Best Elementary Schools in California

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Find the best California elementary 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 9, 2025.

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School														Students/Teachers											Per Pupil Expenditures (2024)							Ranking (2025 vs 2024)					ID
Rank (of 5856)	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 (2025)	Average Standard Score (2024)	Rank (2024)	Rank Change from 2024	SchoolDigger Rating (2025)	ID
5612	San Joaquin Elementary	Public	K-8	8535 South Ninth	San Joaquin	93660	Fresno County	Golden Plains Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 693-4321	518	24	21.2	96.1%	1 (0.2%)	10 (1.9%)	502 (96.9%)	4 (0.8%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$13,939			$2,243			$11,696	10.4	18	5024	588		069113410217
5613	Snow Elementary	Public	K-5	1130 Foster Rd.	Napa	94558	Napa County	Napa Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(707) 253-3666	402	18	22.3	89.3%	41 (10.2%)	2 (0.5%)	347 (86.3%)	5 (1.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (1.7%)	$15,745			$1,729			$14,016	10.3	15.4	5269	344		062664004033
5614	Riverbank Elementary	Public	K-8	1100 Carrie St.	West Sacramento	95605	Yolo County	Washington Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 375-7700	599	35	17.2	88.5%	87 (14.5%)	20 (3.3%)	353 (58.9%)	103 (17.2%)	4 (0.7%)	12 (2.0%)	20 (3.3%)								10.3	10.2	5676	62		064158012263
5615	Voices College-Bound Language Academy at W. Contra Costa County	Public, Charter	K-8	201 28th St.	Richmond	94804	Contra Costa County	Voices College-Bound Lang Academy @ W. Contra Costa County	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(510) 480-0540	343	10	34.3	81.0%	1 (0.3%)	3 (0.9%)	333 (97.1%)	4 (1.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.6%)	$354			$00			$354	10.3	16.7	5151	464		060192114227
5616	Castle Rock	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	1260 Glenn St.	Crescent City	95531	Del Norte County	Del Norte County Office of Education	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(707) 464-0390	315	15	21.2	72.7%	173 (54.9%)	1 (0.3%)	70 (22.2%)	6 (1.9%)	23 (7.3%)	0 (0.0%)	39 (12.4%)	$13,351			$00			$13,351	10.3	18.9	4947	669		069106308694
5617	Dover Elementary	Public	K-5	301 East Alaska Ave.	Fairfield	94533	Solano County	Fairfield-Suisun Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(707) 435-3794	463	20	23.1	81.4%	24 (5.2%)	70 (15.1%)	267 (57.7%)	44 (9.5%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (1.5%)	51 (11.0%)	$15,960			$1,666			$14,294	10.3	11.5	5584	33		061336013984
5618	A. J. Dorsa Elementary	Public	K-5	1290 Bal Harbor Dr.	San Jose	95122	Santa Clara County	Alum Rock Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 928-7400	284	14	20.2	90.1%	1 (0.4%)	2 (0.7%)	263 (92.6%)	13 (4.6%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.7%)	3 (1.1%)	$23,068			$3,288			$19,780	10.3	11.7	5574	44		060231000103
5619	Merquin Elementary	Public	K-5	20316 West Third Ave.	Stevinson	95374	Merced County	Hilmar Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 634-4938	126	7	18	74.6%	14 (11.1%)	0 (0.0%)	110 (87.3%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.8%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.8%)	$21,519			$1,096			$20,423	10.3	14.4	5360	259		061722002178
5620	Phoenix Academy	Public	K-8	20700 Thunderbird Rd.	Apple Valley	92307	San Bernardino County	Apple Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 242-7011	1,213	58	20.8	87.1%	179 (14.8%)	200 (16.5%)	765 (63.1%)	11 (0.9%)	1 (0.1%)	2 (0.2%)	55 (4.5%)	$20,111			$2,755			$17,356	10.3	6.6	5823	203		060001712663
5621	Barona Indian Charter	Public, Charter	K-8	1095 Barona Rd.	Lakeside	92040	San Diego County	Barona Indian Charter District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(619) 443-0948	86	6	14.3	54.7%	14 (16.3%)	1 (1.2%)	27 (31.4%)	0 (0.0%)	33 (38.4%)	2 (2.3%)	9 (10.5%)	$21,070			$2,874			$18,196	10.3	42.6	3025	2596		060181410631

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New! SchoolDigger ranking lists for CA student subgroups:

Female Students Male Students Asian Students African American Students Hispanic Students White Students Multi-racial Students Special Education Students Low Socio Economic Status Students Migrant Students Homeless Students Military Connected Students

About our rankings:

Schooldigger calculates school rankings based on Smarter Balanced Assessments English Language Arts/Literacy, Smarter Balanced Assessments Mathematics, CAST Science test scores released by the California Department of Education.
These rankings were last updated on October 9, 2025, 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:

Public School Districts and Their Services: A Comprehensive Guide

State-Administered Standardized Tests: A Comprehensive Guide

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