Best High Schools in California

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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.

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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)
063003004703	1111	Patterson High	Public	9-12	200 North Seventh St.	Patterson	95363	Stanislaus County	Patterson Joint Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 892-4750	1,888	85	22.3	66.8%	174 (9.2%)	111 (5.9%)	1,423 (75.4%)	100 (5.3%)	11 (0.6%)	30 (1.6%)	36 (1.9%)								40.8	38.9	1177	66
060792007515	1112	Lawndale High	Public	9-12	14901 South Inglewood Ave.	Lawndale	90260	Los Angeles County	Centinela Valley Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(310) 263-3102	1,921	109	17.5	71.6%	35 (1.8%)	417 (21.7%)	1,314 (68.4%)	62 (3.2%)	2 (0.1%)	10 (0.5%)	79 (4.1%)								40.8	38.5	1187	75
060181013698	1113	California Virtual Academy at Sutter	Public, Virtual, Charter, Alternative	K-12	50 Moreland Rd.	Simi Valley	93065	Ventura County	California Virtual Academy at Sutter District	Yes	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(805) 581-0202	1,394	49	28.2	67.1%	478 (34.3%)	314 (22.5%)	367 (26.3%)	143 (10.3%)	28 (2.0%)	24 (1.7%)	40 (2.9%)								40.8	47	938	175
060444000396	1114	Bellflower High	Public	7-12	15301 South McNab Ave.	Bellflower	90706	Los Angeles County	Bellflower Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(562) 920-1801	2,070	96	21.5	82.2%	68 (3.3%)	222 (10.7%)	1,615 (78.0%)	113 (5.5%)	9 (0.4%)	11 (0.5%)	31 (1.5%)	$10,324							40.8	34.2	1300	186
060223113851	1115	Collegiate Charter High School of Los Angeles	Public, Charter	9-12	725 South Indiana St.	Los Angeles	90023	Los Angeles County	Collegiate Charter High School of Los Angeles District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(213) 304-7077	162	12	13.1	92.0%	2 (1.2%)	2 (1.2%)	157 (96.9%)	1 (0.6%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)								40.6	44.9	992	123
061111012319	1116	Shadow Hills High	Public	9-12	39-225 Jefferson St.	Indio	92201	Riverside County	Desert Sands Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 393-5400	1,751	78	22.5	76.6%	165 (9.4%)	20 (1.1%)	1,473 (84.1%)	17 (1.0%)	7 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	69 (3.9%)	$8,670							40.6	39.7	1149	33
062759004146	1117	North Monterey County High	Public	9-12	13990 Castroville Blvd.	Castroville	95012	Monterey County	North Monterey County Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 633-5221	1,286	63	20.5	77.4%	91 (7.1%)	4 (0.3%)	1,165 (90.6%)	15 (1.2%)	1 (0.1%)	2 (0.2%)	8 (0.6%)	$10,527							40.5	36	1250	133
060179212547	1118	Stockton Collegiate International Secondary	Public, Charter	6-12	400 E. Main St.	Stockton	95202	San Joaquin County	Stockton Collegiate International Secondary District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 390-9861	449	23	19.3	32.3%	42 (9.4%)	32 (7.1%)	264 (58.8%)	70 (15.6%)	1 (0.2%)	1 (0.2%)	39 (8.7%)								40.4	49	889	229
062160008457	1119	Independence High	Public	9-12	929 Second St.	Brentwood	94513	Contra Costa County	Liberty Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(925) 634-2589	140	13	11.1	33.6%	63 (45.0%)	11 (7.9%)	46 (32.9%)	4 (2.9%)	1 (0.7%)	2 (1.4%)	12 (8.6%)	$13,903							40.3	36	1249	130
063036004736	1120	Pierce High	Public	9-12	960 Wildwood Rd.	Arbuckle	95912	Colusa County	Pierce Joint Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 476-2277	511	26	19.3	64.6%	90 (17.6%)	6 (1.2%)	400 (78.3%)	10 (2.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	4 (0.8%)	$7,482							40.3	31.3	1378	258

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Other SchoolDigger ranking lists for California

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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:

High school students working on a science experiment

Magnet Schools: Unleashing the Power of Education

Charter Schools vs Regular Public Schools: Understanding the Key Differences

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