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
81	Scripps Elementary	Public	K-5	11778 Cypress Canyon Rd.	San Diego	92131	San Diego County	San Diego Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(619) 605-2000	733	26	28.1	14.5%	176 (24.0%)	2 (0.3%)	71 (9.7%)	378 (51.6%)	1 (0.1%)	0 (0.0%)	105 (14.3%)	$16,956			$2,139			$14,817	97.9	98.4	55	26		063432010380
82	Los Coyotes Elementary	Public	K-6	8122 Moody St.	La Palma	90623	Orange County	Centralia Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 228-3260	568	21	27	38.2%	55 (9.7%)	7 (1.2%)	122 (21.5%)	330 (58.1%)	2 (0.4%)	1 (0.2%)	51 (9.0%)	$14,278			$1,950			$12,328	97.9	98.1	75	7		060807000778
83	Paradise Canyon Elementary	Public	K-6	471 Knight Way	La Canada	91011	Los Angeles County	La Canada Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(818) 952-8340	715	29	24.7	4.8%	293 (41.0%)	1 (0.1%)	86 (12.0%)	242 (33.8%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	93 (13.0%)	$17,151			$191			$16,960	97.9	97.9	84	1		062013002409
84	Meadows Arts and Technology Elementary	Public, Charter	K-5	2000 La Granada Dr.	Thousand Oaks	91362	Ventura County	Meadows Arts and Technology Elementary District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(805) 495-7037	397	17	22.8	5.3%	264 (66.5%)	3 (0.8%)	60 (15.1%)	39 (9.8%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.3%)	29 (7.3%)	$13,353			$899			$12,454	97.8	94.6	373	289		060147812541
85	Cottonwood Creek	Public	K-8	2400 Central Pkwy.	Dublin	94568	Alameda County	Dublin Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(925) 833-3333	1,023	45	22.9	13.0%	41 (4.0%)	8 (0.8%)	34 (3.3%)	908 (88.8%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	32 (3.1%)	$13,799			$911			$12,888	97.8	98.9	23	62		060001914370
86	Wade Thomas Elementary	Public	K-5	150 Ross Ave.	San Anselmo	94960	Marin County	Ross Valley Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(415) 454-4603	292	13	22.4	7.2%	216 (74.0%)	2 (0.7%)	33 (11.3%)	9 (3.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	30 (10.3%)	$16,587			$526			$16,061	97.8	93.9	438	352		060000608776
87	Walnut Grove Elementary	Public	K-5	1999 Harvest Rd.	Pleasanton	94566	Alameda County	Pleasanton Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(925) 426-4250	629	23	26.8	5.1%	155 (24.6%)	6 (1.0%)	30 (4.8%)	385 (61.2%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	52 (8.3%)	$16,434			$254			$16,180	97.8	96.7	196	109		060002009288
88	Glorietta Elementary	Public	K-5	15 Martha Rd.	Orinda	94563	Contra Costa County	Orinda Union	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(925) 254-8770	445	19	23.4	1.8%	222 (49.9%)	1 (0.2%)	39 (8.8%)	82 (18.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	101 (22.7%)	$18,968			$144			$18,824	97.8	97.9	81	7		062886004471
89	Margaret Landell Elementary	Public	K-6	9739 Denni St.	Cypress	90630	Orange County	Cypress Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 220-6960	662	25	26.4	24.9%	67 (10.1%)	5 (0.8%)	82 (12.4%)	449 (67.8%)	3 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	56 (8.5%)	$16,415			$843			$15,572	97.8	96.2	246	157		061044002336
90	Tice Creek	Public	K-8	1847 Newell Ave.	Walnut Creek	94595	Contra Costa County	Walnut Creek Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(925) 746-5515	451	21	21.3	7.5%	200 (44.3%)	7 (1.6%)	50 (11.1%)	99 (22.0%)	1 (0.2%)	1 (0.2%)	93 (20.6%)	$15,949			$728			$15,221	97.8	97.3	137	47		064125013866

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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.

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