Best High Schools in California

A teacher and two students give a thumbs-up in a classroom.

Find the best California high schools with SchoolDigger.com! Focused on test scores for accurate rankings, our user-friendly site simplifies your search. Empower your decisions by exploring top-rated schools, only on SchoolDigger.com - the ultimate guide to K-12 schools!

Year after year, SchoolDigger is always the first to publish California test scores and rankings. Other sites use stale test score data that are several years old! Be in the know with the very latest performance metrics.

The list is updated annually upon the release of the CAST and Smarter Balanced Assessments test scores by the California Department of Education. The most recent update was on Thursday, October 10, 2024.

Be the first to know when we post new test scores and rankings!

School															Students/Teachers											Per Pupil Expenditures (2018)							Ranking (2024 vs 2023)
ID	Rank (of 2323)	School	Type	Grades	Address	City	Zip	County	District	Is Charter	Is Magnet	Is Virtual	Is Title I	Phone	# Students	Full-time Teachers	Student/ Teacher Ratio	Free/Disc Lunch Recipients	White	Black	Hispanic	Asian	American Indian	Pacific Islander	Two or More Races	Per Pupil Expenditures: Total	Personnel from Federal Funds	Non-Personnel from Federal Funds	Total from Federal Funds	Personnel from State and Local Funds	Non-Personnel from State and Local Funds	Total from State and Local Funds	Average Standard Score (2024)	Average Standard Score (2023)	Rank (2023)	Rank Change from 2023	SchoolDigger Rating (2024)
064248006953	591	Pioneer High	Public	9-12	10800 Ben Avon	Whittier	90606	Los Angeles County	Whittier Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(562) 698-8121	1,152	60	19.3	88.7%	27 (2.3%)	8 (0.7%)	1,100 (95.5%)	7 (0.6%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.2%)	8 (0.7%)	$6,806							62	53.2	796	205
063525014604	592	Sanger West High	Public	9-12	1760 South Fowler	Fresno	93727	Fresno County	Sanger Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 524-3100	1,028	43	23.9	67.8%	62 (6.0%)	33 (3.2%)	587 (57.1%)	264 (25.7%)	3 (0.3%)	1 (0.1%)	78 (7.6%)								61.9	63.3	592
062271003424	593	Van Nuys Senior High	Public	9-12	6535 Cedros Ave.	Van Nuys	91411	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(818) 778-6800	2,323	113	20.5	84.0%	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$9,868							61.9	69	499	94
063531012133	594	Hector G. Godinez	Public	9-12	3002 Centennial Rd.	Santa Ana	92704	Orange County	Santa Ana Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 433-6790	2,026	95	21.3	71.7%	14 (0.7%)	2 (0.1%)	1,974 (97.4%)	30 (1.5%)	6 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$7,263							61.8	56.9	716	122
063560006063	595	Harbor High	Public	9-12	300 La Fonda Ave.	Santa Cruz	95062	Santa Cruz County	Santa Cruz City High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 429-3810	1,023	54	18.8	37.4%	362 (35.4%)	8 (0.8%)	555 (54.3%)	41 (4.0%)	1 (0.1%)	0 (0.0%)	55 (5.4%)								61.8	69.4	494	101
061476007723	596	La Sierra High (Alternative)	Public	9-12	951 North State College Blvd.	Fullerton	92831	Orange County	Fullerton Joint Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 447-7821	275	23	11.9	51.3%	33 (12.0%)	7 (2.5%)	197 (71.6%)	25 (9.1%)	2 (0.7%)	4 (1.5%)	6 (2.2%)	$24,020							61.7	73.3	432	164
060180211787	597	California Virtual Academy San Mateo	Public, Virtual, Charter, Alternative	K-12	50 Moreland Rd.	Simi Valley	93065	Ventura County	California Virtual Academy San Mateo District	Yes	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(805) 581-0202	1,009	35	29	50.8%	291 (28.8%)	109 (10.8%)	338 (33.5%)	204 (20.2%)	8 (0.8%)	18 (1.8%)	41 (4.1%)								61.7	57	713	116
060177307601	598	Plumas Charter	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	1425 East Main St.	Quincy	95971	Plumas County	Plumas Charter District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 283-3851	346	19	18.3	36.7%	255 (73.7%)	1 (0.3%)	48 (13.9%)	3 (0.9%)	9 (2.6%)	0 (0.0%)	29 (8.4%)								61.6	51.9	826	228
060198614071	599	John Adams Academy - Lincoln	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	1797 Bella Breeze Dr.	Lincoln	95648	Placer County	John Adams Academy - Lincoln District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 209-5540	1,376	63	21.8	16.6%	880 (64.0%)	16 (1.2%)	292 (21.2%)	68 (4.9%)	2 (0.1%)	9 (0.7%)	109 (7.9%)								61.5	65.9	543	56
060174011518	600	South Sutter Charter	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	2044 Nicolaus Ave.	East Nicolaus	95659	Sutter County	South Sutter Charter District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(800) 979-4436	2,295	100	23	37.8%	1,292 (56.3%)	51 (2.2%)	400 (17.4%)	77 (3.4%)	5 (0.2%)	5 (0.2%)	465 (20.3%)								61.5	62.2	613	13

Sign up for updates!

Be the first to know when we update our rankings!

Other SchoolDigger ranking lists for California

Elementary Schools Middle Schools High Schools Districts Cities

New! SchoolDigger ranking lists for CA student subgroups:

Female Students Male Students Asian Students African American Students Hispanic Students Native American Students Pacific Islander Students White Students Multi-racial Students English Language Learner Students Special Education Students Low Socio Economic Status Students Migrant Students Homeless Students Foster Care Students Military Connected Students

About our rankings:

Schooldigger calculates school rankings based on CAST Science, Smarter Balanced Assessments English Language Arts/Literacy, Smarter Balanced Assessments Mathematics test scores released by the California Department of Education.
These rankings were last updated on October 10, 2024, and are based on the most recent test scores available. We update rankings as we receive new test scores from the California Department of Education, usually on a yearly basis.
Our sources of data include the National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education and the California Department of Education.
For more information about our ranking process, please see our Ranking FAQ. Details about our methodology are here.

Educational resources:

A high school boy doing homework on a laptop

Virtual Schools: The Future of Online Education

Alternative Schools vs Public Schools: A Comparison

SchoolDigger data sources: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Census Bureau and the California Department of Education.