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
2091	San Luis Obispo County Community	Public	6-12	2494 Pennington Creek Rd.	San Luis Obispo	93405	San Luis Obispo County	San Luis Obispo County Office of Education	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(805) 782-7354	76	4	19.2	85.5%	20 (26.3%)	1 (1.3%)	49 (64.5%)	1 (1.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (6.6%)	$83,049			$15,436			$67,613	8.6	13.8	1857	234		069103210655
2092	Phoenix High	Public	11-12	6150 Snell Rd.	San Jose	95123	Santa Clara County	East Side Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 347-6291	70	4	17.2	65.7%	4 (5.7%)	1 (1.4%)	58 (82.9%)	4 (5.7%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (1.4%)	2 (2.9%)	$20,501			$701			$19,800	8.6	24	1602	490		061182010318
2093	Valley Merced Community	Public, Alternative	K-12	1850 Wardrobe Ave.	Merced	95341	Merced County	Merced County Office of Education	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 381-4500	99	5	20.2	94.9%	10 (10.1%)	10 (10.1%)	76 (76.8%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (2.0%)	$19,632			$2,758			$16,874	8.6	10.6	2028	65		069102008217
2094	Earl F. Johnson High (Continuation)	Public	9-12	1201 North Douty	Hanford	93230	Kings County	Hanford Joint Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 583-5916	50	5	10.4	96.0%	5 (10.0%)	2 (4.0%)	41 (82.0%)	1 (2.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$34,262			$4,817			$29,445	8.5	12.3	1927	167		061650002086
2095	Robert Elliott Alternative Education Center	Public	9-12	1440 Sunrise Ave.	Modesto	95350	Stanislaus County	Modesto City High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 574-1701	479	33	14.4	87.9%	66 (13.8%)	19 (4.0%)	346 (72.2%)	7 (1.5%)	1 (0.2%)	5 (1.0%)	34 (7.1%)	$23,165			$3,219			$19,946	8.5	11.6	1969	126		062515003737
2096	Paloma Creek High	Public	9-12	10801 El Camino Real	Atascadero	93422	San Luis Obispo County	Atascadero Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(805) 462-4350	55	3	16	70.9%	32 (58.2%)	0 (0.0%)	21 (38.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (1.8%)	$17,946			$917			$17,029	8.5	10.5	2040	56		060330006562
2097	Lovell High	Public	9-12	12724 Avenue 392	Cutler	93615	Tulare County	Cutler-Orosi Joint Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 528-4703	54	6	9.8	90.7%	1 (1.9%)	0 (0.0%)	53 (98.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$42,992			$8,809			$34,183	8.5	10.2	2055	42		061035001158
2098	Central Coast High	Public	9-12	200 Coe Ave.	Seaside	93955	Monterey County	Monterey Peninsula Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 392-3560	103	12	8.7	91.3%	13 (12.6%)	0 (0.0%)	80 (77.7%)	2 (1.9%)	3 (2.9%)	2 (1.9%)	2 (1.9%)	$32,934			$2,716			$30,218	8.4	10.9	2010	88		062553003821
2099	Eureka Community	Public	7-12	1820 Sixth St.	Eureka	95501	Humboldt County	Humboldt County Office of Education	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(707) 445-7108	70	4	19.7	98.6%	30 (42.9%)	3 (4.3%)	16 (22.9%)	1 (1.4%)	7 (10.0%)	0 (0.0%)	13 (18.6%)	$35,628			$4,775			$30,853	8.4	21.2	1678	421		069100910794
2099	Juvenile Hall (Endeavor/Voyager Secondary)	Public	7-12	28261 Avenue 14	Madera	93638	Madera County	Madera County Superintendent of Schools	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 675-7900	29	4	6.8	89.7%	3 (10.3%)	2 (6.9%)	22 (75.9%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (3.4%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (3.4%)	$62,184			$21,404			$40,780	8.4			(n/a)		069101708131

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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:

No Child Left Behind (NCLB): A Comprehensive Analysis of Its Impact on Education

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.