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)
060196713155	1961	LPS Oakland R & D Campus	Public, Charter	9-12	8601 MacArthur Blvd. Bldg. 100	Oakland	94605	Alameda County	LPS Oakland R & D Campus District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(510) 633-0750	218	8	25.7	60.1%	0 (0.0%)	7 (3.2%)	207 (95.0%)	1 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (1.4%)								10.8	14.2	1868	93
063726009445	1962	Theodore Bird High	Public	9-12	251 South Barretta St.	Sonora	95370	Tuolumne County	Sonora Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 533-2923	90	4	25	55.6%	70 (77.8%)	0 (0.0%)	10 (11.1%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (2.2%)	1 (1.1%)	4 (4.4%)	$5,537							10.8	9.3	2104	142
063441005653	1963	Wells (Ida B.) High	Public	9-12	1099 Hayes St.	San Francisco	94117	San Francisco County	San Francisco Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(415) 241-6315	179	12	14.8	78.8%	13 (7.3%)	31 (17.3%)	99 (55.3%)	22 (12.3%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (1.1%)	12 (6.7%)	$6,103							10.8	10.8	2013	50
061077001200	1964	Sunset High	Public	9-12	2500 Elk Valley Cross Rd.	Crescent City	95531	Del Norte County	Del Norte County Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(707) 464-0380	101	5	20	85.1%	44 (43.6%)	0 (0.0%)	20 (19.8%)	2 (2.0%)	25 (24.8%)	0 (0.0%)	9 (8.9%)	$17,286							10.8	15.1	1831	133
062160002572	1965	La Paloma High (Continuation)	Public	9-12	400 Ghiggeri Way	Brentwood	94513	Contra Costa County	Liberty Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(925) 634-2888	148	12	12.3	47.3%	26 (17.6%)	19 (12.8%)	89 (60.1%)	3 (2.0%)	1 (0.7%)	2 (1.4%)	8 (5.4%)	$13,956							10.8	10.3	2042	77
069103211281	1966	Grizzly ChalleNGe Charter	Public, Charter	10-12	721 Mendocino Ave. Camp San Lu	San Luis Obispo	93405	San Luis Obispo County	San Luis Obispo County Office of Education	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(805) 782-6882	225	15	15.2	85.8%	15 (6.7%)	8 (3.6%)	190 (84.4%)	3 (1.3%)	2 (0.9%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (3.1%)	$14,475							10.7	18.1	1743	223
063261005073	1967	Mountain High	Public	9-12	27614 Hwy. 18	Lake Arrowhead	92352	San Bernardino County	Rim of the World Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(909) 336-2038	35	3	11.4	68.6%	14 (40.0%)	0 (0.0%)	20 (57.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (2.9%)	$11,389							10.7	6.4	2294	327
060160711118	1968	Summit Leadership Academy-High Desert	Public, Charter	7-12	12850 Muscatel St.	Hesperia	92344	San Bernardino County	Summit Leadership Academy-High Desert District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 949-9202	207	15	13.6	87.0%	23 (11.1%)	22 (10.6%)	142 (68.6%)	1 (0.5%)	1 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	16 (7.7%)								10.7	7.6	2230	262
060234814224	1969	SAVA - Sacramento Academic and Vocational Academy - SCUSD	Public, Charter	7-12	5330 Power Inn Rd. Ste. A	Sacramento	95820	Sacramento County	SAVA - Sacramento Academy and Vocational Academy - SCUSD Di	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 387-8063	701	41	17	87.0%	49 (7.0%)	107 (15.3%)	435 (62.1%)	34 (4.9%)	3 (0.4%)	5 (0.7%)	62 (8.8%)								10.7	10.5	2029	60
069102711051	1970	Palmiter Special Education	Public	7-12	2040 Ethan Way	Sacramento	95825	Sacramento County	Sacramento County Office of Education	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 228-2020	31	5	6.2	77.4%	12 (38.7%)	10 (32.3%)	3 (9.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (19.4%)	$60,982							10.7	4.2	2330	360

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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:

High school students working on a science experiment

Magnet Schools: Unleashing the Power of Education

Alternative Schools vs Public Schools: A Comparison

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