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
1941	Mesquite Continuation High	Public	9-12	140 West Drummond	Ridgecrest	93555	Kern County	Sierra Sands Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 499-1810	95	7	13.8	76.8%	49 (51.6%)	6 (6.3%)	33 (34.7%)	2 (2.1%)	3 (3.2%)	1 (1.1%)	1 (1.1%)	$20,746			$4,484			$16,262	11.5	13.8	1855	86		063680006237
1942	Vista West Continuation High	Public	9-12	7115 Rosedale Hwy.	Bakersfield	93308	Kern County	Kern High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(661) 589-4242	375	26	14.2	89.3%	135 (36.0%)	34 (9.1%)	187 (49.9%)	5 (1.3%)	5 (1.3%)	2 (0.5%)	6 (1.6%)	$25,696			$2,586			$23,110	11.5	10.9	2009	67		061954009145
1943	Castlemont High	Public	9-12	8601 MacArthur Blvd.	Oakland	94605	Alameda County	Oakland Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(510) 879-2301	719	51	14	99.0%	15 (2.1%)	205 (28.5%)	435 (60.5%)	11 (1.5%)	4 (0.6%)	23 (3.2%)	25 (3.5%)	$30,723			$5,104			$25,619	11.4	12.4	1919	24		062805012992
1944	Owensmouth Continuation	Public	9-12	6921 Jordan Ave.	Canoga Park	91303	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(818) 340-7663	79	5	15.6	94.9%	2 (2.5%)	0 (0.0%)	73 (92.4%)	2 (2.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (2.5%)	$39,914			$7,317			$32,597	11.4	12.2	1933	11		062271003257
1945	El Camino High (Continuation)	Public	9-12	14640 Mercado Ave.	La Mirada	90638	Los Angeles County	Norwalk-La Mirada Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(562) 210-3595	256	18	13.9	74.2%	15 (5.9%)	7 (2.7%)	224 (87.5%)	6 (2.3%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.4%)	3 (1.2%)	$25,373			$2,091			$23,282	11.4	10.6	2032	87		062769004162
1946	Mojave River Academy - Route 66	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	14554 Seventh St.	Victorville	92395	San Bernardino County	Mojave River Academy - Route 66 District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 245-3222	450	21	21.6	90.9%	92 (20.4%)	27 (6.0%)	299 (66.4%)	2 (0.4%)	3 (0.7%)	0 (0.0%)	24 (5.3%)	$11,568			$1,408			$10,160	11.3	16	1788	158		060148714233
1947	Pegasus High	Public	11-12	1776 Educational Park Dr.	San Jose	95133	Santa Clara County	East Side Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 928-5440	128	6	20.9	64.8%	2 (1.6%)	2 (1.6%)	109 (85.2%)	10 (7.8%)	1 (0.8%)	3 (2.3%)	1 (0.8%)	$15,937			$575			$15,362	11.3	15.7	1798	149		061182010320
1948	Mountain View High	Public	9-12	1000 Ramona Blvd.	San Jacinto	92582	Riverside County	San Jacinto Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(951) 487-7710	231	12	19.2	93.9%	12 (5.2%)	15 (6.5%)	195 (84.4%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (1.3%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (2.6%)	$16,866			$138			$16,728	11.3	17.1	1757	191		063444005692
1949	Berkeley Technology Academy	Public	10-12	2701 Martin Luther King Jr. Wa	Berkeley	94704	Alameda County	Berkeley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(510) 644-6159	54	6	9.1	55.6%	5 (9.3%)	29 (53.7%)	14 (25.9%)	1 (1.9%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (9.3%)	$55,274			$3,750			$51,524	11.3	8.6	2137	188		060474011300
1950	Santa Paula Unified School District Independent Studies	Public, Virtual, Alternative	K-12	201 South Steckel Dr.	Santa Paula	93060	Ventura County	Santa Paula Unified	No	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(805) 933-8880	60	2	31.5	85.0%	1 (1.7%)	0 (0.0%)	58 (96.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (1.7%)								11.3			(n/a)		060142114709

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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:

A high school boy doing homework on a laptop

Virtual Schools: The Future of Online Education

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Magnet Schools: Unleashing the Power of Education

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