In 2013-14, the United States spent over $630 billion on its public education system in hopes of providing children with greater opportunities to excel academically and improve their life trajectories. While public education dollars have risen at a relatively fast pace historically, education policymakers and practitioners should be seeking to economize, given the uncertainties of future funding levels and underfunded pension liabilities. Meanwhile, the number of public charter schools has increased exponentially. From 1991 to 2014, charter school legislation passed in 42 states and the nation's capital, and student enrollment increased to around 2.7 million. Since educational resources are limited, it is imperative to examine which types of schooling offer society the biggest "bang for the buck." Both cost-effectiveness and return-on-investment (ROI) analyses compare the productivity of different organizations that are providing a similar service--in this case, public education. In this report, the authors examine the differences in cost-effectiveness and ROI for public charter schools and traditional public schools (TPS) in eight major cities in the United States. The cities are Atlanta, Boston, Denver, Houston, Indianapolis, New York City, San Antonio, and the District of Columbia. The authors utilize data on how much money is invested in public charter schools and TPS, what levels of student achievement are attained across the two public school sectors, and how much economic payoff society can expect to receive as a result of the educational investments in each sector. This is the first study to examine these differences across the United States at the city level. Overall, the authors find that public charter schools outperform TPS on productivity metrics overall and for all eight cities.