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
11	John Muir Elementary	Public	K-5	6560 Hanover Dr.	San Jose	95129	Santa Clara County	Cupertino Union	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 252-5265	557	22	25.5	8.4%	7 (1.3%)	1 (0.2%)	3 (0.5%)	436 (78.3%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	109 (19.6%)	$15,240			$244			$14,996	99.1	99	19	8		061029001144
12	Wagner Ranch Elementary	Public	K-5	350 Camino Pablo	Orinda	94563	Contra Costa County	Orinda Union	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(925) 258-0016	489	22	22.2	1.6%	206 (42.1%)	4 (0.8%)	46 (9.4%)	145 (29.7%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	87 (17.8%)	$20,027			$292			$19,735	99	98.8	28	16		062886007077
13	Millikin Elementary	Public	K-5	615 Hobart Terrace	Santa Clara	95051	Santa Clara County	Santa Clara Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 423-1800	504	22	22.9	4.2%	21 (4.2%)	7 (1.4%)	7 (1.4%)	447 (88.7%)	3 (0.6%)	0 (0.0%)	19 (3.8%)	$25,798			$774			$25,024	99	99	17	4		063543006044
14	Golden Elementary	Public	K-6	740 East Golden Ave.	Placentia	92870	Orange County	Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 986-7160	834	31	26.4	23.9%	162 (19.4%)	8 (1.0%)	143 (17.1%)	445 (53.4%)	1 (0.1%)	2 (0.2%)	73 (8.8%)	$16,668			$897			$15,771	98.9	99.1	12	2		063066004763
15	Springer Elementary	Public	K-6	1120 Rose Ave.	Mountain View	94040	Santa Clara County	Los Altos Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(650) 943-4200	365	18	20.4	4.9%	126 (34.5%)	0 (0.0%)	25 (6.8%)	161 (44.1%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.3%)	52 (14.2%)	$21,406			$297			$21,109	98.9	98.9	25	10		062265002790
16	Covington Elementary	Public	K-6	205 Covington Rd.	Los Altos	94024	Santa Clara County	Los Altos Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(650) 947-1100	404	21	19.2	8.2%	106 (26.2%)	2 (0.5%)	27 (6.7%)	228 (56.4%)	1 (0.2%)	1 (0.2%)	38 (9.4%)	$24,188			$296			$23,892	98.9	99.4	5	11		062265011202
17	Cornerstone at Pedregal Elementary	Public	K-5	6069 Groveoak Pl.	Rancho Palos Verdes	90275	Los Angeles County	Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(310) 378-0324	411	19	21.8	8.5%	101 (24.6%)	3 (0.7%)	39 (9.5%)	202 (49.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	66 (16.1%)	$14,355			$489			$13,866	98.9	98.6	40	23		062970003247
18	Montecito Union	Public	K-6	385 San Ysidro Rd.	Santa Barbara	93108	Santa Barbara County	Montecito Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(805) 969-3249	353	29	12	5.1%	263 (74.5%)	1 (0.3%)	44 (12.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	45 (12.7%)	$45,001			$284			$44,717	98.9	98.8	26	8		062550003815
19	Aurelia Pennekamp Elementary	Public	K-5	110 South Rowell	Manhattan Beach	90266	Los Angeles County	Manhattan Beach Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(310) 798-6223	469	20	23.4	4.9%	207 (44.1%)	6 (1.3%)	77 (16.4%)	96 (20.5%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	82 (17.5%)	$16,153			$1,414			$14,739	98.9	97.7	105	86		060002503570
20	Ross Elementary	Public	K-8	9 Lagunitas Rd.	Ross	94957	Marin County	Ross Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(415) 457-2705	339	28	12.2	0.9%	264 (77.9%)	2 (0.6%)	24 (7.1%)	5 (1.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	43 (12.7%)	$30,322			$717			$29,605	98.8	97.2	144	124		063366005192

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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:

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

A high school boy doing homework on a laptop

Virtual Schools: The Future of Online 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.