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
5202	Hillcrest Drive Elementary	Public	K-5	4041 Hillcrest Dr.	Los Angeles	90008	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(323) 296-6867	486	27	18	97.3%	6 (1.2%)	197 (40.5%)	242 (49.8%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	39 (8.0%)	$29,907			$6,095			$23,812	15.8	15.5	5260	58		062271003084
5203	Westfield Village Elementary	Public	K-8	508 Poplar St.	West Sacramento	95691	Yolo County	Washington Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 375-7720	515	27	19.1	92.8%	52 (10.1%)	21 (4.1%)	355 (68.9%)	59 (11.5%)	4 (0.8%)	2 (0.4%)	22 (4.3%)								15.8	13.3	5455	252		064158006858
5204	McFadden Institute of Technology	Public	K-8	2701 South Raitt	Santa Ana	92704	Orange County	Santa Ana Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 435-3700	1,074	55	19.3	90.2%	16 (1.5%)	8 (0.7%)	1,014 (94.4%)	27 (2.5%)	2 (0.2%)	1 (0.1%)	6 (0.6%)	$24,905			$1,299			$23,606	15.8	16.8	5135	69		063531005997
5205	Gustine Elementary	Public	K-5	2806 West Grove Ave.	Gustine	95322	Merced County	Gustine Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 854-6496	483	21	23	79.7%	40 (8.3%)	3 (0.6%)	423 (87.6%)	2 (0.4%)	1 (0.2%)	1 (0.2%)	13 (2.7%)	$11,527			$2,649			$8,878	15.8	12.9	5484	279		061632302032
5206	Gerald A. Lawson Academy of the Arts Math and Sci	Public	K-6	929 West 69th St.	Los Angeles	90044	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(323) 565-3650	480	23	20.8	98.5%	5 (1.0%)	56 (11.7%)	402 (83.8%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	17 (3.5%)	$23,625			$5,220			$18,405	15.7	12.8	5500	294		062271013147
5207	Bancroft Elementary	Public	K-8	8805 Tyler St.	Spring Valley	91977	San Diego County	La Mesa-Spring Valley	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(619) 668-5890	391	15	25.7	93.1%	15 (3.8%)	31 (7.9%)	301 (77.0%)	15 (3.8%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.5%)	26 (6.6%)	$18,507			$2,042			$16,465	15.7	15.2	5283	76		062025002425
5208	Manuel Esqueda Elementary	Public	K-8	2240 South Main St.	Santa Ana	92707	Orange County	Santa Ana Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 431-1500	811	37	21.7	94.3%	2 (0.2%)	2 (0.2%)	796 (98.2%)	6 (0.7%)	2 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (0.4%)	$23,274			$865			$22,409	15.7	15.6	5245	37		063531010991
5209	Arroyo Seco Academy	Public	K-6	1226 Apple Ave.	Greenfield	93927	Monterey County	Greenfield Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 674-6080	571	25	22.8	83.5%	4 (0.7%)	0 (0.0%)	566 (99.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	$21,397			$3,261			$18,136	15.7	11.5	5583	374		061608014263
5210	Langdon Avenue Elementary	Public	K-5	8817 Langdon Ave.	North Hills	91343	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(818) 892-0779	532	25	21.2	96.1%	7 (1.3%)	35 (6.6%)	473 (88.9%)	5 (0.9%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	12 (2.3%)	$26,493			$5,363			$21,130	15.7	18.1	5020	190		062271003123
5211	Tenderloin Community	Public	K-5	627 Turk St.	San Francisco	94102	San Francisco County	San Francisco Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(415) 749-3567	282	11	25.6	74.1%	40 (14.2%)	26 (9.2%)	144 (51.1%)	48 (17.0%)	1 (0.4%)	4 (1.4%)	19 (6.7%)	$26,175			$2,104			$24,071	15.7	17.6	5066	145		063441007732

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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:

Alternative Schools vs Public Schools: A Comparison

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.