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
1901	Sem Yeto Continuation High	Public	10-12	205 East Atlantic Ave.	Fairfield	94533	Solano County	Fairfield-Suisun Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(707) 438-3170	311	17	18.5	89.4%	25 (8.0%)	61 (19.6%)	188 (60.5%)	14 (4.5%)	1 (0.3%)	6 (1.9%)	15 (4.8%)	$14,790			$1,598			$13,192	12.2	10.5	2044	143		061336001526
1902	Kern County Community	Public, Alternative	K-12	1300 17th St. City Centre	Bakersfield	93301	Kern County	Kern County Office of Education	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(661) 852-5570	325	23	14.1	91.7%	50 (15.4%)	40 (12.3%)	227 (69.8%)	2 (0.6%)	2 (0.6%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (1.2%)	$31,251			$4,576			$26,675	12.2	12.6	1909	7		069101207502
1903	Reid High	Public	11-12	3701 East Willow St.	Long Beach	90815	Los Angeles County	Long Beach Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(562) 989-2098	50	7	7.1	70.0%	3 (6.0%)	14 (28.0%)	29 (58.0%)	1 (2.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (2.0%)	2 (4.0%)	$36,500			$3,349			$33,151	12.2	14.7	1827	76		062250002753
1904	Vail High (Continuation)	Public	9-12	1230 South Vail Ave.	Montebello	90640	Los Angeles County	Montebello Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(323) 728-1940	219	12	18.1	95.0%	2 (0.9%)	1 (0.5%)	216 (98.6%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$13,898			$1,065			$12,833	12.2	10.1	2065	161		062547003811
1905	Fremont High	Public	9-12	4610 Foothill Blvd.	Oakland	94601	Alameda County	Oakland Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(510) 879-5570	1,166	72	16.2	99.1%	23 (2.0%)	156 (13.4%)	897 (76.9%)	42 (3.6%)	7 (0.6%)	11 (0.9%)	28 (2.4%)	$26,351			$3,911			$22,440	12.2	12.2	1935	30		062805013062
1906	Alvord High	Public	9-12	3606 Pierce St.	Riverside	92503	Riverside County	Alvord Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(951) 358-1715	130	9	13.8	94.6%	7 (5.4%)	2 (1.5%)	114 (87.7%)	3 (2.3%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (1.5%)	2 (1.5%)	$28,378			$1,779			$26,599	12.2	10.8	2016	110		060243000128
1907	Liberty High	Public	9-12	351 East J St.	Benicia	94510	Solano County	Benicia Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(707) 747-8323	43	5	9.2	39.5%	14 (32.6%)	3 (7.0%)	20 (46.5%)	1 (2.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (11.6%)	$29,645			$5,414			$24,231	12.2	11	2001	94		060462000425
1908	Back Bay High	Public	9-12	390 Monte Vista Ave.	Costa Mesa	92627	Orange County	Newport-Mesa Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(949) 515-6900	143	18	8.1	79.7%	31 (21.7%)	4 (2.8%)	103 (72.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (2.8%)	$44,859			$3,050			$41,809	12.1	8.7	2134	226		062724004122
1909	Central High (Continuation)	Public	9-12	405 North Second Ave.	Barstow	92311	San Bernardino County	Barstow Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 255-6063	73	6	11.2	82.2%	8 (11.0%)	18 (24.7%)	42 (57.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (6.8%)	$22,686			$3,957			$18,729	12.1	11.8	1965	56		060402000358
1910	Independence High (Alternative)	Public	9-12	1900 G St.	Merced	95340	Merced County	Merced Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 325-1600	87	10	8.2	88.5%	13 (14.9%)	9 (10.3%)	61 (70.1%)	1 (1.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (3.4%)	$27,616			$1,539			$26,077	12.1	12.4	1921	11		062466008164

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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:

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Virtual Schools: The Future of Online 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.