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Best Public Schools in Pacific Grove, CA

New rankings! California test scores for the 2025-26 school year were just released — SchoolDigger posted updated rankings this week.

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At a glance

Schools

2,224

Students

Districts

5-star school

Top rankedPacific Grove High132^nd of 2,137 California high schools

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Smallest classes

Pacific Grove High 16.4 students per teacher

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Summary:

Pacific Grove has six schools—three elementary, one middle and two high schools—serving students from elementary through high school across Pacific Grove Unified and Monterey Bay Charter. The latest comparable results show strong performance against California overall, but meaningful differences among schools: all four with reported 2025–2026 scores in all three subjects were above the state in every subject, while school-to-school gaps reached about 20 percentage points.

Pacific Grove High led in English language arts and science, with 81% proficiency in ELA—7 points above the next-highest school, Robert Down Elementary—and 67% in science, 5 points above Pacific Grove Middle. Robert Down led math at 69%, 12 points above the middle school. Forest Grove Elementary was lowest among the four in all subjects, at 61% in ELA, 50% in math and 49% in science, but still beat California by 12, 12 and 13 points, respectively. One grade-level bright spot is Robert Down’s third grade: 89% were proficient in ELA and 88% in math, compared with state rates of 44% and 47%.

Across the same four schools, average ELA results were essentially flat from 2024–2025 to 2025–2026, while math fell 3 points and science fell 4; their average leads over California narrowed by 1, 4 and 8 points, respectively. SchoolDigger’s statewide percentile for Pacific Grove High declined from 99 to 94 between 2023–2024 and 2025–2026, while Monterey Bay Charter rose from 69 to 76 between 2022–2023 and 2024–2025. As context, the 2024–2025 free/reduced lunch eligible measure was 19% at Robert Down and 22% at Forest Grove; their student-teacher ratios were 17.9 and 16.7. Community High (Continuation) had 92% chronic absenteeism in 2025–2026, compared with 18% statewide; its test scores are suppressed, and Monterey Bay Charter’s latest reported test results are from 2024–2025.

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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 Immunizations Finance All

School													Students/Teachers											Ranking (2026)				Ranking (2025)				CAST Science (2026)				Smarter Balanced Assessments English Language Arts/Literacy (2026)								Smarter Balanced Assessments Mathematics (2026)								% Completely Immunized (2022)	% Polio (2022)	% Hepatitis B (2022)	% Varicella (2022)	Per Pupil Expenditures (2025)
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	Free/reduced lunch (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	CAST Science 5th Grade	CAST Science 8th Grade	CAST Science 11th Grade	CAST Science All Grades	Smarter Balanced Assessments English Language Arts/Literacy 3rd Grade	Smarter Balanced Assessments English Language Arts/Literacy 4th Grade	Smarter Balanced Assessments English Language Arts/Literacy 5th Grade	Smarter Balanced Assessments English Language Arts/Literacy 6th Grade	Smarter Balanced Assessments English Language Arts/Literacy 7th Grade	Smarter Balanced Assessments English Language Arts/Literacy 8th Grade	Smarter Balanced Assessments English Language Arts/Literacy 11th Grade	Smarter Balanced Assessments English Language Arts/Literacy All Grades	Smarter Balanced Assessments Mathematics 3rd Grade	Smarter Balanced Assessments Mathematics 4th Grade	Smarter Balanced Assessments Mathematics 5th Grade	Smarter Balanced Assessments Mathematics 6th Grade	Smarter Balanced Assessments Mathematics 7th Grade	Smarter Balanced Assessments Mathematics 8th Grade	Smarter Balanced Assessments Mathematics 11th Grade	Smarter Balanced Assessments Mathematics All Grades	% Completely Immunized KG	% Polio KG	% Hepatitis B KG	% Varicella KG	Per Pupil Expenditures Total	Sub-total from Federal Funds	Sub-total from State/Local Funds
Monterey Bay Charter	Public, Charter	K-8	1004 David Ave.	Pacific Grove	93950	Monterey County	Monterey Bay Charter District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 655-4638	475	17	27.9	31.2%	260 (54.7%)	3 (0.6%)	128 (26.9%)	16 (3.4%)	3 (0.6%)	3 (0.6%)	62 (13.1%)								(n/a)																					95.8	97.2	97.2
Robert Down Elementary	Public	K-5	485 Pine Ave.	Pacific Grove	93950	Monterey County	Pacific Grove Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 646-6540	422	24	17.9	19.0%	238 (56.4%)	4 (0.9%)	67 (15.9%)	44 (10.4%)	2 (0.5%)	1 (0.2%)	66 (15.6%)	88.9	706^th of 5804 public elementary schools	87.8%		91.7	564^th of 5857 public elementary schools	90.4%	142	60.8			60.8	88.7	69.9	62.8					73.5	87.5	64.0	54.9					68.7	92.7			95.6	$33,163	$31,978	$1,185
Forest Grove Elementary	Public	K-5	1065 Congress Ave.	Pacific Grove	93950	Monterey County	Pacific Grove Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 646-6560	324	19	16.7	22.2%	159 (49.1%)	6 (1.9%)	87 (26.9%)	17 (5.2%)	1 (0.3%)	2 (0.6%)	52 (16.0%)	73.4	1428^th of 5804 public elementary schools	75.4%		75.8	1343^rd of 5857 public elementary schools	77.1%	85	49.1			49.1	52.8	58.1	69.8					60.9	57.9	48.4	47.2					50.3	96.7				$40,061	$38,800	$1,261
Pacific Grove High	Public	9-12	615 Sunset Dr.	Pacific Grove	93950	Monterey County	Pacific Grove Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 646-6590	552	34	16.4	18.7%	311 (56.3%)	11 (2.0%)	100 (18.1%)	78 (14.1%)	6 (1.1%)	3 (0.5%)	40 (7.2%)	93.1	132^nd of 2137 public high schools	93.8%		94.6	106^th of 2162 public high schools	95.1%	26			66.7	66.7							80.8	80.8							53.8	53.8					$35,944	$34,760	$1,184
Pacific Grove Middle	Public	6-8	835 Forest Ave.	Pacific Grove	93950	Monterey County	Pacific Grove Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 646-6568	439	25	17.2	15.9%	240 (54.7%)	9 (2.1%)	86 (19.6%)	58 (13.2%)	6 (1.4%)	5 (1.1%)	35 (8.0%)	88.3	288^th of 2703 public middle schools	89.3%		91	252^nd of 2761 public middle schools	90.9%	36		61.9		61.9				82.3	64.0	74.2		73.4				60.5	56.6	52.6		56.5					$35,220	$33,958	$1,262
Community High (Continuation)	Public	9-12	1004 David Ave.	Pacific Grove	93950	Monterey County	Pacific Grove Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 646-6535	12	2	6.0	41.7%	4 (33.3%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (33.3%)	1 (8.3%)	1 (8.3%)	1 (8.3%)	1 (8.3%)								(n/a)																									$92,572	$90,936	$1,636

Cities Near Pacific Grove

City	Distance	# of Schools	Statewide Rank
Monterey	1.35 mi	7	222^nd
Carmel	4.29 mi	5	38^th
Seaside	4.72 mi	13	679^th
Marina	7.81 mi	8	597^th
Salinas	11.65 mi	68	738^th

See the top CA California cities

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