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)
062205009390	1441	Valley Oak Continuation High	Public	9-12	2207 Pennington Rd.	Live Oak	95953	Sutter County	Live Oak Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 695-5430	21	1	17.3	76.2%	9 (42.9%)	0 (0.0%)	11 (52.4%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (4.8%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$8,505							29.4	11.2	1986	545
062271013133	1442	Visual and Performing Arts at Legacy High School Complex	Public	9-12	5225 Tweedy Blvd.	South Gate	90280	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(323) 357-7531	427	22	19.2	87.8%	4 (0.9%)	4 (0.9%)	416 (97.4%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.5%)	$9,862							29.3	32.9	1336	106
062547003790	1443	Bell Gardens High	Public	9-12	6119 Agra St.	Bell Gardens	90201	Los Angeles County	Montebello Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(323) 826-5151	2,139	113	18.9	76.5%	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.0%)	2,123 (99.3%)	1 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	14 (0.7%)	$6,084							29.3	24.1	1588	145
064030013714	1444	Ukiah Independent Study Academy	Public, Alternative	K-12	1000 Low Gap Rd.	Ukiah	95482	Mendocino County	Ukiah Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(707) 472-5096	122	6	19.4	70.5%	54 (44.3%)	1 (0.8%)	51 (41.8%)	1 (0.8%)	10 (8.2%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (4.1%)	$5,955							29.3	34.4	1296	148
061455001730	1445	Fresno High	Public	9-12	1839 Echo Ave.	Fresno	93704	Fresno County	Fresno Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 457-2780	2,009	102	19.7	89.3%	171 (8.5%)	167 (8.3%)	1,501 (74.7%)	103 (5.1%)	17 (0.8%)	5 (0.2%)	40 (2.0%)	$9,919							29.2	29.2	1443	2
060006814039	1446	Freedom Home	Public, Virtual, Alternative	K-12	16362 Paula Rd.	Madera	93636	Madera County	Golden Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(559) 645-3590	47	2	25	53.2%	22 (46.8%)	1 (2.1%)	19 (40.4%)	1 (2.1%)	4 (8.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$9,929							29.1	49.1	887	559
064119013151	1447	Vista Visions Academy	Public, Alternative	K-12	1575 Bonair Dr.	Vista	92084	San Diego County	Vista Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 724-4785	82	5	15.3	69.5%	20 (24.4%)	2 (2.4%)	52 (63.4%)	3 (3.7%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (1.2%)	4 (4.9%)	$36,777							29	43.4	1032	415
060004607183	1448	Gonzales High	Public	9-12	501 Fifth St.	Gonzales	93926	Monterey County	Gonzales Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 675-2495	777	41	18.7	60.6%	8 (1.0%)	2 (0.3%)	751 (96.7%)	3 (0.4%)	8 (1.0%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (0.6%)	$7,885							29	32.3	1348	100
063468014627	1449	San Leandro Virtual Academy	Public, Virtual, Alternative	K-12	1700 Leonard Dr.	San Leandro	94577	Alameda County	San Leandro Unified	No	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(510) 618-4460	108	6	17.2	75.0%	17 (15.7%)	13 (12.0%)	51 (47.2%)	14 (13.0%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (1.9%)	11 (10.2%)								29	21.6	1651	202
063697212990	1450	Adelanto High	Public	9-12	15620 Joshua St.	Adelanto	92301	San Bernardino County	Victor Valley Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 246-3909	2,229	94	23.8	81.6%	65 (2.9%)	447 (20.1%)	1,577 (70.7%)	16 (0.7%)	4 (0.2%)	9 (0.4%)	104 (4.7%)	$5,746							29	27.8	1484	34

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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:

High school students working on a science experiment

Magnet Schools: Unleashing the Power of Education

Charter Schools vs Regular Public Schools: Understanding the Key Differences

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