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Best Public Schools in Payson, AZ

New rankings! SchoolDigger recently updated its Arizona rankings with newly released test scores for the 2025-26 school year.

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Test scores delayed: 2026 rankings for Arizona do not yet include the AzSCI Science tests, which have not yet been released by the Arizona Department of Education

At a glance

Schools

2,144

Students

Districts

Top rankedPayson High School163^rd of 256 Arizona high schools

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Biggest riser

Rim Country Middle School up 24 spots statewide this year

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Smallest classes

Payson Elementary School 14.5 students per teacher

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Summary:

Payson’s four schools serve kindergarten through grade 12 and enroll 2,144 students: Payson Elementary School (K–2), Julia Randall Elementary School (grades 2–5), Rim Country Middle School (grades 6–8), and Payson High School (grades 9–12). Payson Elementary has no test scores in the supplied data. The three schools with reported AASA results averaged 31% proficiency in ELA and 23% in math, compared with 41% and 33% statewide. Because the schools cover different grade spans, these schoolwide averages are not like-grade comparisons. The most important finding is that all three schools with reported AASA results were below state proficiency rates in both subjects.

Julia Randall leads the reported schools in both subjects, with 32% in ELA and 26% in math; the other schools scored 30% and 30% in ELA, and 23% and 21% in math. Rim Country has the lowest All Grades math result, 5 points below Julia Randall, and 12 points below the state rate. Grade results offer some brighter exceptions: Rim Country eighth-grade math was 28%, just 2 points below the state, while Julia Randall fourth-grade ELA was 41%, 6 points below the state. Payson High stands out in the supplied science results: 11th-grade proficiency was 22%, 3 points above the state, although its AASA ELA and math scores were below state rates.

Recent SchoolDigger rankings show a mixed pattern rather than broad improvement: from 2023–24 to 2025–26, Payson High rose 11 percentile points to the 36th percentile and 2 stars, while Julia Randall fell 12 points to the 23rd percentile and 1 star, and Rim Country fell 5 points to the 28th percentile and 1 star. Their average percentile position slipped from 31 to 29; SchoolDigger ranks schools within different school-type groups, so the rankings are not direct comparisons. Staffing and size also vary: enrollment ranges from 430 at Payson Elementary to 733 at Payson High, and student-teacher ratios range from 14.5 to 17.3; Julia Randall has a ratio of 15.9 and Rim Country 16.3. No free/reduced-lunch rates are provided.

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Ranking:

E Elementary M Middle H High A Alternative P Private

Choose columns to see: Summary School Students/Teachers Ranking Test Scores Vaccination Finance All

