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)
062205002615	671	Live Oak High	Public	9-12	2351 Pennington Rd.	Live Oak	95953	Sutter County	Live Oak Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 695-5415	595	29	20.3	68.2%	130 (21.8%)	2 (0.3%)	386 (64.9%)	64 (10.8%)	4 (0.7%)	1 (0.2%)	8 (1.3%)	$7,043							58.7	60.8	641	30
062022002423	672	Pescadero High	Public	9-12	350 Butano Cut Off	Pescadero	94060	San Mateo County	La Honda-Pescadero Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(650) 879-0274	80	7	11.4	37.5%	15 (18.8%)	0 (0.0%)	64 (80.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (1.3%)	$15,689							58.7	61.4	627	45
060184114353	673	JCS - Manzanita	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	5300 Jackson Dr.	La Mesa	91942	San Diego County	JCS - Manzanita District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(619) 303-4344	228	13	17.8	56.6%	81 (35.5%)	7 (3.1%)	103 (45.2%)	6 (2.6%)	1 (0.4%)	1 (0.4%)	27 (11.8%)								58.7	51.1	839	166
063567006083	674	Ernest Righetti High	Public	9-12	941 East Foster Rd.	Santa Maria	93455	Santa Barbara County	Santa Maria Joint Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(805) 937-2051	2,494	113	22.1	63.5%	491 (19.7%)	30 (1.2%)	1,795 (72.0%)	79 (3.2%)	33 (1.3%)	7 (0.3%)	52 (2.1%)	$10,413							58.7	44.2	1007	333
060846000838	675	Don Antonio Lugo High	Public	9-12	13400 Pipeline Ave.	Chino	91710	San Bernardino County	Chino Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(909) 591-3902	1,506	75	20	79.3%	172 (11.4%)	26 (1.7%)	1,255 (83.3%)	41 (2.7%)	1 (0.1%)	0 (0.0%)	11 (0.7%)	$12,532							58.6	51.1	841	166
060173003557	676	Horizon Charter	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	873 First St.	Lincoln	95648	Placer County	Horizon Charter District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 408-5200	1,508	71	21.3	53.5%	781 (51.8%)	71 (4.7%)	379 (25.1%)	57 (3.8%)	3 (0.2%)	2 (0.1%)	211 (14.0%)								58.4	62	618	58
063384012139	677	School of Engineering & Sciences	Public	7-12	7345 Gloria Dr.	Sacramento	95831	Sacramento County	Sacramento City Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 395-5040	572	23	24.7	56.6%	64 (11.2%)	57 (10.0%)	285 (49.8%)	111 (19.4%)	2 (0.3%)	10 (1.7%)	43 (7.5%)	$7,070							58.2	66.6	532	145
061488001858	678	Los Amigos High	Public	9-12	16566 Newhope St.	Fountain Valley	92708	Orange County	Garden Grove Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 663-6288	1,604	80	20	93.3%	34 (2.1%)	3 (0.2%)	1,339 (83.5%)	205 (12.8%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (0.2%)	20 (1.2%)	$12,911							58.2	49.7	873	195
062724004114	679	Estancia High	Public	9-12	2323 Placentia Ave.	Costa Mesa	92627	Orange County	Newport-Mesa Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(949) 515-6500	1,040	54	19.2	82.2%	116 (11.2%)	5 (0.5%)	859 (82.6%)	25 (2.4%)	1 (0.1%)	7 (0.7%)	23 (2.2%)								58.1	55.6	744	65
060444013706	680	Las Flores Home Education Independent Study Academy	Public, Virtual, Alternative	K-12	10039 East Palm St.	Bellflower	90706	Los Angeles County	Bellflower Unified	No	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(562) 804-6565	273	12	22.3	69.6%	26 (9.5%)	37 (13.6%)	167 (61.2%)	20 (7.3%)	2 (0.7%)	0 (0.0%)	21 (7.7%)	$10,427							58.1	59.1	674	6

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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:

Charter Schools vs Regular Public Schools: Understanding the Key Differences

Per-Pupil Spending: Understanding the Breakdown of Federal, State, and Local Funds

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