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
411	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%)	$18,421			$2,017			$16,404	80	77.4	448	37		063560006068
412	Franklin High	Public	9-12	6400 Whitelock Pkwy.	Elk Grove	95757	Sacramento County	Elk Grove Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 714-8150	2,650	112	23.5	39.9%	382 (14.4%)	268 (10.1%)	521 (19.7%)	1,123 (42.4%)	6 (0.2%)	25 (0.9%)	325 (12.3%)	$14,331			$865			$13,466	80	78.5	430	18		061233010593
413	The O'Farrell Charter	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	6130 Skyline Dr.	San Diego	92114	San Diego County	The O'Farrell Charter District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(619) 263-3009	1,862	100	18.7	40.5%	27 (1.5%)	220 (11.8%)	1,087 (58.4%)	384 (20.6%)	1 (0.1%)	11 (0.6%)	131 (7.0%)	$14,699			$1,123			$13,576	80	78.1	433	20		060213610056
414	Arroyo Grande High	Public	9-12	495 Valley Rd.	Arroyo Grande	93420	San Luis Obispo County	Lucia Mar Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(805) 474-3200	2,012	96	20.9	47.2%	966 (48.0%)	11 (0.5%)	845 (42.0%)	60 (3.0%)	4 (0.2%)	2 (0.1%)	115 (5.7%)	$16,426			$1,531			$14,895	79.9	74.4	488	74		062308003516
415	Academy for Academic Excellence	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	17500 Mana Rd.	Apple Valley	92307	San Bernardino County	Academy for Academic Excellence District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 946-5414	1,489	68	21.8	35.5%	595 (40.0%)	43 (2.9%)	692 (46.5%)	52 (3.5%)	4 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	103 (6.9%)	$13,411			$1,097			$12,314	79.9	89.7	236	179		060191107296
416	Shasta Charter Academy	Public, Charter	9-12	307 Park Marina Cir.	Redding	96001	Shasta County	Shasta Charter Academy District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 245-2600	283	15	19.2	37.8%	191 (67.5%)	3 (1.1%)	42 (14.8%)	5 (1.8%)	8 (2.8%)	2 (0.7%)	28 (9.9%)	$13,145			$186			$12,959	79.6	77.8	440	24		060230608391
417	Early College Academy-LA Trade Technical College	Public	9-12	400 West Washington Blvd.	Los Angeles	90015	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(213) 763-3685	272	13	21.5	93.8%	5 (1.8%)	12 (4.4%)	248 (91.2%)	1 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.4%)	5 (1.8%)	$20,045			$3,458			$16,587	79.5	64.9	653	236		062271013434
418	California Virtual Academy @ Los Angeles	Public, Virtual, Charter, Alternative	K-12	50 Moreland Rd.	Simi Valley	93065	Ventura County	California Virtual Academy @ Los Angeles District	Yes	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(805) 581-0202	5,705	207	27.6	73.7%	760 (13.3%)	970 (17.0%)	3,437 (60.2%)	239 (4.2%)	27 (0.5%)	37 (0.6%)	235 (4.1%)	$12,248			$540			$11,708	79.5	62	720	302		060171612034
419	Analy High	Public	9-12	6950 Analy Ave.	Sebastopol	95472	Sonoma County	West Sonoma County Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(707) 824-2300	1,473	77	19.1	40.9%	905 (61.4%)	24 (1.6%)	414 (28.1%)	48 (3.3%)	15 (1.0%)	3 (0.2%)	46 (3.1%)	$13,553			$492			$13,061	79.5	67.7	603	184		060267000193
420	Heartland Charter	Public, Virtual, Charter, Alternative	K-12	955 Stanislaus	Maricopa	93252	Kern County	Heartland Charter District	Yes	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(661) 829-0099	5,970	161	37.1	42.2%	3,436 (57.6%)	83 (1.4%)	1,806 (30.3%)	81 (1.4%)	18 (0.3%)	8 (0.1%)	532 (8.9%)	$12,876			$842			$12,034	79.4	72.2	539	119		060159014226

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New! SchoolDigger ranking lists for CA student subgroups:

Female Students Male Students Asian Students African American Students Hispanic Students Native American Students Pacific Islander 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 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:

Public School Districts and Their Services: A Comprehensive Guide

Charter Schools vs Regular Public Schools: Understanding the Key Differences

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