59th St except the Lower East Side) have been considered the best. But for elementary schools demographics are destiny. Find an affluent neighborhood anywhere, and the K-5 schools zoned for it are likley to be OK.
And yes, there are exceptions to the rule, with some strong zoned elementary schools in almost every district, even in some really poor ones. But to find those you have to search through some of the sites already mentioned.
Middle schools are sometimes zoned, in which case again, the best ones will be in the affluent areas of the city. Otherwise middle schools are by application. High school admissions always are.
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