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
721	Moulton Elementary	Public	K-5	29851 Highlands Ave.	Laguna Niguel	92677	Orange County	Capistrano Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(949) 234-5980	538	22	24.4	30.5%	331 (61.5%)	5 (0.9%)	85 (15.8%)	35 (6.5%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	81 (15.1%)	$18,293			$1,339			$16,954	88.9	88.9	758	37		060744000695
722	Leffingwell Elementary	Public	K-5	10625 South Santa Gertrudes	Whittier	90603	Los Angeles County	East Whittier City Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(562) 907-6300	551	22	24.4	53.4%	62 (11.3%)	9 (1.6%)	421 (76.4%)	29 (5.3%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	29 (5.3%)	$18,584			$1,452			$17,132	88.8	88.8	763	41		061185007696
723	El Marino Elementary	Public	K-5	11450 Port Rd.	Culver City	90230	Los Angeles County	Culver City Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(310) 842-4241	795	36	22	18.6%	121 (15.2%)	19 (2.4%)	316 (39.7%)	156 (19.6%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	183 (23.0%)	$18,883			$667			$18,216	88.8	87.1	860	137		061026003192
724	Monte Vista Elementary	Public	K-6	730 North Hope Ave.	Santa Barbara	93110	Santa Barbara County	Hope Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(805) 687-5333	267	14	19	25.8%	151 (56.6%)	0 (0.0%)	91 (34.1%)	13 (4.9%)	3 (1.1%)	0 (0.0%)	9 (3.4%)	$19,605			$1,112			$18,493	88.8	91.9	580	144		061749002189
725	Tijeras Creek Elementary	Public	K-5	23072 Avenida Empresa	Rancho Santa Margarita	92688	Orange County	Capistrano Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(949) 234-5300	315	12	26.2	21.6%	159 (50.5%)	2 (0.6%)	59 (18.7%)	40 (12.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	54 (17.1%)	$18,156			$1,489			$16,667	88.8	88.6	777	52		060744008541
726	Horace Mann Elementary	Public	K-5	8701 Charleville Blvd.	Beverly Hills	90211	Los Angeles County	Beverly Hills Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(310) 229-3680	578	41	14.2	29.6%	316 (54.7%)	13 (2.2%)	76 (13.1%)	78 (13.5%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	93 (16.1%)	$51,476			$2,109			$49,367	88.8	87.5	838	112		060483000475
727	Sunset Lane Elementary	Public	K-6	2030 Sunset Ln.	Fullerton	92833	Orange County	Fullerton Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 447-7750	700	24	29.7	41.9%	60 (8.6%)	8 (1.1%)	179 (25.6%)	424 (60.6%)	1 (0.1%)	0 (0.0%)	28 (4.0%)	$17,412			$335			$17,077	88.8	90.4	676	51		061473001805
728	Alderwood Elementary	Public	K-6	2005 Knollcrest	Irvine	92603	Orange County	Irvine Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(949) 936-5400	770	26	29.6	25.5%	279 (36.2%)	10 (1.3%)	105 (13.6%)	285 (37.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	91 (11.8%)	$14,005			$401			$13,604	88.8	85.8	919	191		068450007373
729	Park View Elementary	Public	K-8	751 Cindy Dr.	Ripon	95366	San Joaquin County	Ripon Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 599-1882	467	19	24.3	20.3%	187 (40.0%)	2 (0.4%)	133 (28.5%)	105 (22.5%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	39 (8.4%)	$13,430			$877			$12,553	88.7	88.4	793	64		063288011421
730	Lake Forest Elementary	Public	K-5	2240 Sailsbury Dr.	El Dorado Hills	95762	El Dorado County	Rescue Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 933-0652	421	21	19.9	14.3%	317 (75.3%)	0 (0.0%)	78 (18.5%)	15 (3.6%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	10 (2.4%)	$14,326			$1,020			$13,306	88.7	88.8	762	32		063231010017

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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.

Educational resources:

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Magnet Schools: Unleashing the Power of 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.