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
1271	Cathedral City High	Public	9-12	69250 Dinah Shore Dr.	Cathedral City	92234	Riverside County	Palm Springs Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 770-0100	1,334	67	20	95.5%	55 (4.1%)	19 (1.4%)	1,205 (90.3%)	35 (2.6%)	4 (0.3%)	2 (0.1%)	12 (0.9%)	$23,060			$1,921			$21,139	39.6	59.1	795	476		062955010279
1272	Fort Bragg High	Public	9-12	300 Dana St.	Fort Bragg	95437	Mendocino County	Fort Bragg Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(707) 961-2880	569	34	16.7	77.5%	239 (42.0%)	2 (0.4%)	276 (48.5%)	5 (0.9%)	5 (0.9%)	0 (0.0%)	37 (6.5%)	$19,009			$2,277			$16,732	39.6	39.6	1244	28		061407001610
1273	Granite Hills High	Public	9-12	1719 East Madison Ave.	El Cajon	92019	San Diego County	Grossmont Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(619) 593-5500	2,331	97	24	57.6%	1,131 (48.5%)	40 (1.7%)	903 (38.7%)	94 (4.0%)	33 (1.4%)	7 (0.3%)	122 (5.2%)	$17,873			$2,261			$15,612	39.5	49.3	1018	255		061623002020
1274	Options For Youth - Duarte Inc	Public, Charter	7-12	3130 East Colorado Blvd.	Pasadena	91107	Los Angeles County	Options For Youth - Duarte Inc District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(626) 204-2500	3,369	120	27.9	86.0%	388 (11.5%)	436 (12.9%)	2,232 (66.3%)	68 (2.0%)	10 (0.3%)	18 (0.5%)	182 (5.4%)								39.5	37.1	1313	39		060250214438
1275	John Henry High	Public, Charter	9-12	1402 Marina Way South	Richmond	94804	Contra Costa County	John Henry High District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(510) 235-2439	333	12	27.7	86.2%	13 (3.9%)	12 (3.6%)	298 (89.5%)	2 (0.6%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.3%)	7 (2.1%)	$26,568			$2,223			$24,345	39.4	30.7	1472	197		060187213892
1276	Bakersfield High	Public	9-12	1241 G St.	Bakersfield	93301	Kern County	Kern High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(661) 324-9841	3,069	120	25.6	81.5%	349 (11.4%)	335 (10.9%)	2,216 (72.2%)	39 (1.3%)	24 (0.8%)	7 (0.2%)	97 (3.2%)	$17,416			$2,050			$15,366	39.4	33.6	1405	129		061954002340
1277	Collegiate Charter High School of Los Angeles	Public, Charter	9-12	725 South Indiana St.	Los Angeles	90023	Los Angeles County	Collegiate Charter High School of Los Angeles District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(213) 304-7077	141	12	11.3	97.2%	1 (0.7%)	3 (2.1%)	135 (95.7%)	2 (1.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$22,184			$2,181			$20,003	39.4	46.8	1082	195		060223113851
1278	Western High	Public	9-12	501 South Western Ave.	Anaheim	92804	Orange County	Anaheim Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 220-4040	1,446	66	21.8	89.9%	109 (7.5%)	43 (3.0%)	1,105 (76.4%)	143 (9.9%)	8 (0.6%)	6 (0.4%)	31 (2.1%)	$19,678			$1,274			$18,404	39.4	48.3	1049	229		060263000192
1279	Montgomery High	Public	9-12	1250 Hahman Dr.	Santa Rosa	95405	Sonoma County	Santa Rosa High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(707) 890-3830	1,253	70	17.9	49.6%	366 (29.2%)	37 (3.0%)	691 (55.1%)	54 (4.3%)	4 (0.3%)	26 (2.1%)	69 (5.5%)	$17,548			$1,285			$16,263	39.4	54.8	882	397		063583006127
1280	Sweetwater High	Public	9-12	2900 Highland Ave.	National City	91950	San Diego County	Sweetwater Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(619) 474-9700	2,290	90	25.3	89.2%	150 (6.6%)	34 (1.5%)	1,762 (76.9%)	297 (13.0%)	5 (0.2%)	10 (0.4%)	31 (1.4%)								39.4	40.4	1230	50		063864006495

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Other SchoolDigger ranking lists for California

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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:

Alternative Schools vs Public Schools: A Comparison

Student-Teacher Ratios and their Impact on Class Sizes & School Selection

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