Best High Schools in California

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Find the best California high 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 2162)	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
91	La Quinta High	Public	9-12	10372 McFadden St.	Westminster	92683	Orange County	Garden Grove Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 663-6315	2,041	87	23.3	76.2%	82 (4.0%)	2 (0.1%)	390 (19.1%)	1,524 (74.7%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (0.3%)	36 (1.8%)	$19,020			$2,254			$16,766	95.2	94.3	123	32		061488001854
92	Cerritos High	Public	9-12	12500 East 183rd St.	Cerritos	90703	Los Angeles County	ABC Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(562) 229-7715	1,996	83	23.9	43.1%	138 (6.9%)	112 (5.6%)	596 (29.9%)	1,036 (51.9%)	5 (0.3%)	6 (0.3%)	102 (5.1%)	$18,498			$1,988			$16,510	95.2	94.1	130	38		060162000010
93	Acalanes High	Public	9-12	1200 Pleasant Hill Rd.	Lafayette	94549	Contra Costa County	Acalanes Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(925) 280-3970	1,256	64	19.5	7.3%	787 (62.7%)	19 (1.5%)	150 (11.9%)	152 (12.1%)	1 (0.1%)	2 (0.2%)	134 (10.7%)	$21,216			$1,294			$19,922	95.1	97.7	50	43		060165000032
94	Harmony Magnet Academy	Public, Charter	9-12	19429 Road 228	Strathmore	93267	Tulare County	Porterville Unified	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 568-0347	509	21	24.4	73.1%	97 (19.1%)	1 (0.2%)	373 (73.3%)	22 (4.3%)	3 (0.6%)	1 (0.2%)	12 (2.4%)	$22,042			$1,921			$20,121	95.1	95.9	91	3		060006412356
95	Hayfork High	Public	9-12	231 Oak St.	Hayfork	96041	Trinity County	Mountain Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 628-5261	96	6	15.8	78.1%	47 (49.0%)	1 (1.0%)	10 (10.4%)	25 (26.0%)	1 (1.0%)	0 (0.0%)	12 (12.5%)	$26,905			$603			$26,302	94.9	69.7	569	474		060001809107
96	School for Entrepreneurship and Technology	Public, Charter	9-12	3540 Aero Ct.	San Diego	92123	San Diego County	School for Entrepreneurship and Technology District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(858) 874-4338	247	12	19.8	22.7%	144 (58.3%)	31 (12.6%)	42 (17.0%)	12 (4.9%)	1 (0.4%)	1 (0.4%)	16 (6.5%)	$14,457			$386			$14,071	94.9	90.4	215	119		060211012640
97	Larchmont Charter	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	1265 North Fairfax Ave.	West Hollywood	90046	Los Angeles County	Larchmont Charter District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(323) 656-6418	1,767	72	24.5	43.7%	606 (34.3%)	71 (4.0%)	452 (25.6%)	427 (24.2%)	1 (0.1%)	0 (0.0%)	206 (11.7%)	$18,485			$1,320			$17,165	94.9	87.6	268	171		060190410870
98	Diamond Bar High	Public	9-12	21400 Pathfinder Rd.	Diamond Bar	91765	Los Angeles County	Walnut Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(909) 594-1405	2,563	99	26	22.6%	128 (5.0%)	36 (1.4%)	440 (17.2%)	1,843 (71.9%)	0 (0.0%)	11 (0.4%)	105 (4.1%)	$16,544			$724			$15,820	94.8	96.1	84	14		064128007894
99	El Segundo High	Public	9-12	640 Main St.	El Segundo	90245	Los Angeles County	El Segundo Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(310) 615-2661	1,232	53	23.3	12.7%	571 (46.3%)	64 (5.2%)	309 (25.1%)	95 (7.7%)	1 (0.1%)	5 (0.4%)	185 (15.0%)	$16,889			$853			$16,036	94.8	95.7	98	1		061221001388
100	Compton Early College High	Public	9-12	2601 North Wilmington Ave.	Compton	90222	Los Angeles County	Compton Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(310) 604-2706	556	18	30.8	85.4%	3 (0.5%)	63 (11.3%)	485 (87.2%)	3 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.4%)	$26,302			$2,917			$23,385	94.8	93.3	148	48		060962013944

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Other SchoolDigger ranking lists for California

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New! SchoolDigger ranking lists for CA student subgroups:

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About our rankings:

Schooldigger calculates school rankings based on CAST Science, Smarter Balanced Assessments English Language Arts/Literacy, Smarter Balanced Assessments Mathematics 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:

High school students working on a science experiment

Magnet Schools: Unleashing the Power of Education

Alternative Schools vs Public Schools: A Comparison

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