Best Elementary Schools in California

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Find the best California elementary 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 5856)	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
521	O. N. Hirsch Elementary	Public	K-5	41399 Chapel Way	Fremont	94538	Alameda County	Fremont Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(510) 657-3537	441	19	23.2	34.2%	33 (7.5%)	7 (1.6%)	48 (10.9%)	334 (75.7%)	4 (0.9%)	0 (0.0%)	15 (3.4%)	$17,357			$1,767			$15,590	92.4	94.4	393	128		061440001668
522	Foster City Elementary	Public	K-5	461 Beach Park Blvd.	Foster City	94404	San Mateo County	San Mateo-Foster City	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(650) 312-7522	624	29	21.5	12.0%	107 (17.1%)	3 (0.5%)	60 (9.6%)	374 (59.9%)	3 (0.5%)	7 (1.1%)	70 (11.2%)	$20,270			$1,792			$18,478	92.3	94.8	359	163		063492005905
523	Sierra View Elementary	Public	K-5	1598 Hooker Oak Ave.	Chico	95926	Butte County	Chico Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 891-3117	428	24	17.7	33.9%	294 (68.7%)	1 (0.2%)	69 (16.1%)	17 (4.0%)	1 (0.2%)	1 (0.2%)	45 (10.5%)	$17,168			$1,006			$16,162	92.3	90.3	685	162		060837000830
524	Clarendon Alternative Elementary	Public	K-5	500 Clarendon Ave.	San Francisco	94131	San Francisco County	San Francisco Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(415) 759-2796	533	21	25.3	23.3%	133 (25.0%)	22 (4.1%)	58 (10.9%)	171 (32.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	149 (28.0%)	$21,612			$1,671			$19,941	92.3	94.3	402	122		063441005666
525	Zehnder Ranch Elementary	Public	K-6	9880 Denali Cir.	Elk Grove	95757	Sacramento County	Elk Grove Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 793-3300	1,019	40	25.4	35.9%	108 (10.6%)	71 (7.0%)	150 (14.7%)	592 (58.1%)	0 (0.0%)	10 (1.0%)	88 (8.6%)	$13,948			$900			$13,048	92.3	93.7	454	71		061233014065
526	Grant K-8	Public	K-8	1425 Washington Pl.	San Diego	92103	San Diego County	San Diego Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(619) 293-4420	743	35	21.5	29.7%	384 (51.7%)	18 (2.4%)	223 (30.0%)	30 (4.0%)	1 (0.1%)	0 (0.0%)	87 (11.7%)	$20,107			$3,646			$16,461	92.3	92.7	520	6		063432005469
527	Highgate Elementary	Public	K-6	13401 Pemberley Passage Ave.	Bakersfield	93311	Kern County	Panama-Buena Vista Union	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(661) 501-1617	732	29	25.2	44.8%	132 (18.0%)	32 (4.4%)	258 (35.2%)	224 (30.6%)	2 (0.3%)	3 (0.4%)	81 (11.1%)	$16,687			$1,523			$15,164	92.3	84.6	970	443		060639014551
528	Buena Vista Elementary	Public	K-5	2355 San Juan Ave.	Walnut Creek	94597	Contra Costa County	Walnut Creek Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(925) 944-6822	495	21	23.5	18.2%	200 (40.4%)	13 (2.6%)	76 (15.4%)	109 (22.0%)	2 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	95 (19.2%)	$13,815			$835			$12,980	92.3	90.9	642	114		064125006827
529	Mountain Avenue Elementary	Public	K-6	2307 Mountain Ave.	La Crescenta	91214	Los Angeles County	Glendale Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(818) 248-7766	551	21	26.2	35.2%	323 (58.6%)	6 (1.1%)	84 (15.2%)	99 (18.0%)	2 (0.4%)	2 (0.4%)	35 (6.4%)	$15,535			$566			$14,969	92.2	93.7	455	74		061524001941
530	Washington Elementary	Public	K-5	2300 Martin Luther King Jr. Wa	Berkeley	94704	Alameda County	Berkeley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(510) 644-6310	401	16	24.6	33.4%	157 (39.2%)	42 (10.5%)	72 (18.0%)	48 (12.0%)	2 (0.5%)	4 (1.0%)	75 (18.7%)	$23,563			$581			$22,982	92.2	91.6	601	71		060474000452

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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 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 Smarter Balanced Assessments English Language Arts/Literacy, Smarter Balanced Assessments Mathematics, CAST Science 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:

Girl in a wheelchair raising her hand in a classroom setting

Understanding an IEP: The Ultimate Guide for Parents and Educators

Per-Pupil Spending: Understanding the Breakdown of Federal, State, and Local Funds

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