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)
062985004647	2041	Buena Vista High	Public	9-12	3717 Michelson St.	Lakewood	90712	Los Angeles County	Paramount Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(562) 602-8090	245	16	15.5	92.7%	2 (0.8%)	21 (8.6%)	215 (87.8%)	1 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (1.2%)	2 (0.8%)	$8,863							9.8	11.3	1976	65
061146001262	2042	Columbus (Christopher) High	Public	10-12	12330 Woodruff Ave.	Downey	90241	Los Angeles County	Downey Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(562) 904-3552	492	28	17.6	79.5%	17 (3.5%)	24 (4.9%)	443 (90.0%)	3 (0.6%)	2 (0.4%)	1 (0.2%)	2 (0.4%)	$42,443							9.8	14	1872	170
061392001586	2043	Eric Birch High (Continuation)	Public	10-12	7930 Locust Ave.	Fontana	92336	San Bernardino County	Fontana Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(909) 357-5310	291	20	14.7	85.6%	11 (3.8%)	20 (6.9%)	255 (87.6%)	3 (1.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)								9.7	9.9	2064	21
069107808010	2044	Renaissance County Community	Public	7-12	14600 Cerise Ave.	Hawthorne	90250	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles County Office of Education	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(310) 970-9910	129	12	10.7	73.6%	5 (3.9%)	21 (16.3%)	98 (76.0%)	3 (2.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (1.6%)	$19,188							9.7	8.4	2178	134
061482001820	2045	Estrellita Continuation High	Public	9-12	12935 Marengo Rd.	Galt	95632	Sacramento County	Galt Joint Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 744-5318	63	3	20.7	79.4%	11 (17.5%)	0 (0.0%)	51 (81.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (1.6%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)								9.7	8.1	2195	150
064256014273	2046	Sanhedrin Alternative	Public	9-12	120 North Main St.	Willits	95490	Mendocino County	Willits Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(707) 459-4801	67	3	22.1	65.7%	35 (52.2%)	0 (0.0%)	18 (26.9%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (4.5%)	0 (0.0%)	10 (14.9%)	$9,608							9.7			(n/a)
063398005334	2047	Mount Toro High	Public	9-12	10 Sherwood Pl.	Salinas	93906	Monterey County	Salinas Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 796-7700	214	14	15.4	92.1%	2 (0.9%)	1 (0.5%)	209 (97.7%)	2 (0.9%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$27,537							9.7	10.4	2030	17
064248009008	2048	Frontier High (Continuation)	Public	9-12	9401 South Painter Ave.	Whittier	90605	Los Angeles County	Whittier Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(562) 698-8121	476	28	17.3	77.7%	23 (4.8%)	7 (1.5%)	437 (91.8%)	6 (1.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.4%)	$6,806							9.6	11.8	1963	85
062271003214	2049	Harris Newmark Continuation	Public	9-12	1575 West Second St.	Los Angeles	90026	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(213) 241-4480	57	5	11.3	94.7%	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$14,179							9.6	8	2199	150
061488007724	2050	Marie L. Hare High	Public	7-12	12012 Magnolia St.	Garden Grove	92841	Orange County	Garden Grove Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 663-6508	258	16	16	93.4%	5 (1.9%)	1 (0.4%)	226 (87.6%)	18 (7.0%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.8%)	5 (1.9%)	$14,323							9.6	10.3	2037	13

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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:

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.