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)
061743013071	1511	Freedom Academy of Imperial Valley	Public, Virtual, Alternative	K-12	522 West Eighth St.	Holtville	92250	Imperial County	Holtville Unified	No	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(760) 356-5718	30	3	10.6	63.3%	3 (10.0%)	0 (0.0%)	27 (90.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)								26.6	59.4	667	844
060229110895	1512	Academia Avance Charter	Public, Charter	6-12	115 North Avenue 53	Highland Park	90042	Los Angeles County	Academia Avance Charter District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(323) 230-7270	241	14	16.9	60.2%	1 (0.4%)	2 (0.8%)	226 (93.8%)	4 (1.7%)	3 (1.2%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (2.1%)								26.6	21.2	1669	157
062250005870	1513	Cabrillo High	Public	9-12	2001 Santa Fe Ave.	Long Beach	90810	Los Angeles County	Long Beach Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(562) 951-7700	1,721	87	19.8	74.3%	14 (0.8%)	170 (9.9%)	1,312 (76.2%)	170 (9.9%)	1 (0.1%)	28 (1.6%)	26 (1.5%)	$11,088							26.5	29	1449	64
061111001226	1514	Indio High	Public	9-12	81-750 Avenue 46	Indio	92201	Riverside County	Desert Sands Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 775-3550	2,027	85	23.8	93.2%	50 (2.5%)	18 (0.9%)	1,909 (94.2%)	13 (0.6%)	6 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	31 (1.5%)	$8,860							26.4	23.5	1602	88
063488009629	1515	Foothills High	Public	9-12	158 Cassou Rd.	San Marcos	92069	San Diego County	San Marcos Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 290-2544	110	5	22	50.0%	35 (31.8%)	2 (1.8%)	56 (50.9%)	9 (8.2%)	1 (0.9%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (6.4%)								26.4	35.4	1267	248
062308014473	1516	Pacific View Academy	Public, Virtual, Alternative	K-12	1065 Mesa View Dr.	Arroyo Grande	93420	San Luis Obispo County	Lucia Mar Unified	No	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(805) 474-3580	135	8	17.1	64.4%	59 (43.7%)	0 (0.0%)	57 (42.2%)	2 (1.5%)	2 (1.5%)	0 (0.0%)	14 (10.4%)								26.4	32.1	1356	160
063132004841	1517	Ganesha High	Public	9-12	1151 Fairplex Dr.	Pomona	91768	Los Angeles County	Pomona Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(909) 397-4400	943	45	21	91.4%	12 (1.3%)	22 (2.3%)	886 (94.0%)	5 (0.5%)	1 (0.1%)	4 (0.4%)	12 (1.3%)	$6,782							26.4	23.9	1594	77
062403007071	1518	Briones (Alternative)	Public, Alternative	K-12	925 Susana St.	Martinez	94553	Contra Costa County	Martinez Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(925) 335-5800	44	2	20	43.2%	12 (27.3%)	1 (2.3%)	21 (47.7%)	1 (2.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	9 (20.5%)	$7,374							26.3	29.4	1433	85
060211812256	1519	Five Keys Independence High School (SF Sheriff's)	Public, Charter	9-12	70 Oak Grove	San Francisco	94107	San Francisco County	Five Keys Independence High School (SF Sheriff's) District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(415) 734-3310	3,172	93	34.2	35.8%	236 (7.4%)	760 (24.0%)	1,905 (60.1%)	60 (1.9%)	36 (1.1%)	26 (0.8%)	140 (4.4%)								26.3	79.4	336	1183
063531006004	1520	Saddleback High	Public	7-12	2801 South Flower	Santa Ana	92707	Orange County	Santa Ana Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 513-2900	1,499	75	19.9	75.7%	12 (0.8%)	7 (0.5%)	1,442 (96.2%)	29 (1.9%)	1 (0.1%)	3 (0.2%)	3 (0.2%)	$9,442							26.3	25.9	1534	14

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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:

Alternative Schools vs Public Schools: A Comparison

High school students working on a science experiment

Magnet Schools: Unleashing the Power of Education

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