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)
060903000367	121	Buchanan High	Public	9-12	1560 North Minnewawa Ave.	Clovis	93619	Fresno County	Clovis Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 327-3000	2,606	118	22.1	33.1%	1,115 (42.8%)	63 (2.4%)	946 (36.3%)	336 (12.9%)	14 (0.5%)	7 (0.3%)	123 (4.7%)	$5,777							92.3	89.8	179	58
061207010478	122	Pacific Crest Academy	Public, Virtual, Charter	9-12	6540 Koki Ln.	El Dorado	95623	El Dorado County	El Dorado Union High	Yes	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(530) 622-6212	100	5	20.6	19.0%	70 (70.0%)	0 (0.0%)	18 (18.0%)	3 (3.0%)	1 (1.0%)	0 (0.0%)	8 (8.0%)	$14,558							92.3	79.7	333	211
060744011854	123	San Juan Hills High	Public	9-12	29211 Stallion Ridge	San Juan Capistrano	92675	Orange County	Capistrano Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(949) 234-5900	2,768	124	22.2	34.9%	1,430 (51.7%)	22 (0.8%)	897 (32.4%)	175 (6.3%)	2 (0.1%)	1 (0.0%)	229 (8.3%)	$9,350							92.2	87.7	214	91
062308013014	124	Central Coast New Technical High	Public	9-12	523 North Thompson Ave.	Nipomo	93444	San Luis Obispo County	Lucia Mar Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(805) 474-3350	286	17	16.7	51.0%	157 (54.9%)	2 (0.7%)	99 (34.6%)	5 (1.7%)	2 (0.7%)	1 (0.3%)	16 (5.6%)	$5,808							92.2	92.4	132	8
060162000010	125	Cerritos High	Public	9-12	12500 East 183rd St.	Cerritos	90703	Los Angeles County	ABC Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(562) 229-7715	2,083	88	23.5	45.1%	136 (6.5%)	126 (6.0%)	621 (29.8%)	1,079 (51.8%)	7 (0.3%)	8 (0.4%)	106 (5.1%)	$6,278							92.2	94.7	91	34
063879006523	126	Redwood High	Public	9-12	395 Doherty Dr.	Larkspur	94939	Marin County	Tamalpais Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(415) 924-6200	1,785	88	20.2	9.1%	1,231 (69.0%)	14 (0.8%)	268 (15.0%)	101 (5.7%)	4 (0.2%)	4 (0.2%)	162 (9.1%)	$17,452							91.9	95.7	75	51
063828010707	127	Connections Visual and Performing Arts Academy	Public, Charter	7-12	17555 Tuolumne Rd.	Tuolumne	95379	Tuolumne County	Summerville Union High	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 928-4228	139	9	15.3	33.8%	97 (69.8%)	1 (0.7%)	24 (17.3%)	3 (2.2%)	1 (0.7%)	0 (0.0%)	13 (9.4%)								91.9	78.9	344	217
062637003961	128	Northgate High	Public	9-12	425 Castle Rock Rd.	Walnut Creek	94598	Contra Costa County	Mt. Diablo Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(925) 938-0900	1,535	65	23.4	10.0%	685 (44.6%)	25 (1.6%)	255 (16.6%)	278 (18.1%)	1 (0.1%)	5 (0.3%)	278 (18.1%)	$11,819							91.9	91.9	142	14
063462014105	129	Meraki High	Public	8-12	10700 Fair Oaks Blvd.	Fair Oaks	95628	Sacramento County	San Juan Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 971-5001	82	3	25.2	36.6%	64 (78.0%)	4 (4.9%)	8 (9.8%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (7.3%)	$13,123							91.9	97.2	50	79
060903000906	130	Clovis West High	Public	9-12	1070 East Teague Ave.	Fresno	93720	Fresno County	Clovis Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 327-2000	2,162	103	20.9	41.2%	641 (29.6%)	119 (5.5%)	1,058 (48.9%)	212 (9.8%)	17 (0.8%)	9 (0.4%)	99 (4.6%)	$6,731							91.8	89.3	191	61

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New! SchoolDigger ranking lists for CA student subgroups:

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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:

Public School Districts and Their Services: A Comprehensive Guide

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.