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)
063375005207	1211	Nogales High	Public	9-12	401 South Nogales St.	La Puente	91744	Los Angeles County	Rowland Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(626) 965-3437	1,668	76	21.8	82.0%	24 (1.4%)	26 (1.6%)	1,466 (87.9%)	129 (7.7%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (0.2%)	18 (1.1%)								37	40.7	1116	95
063132012112	1212	School of Extended Educational Options	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	2211 North Orange Grove Ave.	Pomona	91767	Los Angeles County	Pomona Unified	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(909) 397-4900	970	38	25.7	73.5%	115 (11.9%)	65 (6.7%)	653 (67.3%)	27 (2.8%)	8 (0.8%)	34 (3.5%)	68 (7.0%)	$85,243							37	32.3	1347	135
062703010391	1213	Delta Charter	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	31400 South Koster Rd.	Tracy	95304	San Joaquin County	New Jerusalem Elementary	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 830-6363	798	49	16.4	48.7%	253 (31.7%)	46 (5.8%)	401 (50.3%)	28 (3.5%)	3 (0.4%)	3 (0.4%)	64 (8.0%)	$10,700							37	30.8	1393	180
060218112028	1214	Aveson Global Leadership Academy	Public, Charter	6-12	575 West Altadena Dr.	Altadena	91001	Los Angeles County	Aveson Global Leadership Academy District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(626) 797-1438	222	15	14.6	27.9%	86 (38.7%)	24 (10.8%)	89 (40.1%)	11 (5.0%)	1 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	10 (4.5%)								36.9	38.3	1193	21
063864006495	1215	Sweetwater High	Public	9-12	2900 Highland Ave.	National City	91950	San Diego County	Sweetwater Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(619) 474-9700	2,679	108	24.7	88.8%	173 (6.5%)	39 (1.5%)	2,080 (77.6%)	314 (11.7%)	15 (0.6%)	10 (0.4%)	48 (1.8%)	$6,020							36.9	23.7	1598	383
060004507090	1216	Orland High	Public	9-12	101 Shasta St.	Orland	95963	Glenn County	Orland Joint Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 865-1210	777	36	21.4	74.6%	287 (36.9%)	2 (0.3%)	459 (59.1%)	11 (1.4%)	10 (1.3%)	1 (0.1%)	7 (0.9%)	$10,805							36.9	40.4	1128	88
060253314482	1217	KIPP Esperanza High	Public, Charter	9-12	1039 Garden St.	East Palo Alto	94303	Santa Clara County	KIPP Esperanza High District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(415) 528-1546	220	20	11	87.7%	0 (0.0%)	3 (1.4%)	215 (97.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.5%)	1 (0.5%)								36.8	35.1	1276	59
061954002350	1218	North High	Public	9-12	300 Galaxy Ave.	Bakersfield	93308	Kern County	Kern High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(661) 399-3351	2,214	93	23.7	87.1%	947 (42.8%)	141 (6.4%)	1,038 (46.9%)	22 (1.0%)	25 (1.1%)	8 (0.4%)	33 (1.5%)	$9,358							36.7	30.9	1385	167
061954002352	1219	Shafter High	Public	9-12	526 Mannel Ave.	Shafter	93263	Kern County	Kern High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(661) 746-4961	1,651	69	23.8	85.2%	97 (5.9%)	9 (0.5%)	1,514 (91.7%)	14 (0.8%)	2 (0.1%)	2 (0.1%)	13 (0.8%)	$10,029							36.7	29.4	1432	213
061893002293	1220	Jefferson High	Public	9-12	6996 Mission St.	Daly City	94014	San Mateo County	Jefferson Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(650) 550-7700	1,159	56	20.8	36.8%	59 (5.1%)	25 (2.2%)	567 (48.9%)	447 (38.6%)	1 (0.1%)	17 (1.5%)	39 (3.4%)	$6,444							36.7	47.6	920	300

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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.