Murphy Elem School

Located at 3539 W Grace St, in Chicago, Illinois, Murphy Elem School is a moderately sized K-5 school that caters to 514 students (grades pre-K through 8), one of the schools within Chicago Public Schools Dist 299. That puts it 35% bigger than the typical public school in Illinois, which averages around 381 students.

Murphy Elem School is one of 622 schools operated by Chicago Public Schools Dist 299, a district that serves 324,396 students overall.

Demographically, Murphy Elem School shows that 56% of the student body identifies as Hispanic. Beyond that, the school records 32% White, 5% Black, 3% Asian, 3% multiracial. That is noticeably more Hispanic than the county at large, where the share is closer to 27%.

On the resource side, Staff filings list 40 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 12.8:1 students per teacher. The state averages around 13.9:1, so this campus is tighter than the state norm typical. About 52% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy. By comparison, Cook County runs at roughly 66%, so the school's eligibility rate is meaningfully below the surrounding baseline.

With demographic context factored in, Murphy Elem School sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 41.6%; this one delivers 42.0%.

In the surrounding community, the surrounding county (Cook County) records that median household earnings sit near $83,498, roughly 43% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 10% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Across Cook County's 1406 public schools (combined enrollment of about 697,934 students), Murphy Elem School is one campus in the mix.

Disney II Magnet HS is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.3 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Murphy Elem School. On composite proficiency, Murphy Elem School comes 2nd of 9 in the immediate cluster, higher than the nearby-schools average of 33.2%.

Geographically, the school is in a downtown area.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count changed only slightly: 521 students in 2018 compared to 514 in 2025. Hispanic enrollment moved from 76% to 56% across the same window. The student-to-teacher ratio narrowed from 16.4:1 in 2018 to 12.8:1 today.

On this page, the feed for Murphy Elem School typically covers pickup logistics, teacher feedback, and after-school programs. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to weigh in.