Santa Cruz City High

Summary:

The Santa Cruz City High district consists of nine schools serving grades 7-12 in Santa Cruz County, California, and overall performs above state averages in graduation rates and most academic subjects.

Among the comprehensive high schools, Santa Cruz High is the top performer with strong math scores and a high graduation rate, followed closely by Soquel High, which excels in English. Harbor High shows lower test scores and a declining statewide ranking. For middle schools, Mission Hill Middle ranks higher than Branciforte Middle.

The district's alternative schools present a mixed picture: Alternative Family Education achieves solid academic results, while Costanoa Continuation High and Delta Charter face significant academic challenges. A key area for improvement across the district is mathematics, where only Santa Cruz High exceeds the state average, and chronic absenteeism varies widely between schools.

District Detail

133 Mission Street Ste. 100
Santa Cruz, CA 95060-3747

(831) 429-3410

SchoolDigger Rank:
541^st of 1543 California districts

See the 2025 California District rankings!

Grades served: K-12
Students: 4,455

Primary Schools: 0
Middle Schools: 2
High Schools: 6
Alternative Schools: 1

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 11th Grade	CAST Science 12th Grade	CAST Science All Grades	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 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	Per Pupil Expenditures Total	Sub-total from Federal Funds	Sub-total from State/Local Funds
Branciforte Middle	Public	6-8	315 Poplar St.	Santa Cruz	95062	Santa Cruz County	Santa Cruz City High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 429-3883	409	23	17.8	38.1%	175 (42.8%)	7 (1.7%)	192 (46.9%)	8 (2.0%)	2 (0.5%)	1 (0.2%)	24 (5.9%)	68.8	698^th of 2761 public middle schools	74.7%		58.8	912^th of 2783 public middle schools	67.2%	214	41.0			41.0	65.9	61.4	51.7		60.0	35.5	40.8	43.0		39.7	$20,291	$3,354	$16,937
Harbor High	Public	9-12	300 La Fonda Ave.	Santa Cruz	95062	Santa Cruz County	Santa Cruz City High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 429-3810	1,013	55	18.5	38.2%	350 (34.6%)	6 (0.6%)	564 (55.7%)	27 (2.7%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.2%)	64 (6.3%)	66.4	667^th of 2162 public high schools	69.1%		68.9	584^th of 2159 public high schools	73.0%	83		34.6	33.3	34.0				59.7	59.7				25.7	25.7	$18,858	$2,563	$16,295
Costanoa Continuation High	Public	9-12	840 North Branciforte Ave.	Santa Cruz	95062	Santa Cruz County	Santa Cruz City High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 429-3898	77	3	22.7	57.1%	15 (19.5%)	0 (0.0%)	57 (74.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (6.5%)	13.3	1868^th of 2162 public high schools	13.6%		16.6	1770^th of 2159 public high schools	18.0%	98		4.0	13.3	7.5				4.4	4.4				0.0	0.0	$22,210	$2,267	$19,943
Mission Hill Middle	Public	6-8	425 King St.	Santa Cruz	95060	Santa Cruz County	Santa Cruz City High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 429-3860	510	28	18.2	32.0%	268 (52.5%)	5 (1.0%)	166 (32.5%)	14 (2.7%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (0.6%)	54 (10.6%)	76.9	543^rd of 2761 public middle schools	80.3%		67.4	731^st of 2783 public middle schools	73.7%	188	48.5			48.5	56.1	64.1	56.5		58.9	44.5	52.4	49.7		49.0	$16,074	$2,506	$13,568
Santa Cruz High	Public	9-12	415 Walnut Ave.	Santa Cruz	95060	Santa Cruz County	Santa Cruz City High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 429-3960	1,093	46	23.8	22.7%	634 (58.0%)	18 (1.6%)	317 (29.0%)	27 (2.5%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.1%)	95 (8.7%)	89.7	203^rd of 2162 public high schools	90.6%		93.8	140^th of 2159 public high schools	93.5%	63		51.7	50.6	51.1				69.0	69.0				50.6	50.6	$17,409	$1,956	$15,453
Soquel High	Public	9-12	401 Old San Jose Rd.	Soquel	95073	Santa Cruz County	Santa Cruz City High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 429-3909	1,074	54	19.9	29.1%	510 (47.5%)	7 (0.7%)	424 (39.5%)	17 (1.6%)	2 (0.2%)	1 (0.1%)	113 (10.5%)	80	411^th of 2162 public high schools	81.0%		77.4	448^th of 2159 public high schools	79.2%	37		50.4	31.9	40.6				72.5	72.5				34.2	34.2	$18,421	$2,017	$16,404
Delta Charter	Public, Charter	9-12	6500 Soquel Dr. Bldg. 1190	Aptos	95003	Santa Cruz County	Santa Cruz City High	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 477-5212	113	9	13.2	38.9%	59 (52.2%)	1 (0.9%)	43 (38.1%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (1.8%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (5.3%)	24.5	1605^th of 2162 public high schools	25.8%		30.1	1486^th of 2159 public high schools	31.2%	119		12.2	18.9	15.4				24.4	24.4				2.4	2.4	$13,012	$383	$12,629
Alternative Family Education	Public, Alternative	K-12	840 North Branciforte Ave.	Santa Cruz	95062	Santa Cruz County	Santa Cruz City High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 429-3898	110	4	27.5	34.5%	59 (53.6%)	4 (3.6%)	25 (22.7%)	5 (4.5%)	1 (0.9%)	0 (0.0%)	16 (14.5%)								(n/a)				66.7					64.1					37.5	$20,011	$2,254	$17,757
Ark Independent Studies	Public	6-12	840 North Branciforte Ave.	Santa Cruz	95062	Santa Cruz County	Santa Cruz City High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 429-3898	56	2	27.1	41.1%	25 (44.6%)	0 (0.0%)	28 (50.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (5.4%)	44.5	1154^th of 2162 public high schools	46.6%		67.1	612^th of 2159 public high schools	71.7%	542				26.3				53.3	53.3				13.3	13.3	$22,913	$2,179	$20,734

Districts nearby

District	Distance	# of Schools	Statewide Rank
Santa Cruz City Elementary	0.28 mi	5	360^th
Live Oak Elementary	1.25 mi	8	543^rd
Santa Cruz County Regional Occupational Program	1.62 mi	1
Santa Cruz County Office of Education	1.65 mi	5
Soquel Union Elementary	2.19 mi	4	475^th

See the top CA California districts

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.