Best High Schools in Santa Ana, CA

Summary:

This analysis examines 16 high schools serving grades 6-12 in Santa Ana, California, a city with significant economic need, revealing a landscape of stark contrasts where exceptional success stories exist alongside schools facing profound challenges.

Parents will find dramatic differences in school performance. Standout schools like Middle College High (ranked in the 97th percentile with a 100% graduation rate) and OCSA (also 97th percentile) demonstrate what is possible, even within the high-need Santa Ana Unified district. However, other schools in the same district, such as Cesar E. Chavez High and Lorin Griset Academy, rank in the single-digit percentiles with very high dropout and chronic absenteeism rates, indicating they require significant support.

Key insights show that high spending does not guarantee success, and chronic absenteeism is a critical barrier. Math proficiency is a particular challenge across most schools. The promising "early college" model at Middle College High and the strong performance of Hector G. Godinez within Santa Ana Unified provide models for improvement, showing that excellent outcomes are achievable with high-need populations through specific programs and practices.

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

School													Students/Teachers											Ranking (2025)				Ranking (2024)				CAST Science (2025)					Smarter Balanced Assessments English Language Arts/Literacy (2025)				Smarter Balanced Assessments Mathematics (2025)				Per Pupil Expenditures (2024)
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/Discounted Lunch Recipients	White	Black	Hispanic	Asian	American Indian	Pacific Islander	Two or More Races	Average Standard Score (2025)	Statewide Rank (2025)	State Percentile (2025)	SchoolDigger Rating (2025)	Average Standard Score (2024)	Statewide Rank (2024)	State Percentile (2024)	Rank Change from Previous Year	CAST Science 8th Grade	CAST Science 10th Grade	CAST Science 11th Grade	CAST Science 12th Grade	CAST Science All Grades	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 7th Grade	Smarter Balanced Assessments Mathematics 8th Grade	Smarter Balanced Assessments Mathematics 11th Grade	Smarter Balanced Assessments Mathematics All Grades	Per Pupil Expenditures Total	Sub-total from Federal Funds	Sub-total from State/Local Funds
Nova Academy Early College High	Public, Charter	9-12	500 West Santa Ana Blvd.	Santa Ana	92701	Orange County	Nova Academy Early College High District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 569-0948	288	15	19.0	88.9%	4 (1.4%)	1 (0.3%)	271 (94.1%)	2 (0.7%)	2 (0.7%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (2.4%)	32.3	1441^st of 2162 public high schools	33.3%		49.6	1009^th of 2159 public high schools	53.3%	432				27.3	27.3			31.5	31.5			2.2	2.2	$24,608	$1,401	$23,207
Ednovate - Legacy College Prep.	Public, Charter	9-12	1450 17th St.	Santa Ana	92705	Orange County	Ednovate - Legacy College Prep. District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 988-2775	427	19	22.4	74.7%	6 (1.4%)	6 (1.4%)	411 (96.3%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (0.7%)	56.5	899^th of 2162 public high schools	58.4%		55.2	873^rd of 2159 public high schools	59.6%	26		23.4		32.1	27.8			59.8	59.8			15.0	15.0	$19,571	$1,033	$18,538
Samueli Academy	Public, Charter	7-12	1901 North Fairview St.	Santa Ana	92706	Orange County	Samueli Academy District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 619-0245	842	40	21.2	74.3%	43 (5.1%)	9 (1.1%)	691 (82.1%)	65 (7.7%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.1%)	27 (3.2%)	63.9	718^th of 2162 public high schools	66.8%		53.5	919^th of 2159 public high schools	57.4%	201	15.7		38.6		27.9	61.7	35.9	57.8	52.5	33.1	16.8	25.9	25.6	$18,502	$978	$17,524
Ocsa	Public, Charter	7-12	1010 North Main St.	Santa Ana	92701	Orange County	OCSA District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 560-9000	2,346	130	18.0	15.8%	537 (22.9%)	17 (0.7%)	487 (20.8%)	1,019 (43.4%)	3 (0.1%)	9 (0.4%)	246 (10.5%)	96.9	59^th of 2162 public high schools	97.3%		98.2	37^th of 2159 public high schools	98.3%	22	68.3	63.7			65.5	83.6	81.7	85.1	83.7	73.1	73.9	65.5	69.9
Cesar E. Chavez High	Public	9-12	2128 South Cypress	Santa Ana	92707	Orange County	Santa Ana Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 430-5700	350	21	16.4	97.1%	2 (0.6%)	0 (0.0%)	346 (98.9%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.3%)	10.2	2010^th of 2162 public high schools	7.0%		9.5	2099^th of 2159 public high schools	2.8%	89			2.7	5.6	3.1			13.2	13.2			0.7	0.7	$26,750	$929	$25,821
