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)
064030006663	1971	South Valley High (Continuation)	Public	9-12	445 South Dora St.	Ukiah	95482	Mendocino County	Ukiah Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(707) 472-5150	131	9	14.6	91.6%	34 (26.0%)	0 (0.0%)	75 (57.3%)	0 (0.0%)	19 (14.5%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (2.3%)	$10,028							10.6	8.6	2162	191
062316003540	1972	Vista High	Public	9-12	11300 Wright Rd.	Lynwood	90262	Los Angeles County	Lynwood Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(310) 603-1516	219	13	16.4	90.4%	0 (0.0%)	12 (5.5%)	207 (94.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$10,400							10.6	11.7	1964	8
060744000703	1973	Capistrano Union High	Public	9-12	31422 Camino Capistrano	San Juan Capistrano	92675	Orange County	Capistrano Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(949) 489-7216	150	13	11.8	80.0%	36 (24.0%)	0 (0.0%)	106 (70.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	8 (5.3%)	$15,836							10.6	11.1	1998	25
060006511370	1974	Ronald Reagan Academy	Public	9-12	470 Avenue 406	Dinuba	93618	Tulare County	Dinuba Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 595-0563	99	6	17.9	85.9%	7 (7.1%)	0 (0.0%)	90 (90.9%)	2 (2.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$5,700							10.6	20.6	1690	284
063462005778	1975	Encina Preparatory High	Public	9-12	1400 Bell St.	Sacramento	95825	Sacramento County	San Juan Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 971-7538	663	36	18.4	84.6%	89 (13.4%)	148 (22.3%)	218 (32.9%)	155 (23.4%)	6 (0.9%)	12 (1.8%)	31 (4.7%)	$23,093							10.6	13.1	1895	80
061965014533	1976	Pinnacle Coastal Valley High	Public, Virtual	9-12	760 Broadway St.	King City	93930	Monterey County	South Monterey County Joint Union High	No	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(831) 385-4661	87	4	23.2	95.4%	3 (3.4%)	0 (0.0%)	83 (95.4%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (1.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)								10.6	13.7	1878	98
062211002621	1977	Del Valle Continuation High	Public	7-12	2253 Fifth St.	Livermore	94550	Alameda County	Livermore Valley Joint Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(925) 606-4709	135	10	13.3	54.8%	35 (25.9%)	4 (3.0%)	90 (66.7%)	1 (0.7%)	1 (0.7%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (3.0%)	$25,741							10.6	12.2	1937	40
063075004780	1978	Confluence Continuation High	Public	10-12	332 Finley St.	Auburn	95603	Placer County	Placer Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 745-5763	106	5	20.7	57.5%	72 (67.9%)	1 (0.9%)	21 (19.8%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.9%)	11 (10.4%)	$26,196							10.6	12.4	1929	49
068450007063	1979	Creekside High	Public	9-12	3387 Barranca Pkwy.	Irvine	92606	Orange County	Irvine Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(949) 936-7400	82	9	9	64.6%	22 (26.8%)	16 (19.5%)	26 (31.7%)	9 (11.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (1.2%)	7 (8.5%)	$24,401							10.6	12.6	1920	59
060004807405	1980	Liberty High (Continuation)	Public	10-12	810 Niblick Rd.	Paso Robles	93446	San Luis Obispo County	Paso Robles Joint Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(805) 769-1600	176	9	20.5	62.5%	42 (23.9%)	2 (1.1%)	127 (72.2%)	1 (0.6%)	1 (0.6%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (1.7%)								10.5	12.1	1944	36

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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:

High school students working on a science experiment

Magnet Schools: Unleashing the Power of Education

State-Administered Standardized Tests: A Comprehensive Guide

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