School													Students/Teachers											Ranking (2026)				Ranking (2025)				AASA English Language Arts (2026)								AASA Mathematics (2026)								Vaccination (2025-26)		Per Pupil Expenditures (2022)
Name	Type	Grades	Address	City	Zip	County	District	Is Charter	Is Magnet	Is Virtual	Is Title I	Phone	Enrollment	Full-time Teachers	Student/ Teacher Ratio	Directly certified (2024-25)	White	Black	Hispanic	Asian	American Indian	Pacific Islander	Two or More Races	Average Standard Score (2026)	Statewide Rank (2026)	State Percentile (2026)	SchoolDigger Rating (2026)	Average Standard Score (2025)	Statewide Rank (2025)	State Percentile (2025)	Rank Change from Previous Year	AASA English Language Arts 3rd Grade	AASA English Language Arts 4th Grade	AASA English Language Arts 5th Grade	AASA English Language Arts 6th Grade	AASA English Language Arts 7th Grade	AASA English Language Arts 8th Grade	AASA English Language Arts 11th Grade	AASA English Language Arts All Grades	AASA Mathematics 3rd Grade	AASA Mathematics 4th Grade	AASA Mathematics 5th Grade	AASA Mathematics 6th Grade	AASA Mathematics 7th Grade	AASA Mathematics 8th Grade	AASA Mathematics 11th Grade	AASA Mathematics All Grades	Vaccination: Kindergartners fully immunized against measles (MMR)	Vaccination: Exemption rate	Per Pupil Expenditures: Total	Personnel Spending from Federal Funds	Non-Personnel Spending from Federal Funds	Sub-total from Federal Funds	Personnel Spending from State and Local Funds	Non-Personnel from State and Local Funds	Sub-total Spending from State and Local Funds
NAVIT - Payson High School	Public	9-12	301 S McLane Rd	Payson	85937	Navajo County	Northern Arizona Vocational Institute of Technolog	No	(n/a)	No	No	(928) 536-6232	0			—	0 ()	0 ()	0 ()	0 ()	0 ()	0 ()	0 ()								(n/a)																			$468	$00			$161	$307	$468
NAVIT - Gila Community College	Public	9-12	201 N Mud Springs Rd	Payson	85937	Navajo County	Northern Arizona Vocational Institute of Technolog	No	(n/a)	No	No	(928) 536-6100	0			—	0 ()	0 ()	0 ()	0 ()	0 ()	0 ()	0 ()								(n/a)																			$3,660	$00			$00	$3,660	$3,660
Payson High School	Public	9-12	301 S McLane Rd	Payson	85547	Gila County	Payson Unified District	No	(n/a)	No	No	(928) 472-5788	733	42	17.3	41.5%	476 (64.9%)	3 (0.4%)	199 (27.1%)	3 (0.4%)	22 (3.0%)	0 (0.0%)	30 (4.1%)	27.3	163^rd of 256 public high schools	36.3%		37.4	155^th of 271 public high schools	42.8%	8							30.0	30.0							23.0	23.0			$8,085	$155	$62	$371	$6,458	$1,410	$7,868
Rim Country Middle School	Public	6-8	304 S Meadow St	Payson	85547	Gila County	Payson Unified District	No	(n/a)	No	No	(928) 472-3062	478	29	16.3	46.9%	290 (60.7%)	7 (1.5%)	143 (29.9%)	3 (0.6%)	17 (3.6%)	0 (0.0%)	18 (3.8%)	23	388^th of 536 public middle schools	27.6%		20.3	412^th of 552 public middle schools	25.4%	24				28.0	33.0	30.0		30.0				19.0	17.0	28.0		21.0			$6,229	$301	$06	$607	$5,181	$741	$5,922
Julia Randall Elementary School	Public	2-5	902 W Main St	Payson	85547	Gila County	Payson Unified District	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(928) 468-2600	503	31	15.9	50.5%	302 (60.0%)	3 (0.6%)	155 (30.8%)	3 (0.6%)	14 (2.8%)	0 (0.0%)	26 (5.2%)	20.7	694^th of 900 public elementary schools	22.9%		26.4	603^rd of 909 public elementary schools	33.7%	91	27.0	41.0	30.0					32.0	23.0	28.0	26.0					26.0			$6,722	$511	$179	$1,202	$5,643	$388	$6,031
Payson Elementary School	Public	K-2	500 East Rancho Road	Payson	85547	Gila County	Payson Unified District	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(928) 472-5801	430	30	14.5	50.9%	294 (68.4%)	1 (0.2%)	103 (24.0%)	2 (0.5%)	9 (2.1%)	0 (0.0%)	21 (4.9%)								(n/a)																	73.7%	28.8%	$8,928	$1,572	$27	$3,170	$6,960	$370	$7,330
Payson Center for Success - Online	Public, Virtual	7-12	902 W Main St	Payson	85547	Gila County	Payson Unified District	No	(n/a)	Yes	No	(928) 472-5891	0			—	0 ()	0 ()	0 ()	0 ()	0 ()	0 ()	0 ()								(n/a)

Cities Near Payson

City	Distance	# of Schools	Statewide Rank
Pine	15.86 mi	1
Young	19.89 mi	2
Tonto Basin	23.09 mi	1
Cottonwood	40.64 mi	17	68^th
Camp Verde	40.68 mi	8	89^th

See the top AZ Arizona cities

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

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMERS: Not all boundaries are included. We make every effort to ensure that boundaries are up-to-date. But it's important to note that these are approximations and are for general informational purposes only. To verify legal descriptions of boundaries or school locations, contact your local tax assessor's office and/or school district.