Lorin Griset Academy	Public	9-12	1915 West McFadden	Santa Ana	92704	Orange County	Santa Ana Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 648-2900	283	17	16.3	93.6%	1 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	279 (98.6%)	1 (0.4%)	2 (0.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	9.9	2024^th of 2162 public high schools	6.4%		9.8	2084^th of 2159 public high schools	3.5%	60			2.9		2.7			11.6	11.6			2.4	2.4	$29,739	$781	$28,958
Saddleback High	Public	7-12	2801 South Flower	Santa Ana	92707	Orange County	Santa Ana Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 513-2900	1,451	78	18.5	94.0%	12 (0.8%)	6 (0.4%)	1,390 (95.8%)	32 (2.2%)	4 (0.3%)	4 (0.3%)	2 (0.1%)	23.3	1628^th of 2162 public high schools	24.7%		27.1	1550^th of 2159 public high schools	28.2%	78	20.4		13.4		14.2	45.2	36.7	30.1	33.1	38.7	30.6	9.9	16.5	$24,932	$1,090	$23,842
Santa Ana High	Public	9-12	520 West Walnut	Santa Ana	92701	Orange County	Santa Ana Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 567-4900	2,505	127	19.7	90.6%	10 (0.4%)	2 (0.1%)	2,474 (98.8%)	8 (0.3%)	7 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.1%)	33.7	1408^th of 2162 public high schools	34.9%		33.2	1418^th of 2159 public high schools	34.3%	10			17.4	0.0	16.9			41.6	41.6			14.8	14.8	$22,732	$1,021	$21,711
Valley High	Public	9-12	1801 South Greenville St.	Santa Ana	92704	Orange County	Santa Ana Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 241-6410	1,908	107	17.8	91.4%	9 (0.5%)	2 (0.1%)	1,848 (96.9%)	40 (2.1%)	4 (0.2%)	2 (0.1%)	2 (0.1%)	37.9	1312^th of 2162 public high schools	39.3%		21.5	1669^th of 2159 public high schools	22.7%	357			21.0		20.9			38.5	38.5			20.0	20.0	$23,319	$1,014	$22,305
Middle College High	Public	9-12	1530 West 17th St.	Santa Ana	92706	Orange County	Santa Ana Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 953-3900	448	22	20.0	86.4%	7 (1.6%)	1 (0.2%)	405 (90.4%)	31 (6.9%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (0.7%)	96.6	66^th of 2162 public high schools	96.9%		98.1	40^th of 2159 public high schools	98.1%	26			67.7		67.7			97.0	97.0			53.5	53.5	$22,679	$826	$21,853
REACH Academy	Public	6-12	1325 East 4th St.	Santa Ana	92701	Orange County	Santa Ana Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 431-1800	36	7	4.9	94.4%	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	36 (100.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)								(n/a)					0.0				6.3				6.3	$102,532	$693	$101,839
Century High	Public	9-12	1401 South Grand Ave.	Santa Ana	92705	Orange County	Santa Ana Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 568-7000	1,519	93	16.3	89.6%	9 (0.6%)	4 (0.3%)	1,450 (95.5%)	42 (2.8%)	3 (0.2%)	4 (0.3%)	5 (0.3%)	28.9	1503^rd of 2162 public high schools	30.5%		20.7	1688^th of 2159 public high schools	21.8%	185			13.5		13.4			33.2	33.2			17.0	17.0	$24,354	$1,019	$23,335
Segerstrom High	Public	9-12	2301 West MacArthur Blvd.	Santa Ana	92704	Orange County	Santa Ana Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 241-5000	2,376	100	23.8	80.6%	18 (0.8%)	6 (0.3%)	2,206 (92.8%)	123 (5.2%)	2 (0.1%)	5 (0.2%)	13 (0.5%)	67	657^th of 2162 public high schools	69.6%		67.8	600^th of 2159 public high schools	72.2%	57			34.6		34.6			61.7	61.7			31.5	31.5	$21,981	$973	$21,008
Hector G. Godinez	Public	9-12	3002 Centennial Rd.	Santa Ana	92704	Orange County	Santa Ana Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 433-6790	1,687	88	19.1	89.2%	7 (0.4%)	2 (0.1%)	1,650 (97.8%)	20 (1.2%)	6 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.1%)	64.1	711^th of 2162 public high schools	67.1%		66.1	632^nd of 2159 public high schools	70.7%	79			27.7		27.6			65.5	65.5			31.6	31.6	$24,578	$1,103	$23,475
Foothill High	Public	9-12	19251 Dodge Ave.	Santa Ana	92705	Orange County	Tustin Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 730-7464	2,126	85	25.0	47.8%	774 (36.4%)	12 (0.6%)	989 (46.5%)	202 (9.5%)	3 (0.1%)	10 (0.5%)	131 (6.2%)	84.2	331^st of 2162 public high schools	84.7%		92.3	175^th of 2159 public high schools	91.9%	156			50.5		49.5			67.6	67.6			44.1	44.1	$15,777	$1,221	$14,556
Vista Meridian Global Academy	Public, Charter	9-12	1300 S. Bristol St.	Santa Ana	92704	Orange County	Vista Meridian Global Academy District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 988-2719	260	11	24.7	99.2%	0 (0.0%)	4 (1.5%)	252 (96.9%)	1 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (1.2%)								(n/a)		5.7			5.2			23.6	23.6			0.0	0.0	$19,895	$490	$19,405

Cities Near Santa Ana

City	Distance	# of Schools	Statewide Rank
Tustin	1.3 mi	18	368^th
Orange	2.35 mi	32	383^rd
Garden Grove	2.76 mi	53	233^rd
Fountain Valley	4 mi	15	130^th
Anaheim	4.11 mi	76	507^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.