Best Elementary Schools in California

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Find the best California elementary 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 5862)	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)
061074008591	41	Sage Canyon	Public	K-6	5290 Harvest Run Dr.	San Diego	92130	San Diego County	Del Mar Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(858) 481-7844	478	24	19.9	4.6%	226 (47.3%)	1 (0.2%)	44 (9.2%)	172 (36.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	35 (7.3%)	$12,208							98.6	99.1	20	21
063441006556	42	Sunset Elementary	Public	K-5	1920 41st Ave.	San Francisco	94116	San Francisco County	San Francisco Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(415) 759-2760	403	15	26.5	34.2%	71 (17.6%)	3 (0.7%)	26 (6.5%)	229 (56.8%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	74 (18.4%)	$6,103							98.6	97.7	122	80
061440001690	43	Warm Springs Elementary	Public	3-5	47370 Warm Springs Blvd.	Fremont	94539	Alameda County	Fremont Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(510) 656-1611	638	25	25.1	10.7%	15 (2.4%)	3 (0.5%)	22 (3.4%)	580 (90.9%)	2 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	16 (2.5%)	$6,540							98.6	98.4	56	13
061029001129	44	Nelson S. Dilworth Elementary	Public	K-5	1101 Strayer Dr.	San Jose	95129	Santa Clara County	Cupertino Union	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 253-2850	602	25	24.2	13.5%	37 (6.1%)	2 (0.3%)	22 (3.7%)	489 (81.2%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	50 (8.3%)	$8,279							98.6	97.7	124	80
060002503576	45	Pacific Elementary	Public	K-5	1200 Pacific Ave.	Manhattan Beach	90266	Los Angeles County	Manhattan Beach Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(310) 546-8044	509	22	23.1	2.4%	311 (61.1%)	1 (0.2%)	56 (11.0%)	68 (13.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	73 (14.3%)	$12,797							98.5	98.1	88	43
063699011397	46	Solana Pacific Elementary	Public	4-6	3901 Townsgate Dr.	San Diego	92130	San Diego County	Solana Beach Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(858) 794-4500	422	17	24.8	13.5%	174 (41.2%)	3 (0.7%)	28 (6.6%)	157 (37.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	60 (14.2%)	$5,889							98.5	98.4	64	18
063432005481	47	Holmes Elementary	Public	K-6	4902 Mt. Ararat Dr.	San Diego	92111	San Diego County	San Diego Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(858) 496-8110	503	20	25.1	24.5%	326 (64.8%)	0 (0.0%)	93 (18.5%)	18 (3.6%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	65 (12.9%)	$7,102							98.5	98.3	72	25
063591006151	48	Saratoga Elementary	Public	K-5	14592 Oak St.	Saratoga	95070	Santa Clara County	Saratoga Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 867-3476	311	14	22.2	2.9%	98 (31.5%)	0 (0.0%)	32 (10.3%)	119 (38.3%)	1 (0.3%)	1 (0.3%)	60 (19.3%)	$8,821							98.5	98.3	71	23
062961004594	49	Lucille M. Nixon Elementary	Public	K-5	1711 Stanford Ave.	Stanford	94305	Santa Clara County	Palo Alto Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(650) 856-1622	354	19	19.1	4.0%	126 (35.6%)	10 (2.8%)	47 (13.3%)	119 (33.6%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	52 (14.7%)	$14,797							98.5	99.2	14	35
062970004619	50	Rancho Vista Elementary	Public	K-5	4323 Palos Verdes Dr. North	Rolling Hills Estates	90274	Los Angeles County	Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(310) 378-8388	340	17	19.5	14.7%	119 (35.0%)	6 (1.8%)	65 (19.1%)	90 (26.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	60 (17.6%)	$6,477							98.5	98.9	26	24

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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 White Students Multi-racial Students English Language Learner Students Special Education Students Low Socio Economic Status Students Migrant Students Homeless Students Military Connected Students

About our rankings:

Schooldigger calculates school rankings based on Smarter Balanced Assessments English Language Arts/Literacy, Smarter Balanced Assessments Mathematics, CAST Science 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

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.