Best High Schools in California

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Find the best California high 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 2162)	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
1181	Oakland High	Public	9-12	1023 MacArthur Blvd.	Oakland	94610	Alameda County	Oakland Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(510) 879-2304	1,579	86	18.3	90.2%	53 (3.4%)	324 (20.5%)	604 (38.3%)	480 (30.4%)	6 (0.4%)	5 (0.3%)	101 (6.4%)	$25,981			$3,904			$22,077	43.4	35.6	1349	168		062805004304
1182	Hamilton High	Public	9-12	620 Canal St.	Hamilton City	95951	Glenn County	Hamilton Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 826-3261	306	19	15.7	68.3%	41 (13.4%)	0 (0.0%)	215 (70.3%)	2 (0.7%)	2 (0.7%)	0 (0.0%)	46 (15.0%)	$17,431			$369			$17,062	43.3	39.9	1238	56		060133902078
1183	Merced Scholars Charter	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	1850 Wardrobe Ave. Bldg. H	Merced	95341	Merced County	Merced County Office of Education	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 381-5165	334	20	16.5	79.9%	53 (15.9%)	4 (1.2%)	245 (73.4%)	16 (4.8%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	12 (3.6%)	$18,393			$1,258			$17,135	43.3	32.1	1444	261		069102010960
1184	Arlington High	Public	9-12	2951 Jackson St.	Riverside	92503	Riverside County	Riverside Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(951) 352-8316	1,920	85	22.5	80.9%	258 (13.4%)	78 (4.1%)	1,433 (74.6%)	84 (4.4%)	5 (0.3%)	3 (0.2%)	57 (3.0%)	$18,080			$1,136			$16,944	43.3	49.4	1016	168		063315005131
1185	Orange Glen High	Public	9-12	2200 Glen Ridge Rd.	Escondido	92027	San Diego County	Escondido Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 291-5000	1,788	94	19.1	89.0%	80 (4.5%)	26 (1.5%)	1,608 (89.9%)	53 (3.0%)	7 (0.4%)	5 (0.3%)	8 (0.4%)	$19,936			$2,000			$17,936	43.2	35.6	1350	165		061291001466
1186	Rosemont High	Public	9-12	9594 Kiefer Blvd.	Sacramento	95827	Sacramento County	Sacramento City Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 395-5130	1,485	76	19.6	57.9%	379 (25.5%)	242 (16.3%)	544 (36.6%)	138 (9.3%)	7 (0.5%)	28 (1.9%)	146 (9.8%)	$21,494			$3,485			$18,009	43.2	36.3	1334	148		063384011191
1187	Valley Center High	Public	9-12	31322 Cole Grade Rd.	Valley Center	92082	San Diego County	Valley Center-Pauma Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 751-5500	1,075			61.7%	221 (20.6%)	7 (0.7%)	680 (63.3%)	20 (1.9%)	84 (7.8%)	0 (0.0%)	63 (5.9%)	$17,582			$1,632			$15,950	43.1	55.7	860	327		060006908607
1188	Cordova High	Public	9-12	2239 Chase Dr.	Rancho Cordova	95670	Sacramento County	Folsom-Cordova Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 294-2450	1,944	104	18.6	69.8%	512 (26.3%)	164 (8.4%)	745 (38.3%)	256 (13.2%)	4 (0.2%)	34 (1.7%)	229 (11.8%)	$25,591			$1,320			$24,271	43.1	52.3	945	243		061389001568
1189	Linden High	Public	9-12	18527 East Front St.	Linden	95236	San Joaquin County	Linden Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 887-3073	743	38	19.5	69.3%	216 (29.1%)	2 (0.3%)	489 (65.8%)	15 (2.0%)	14 (1.9%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (0.9%)	$19,546			$2,097			$17,449	42.9	52.2	949	240		062181002589
1190	San Jose High	Public	9-12	275 North 24th St.	San Jose	95116	Santa Clara County	San Jose Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 535-6320	874	47	18.6	69.9%	28 (3.2%)	8 (0.9%)	746 (85.4%)	71 (8.1%)	3 (0.3%)	3 (0.3%)	15 (1.7%)	$21,364			$674			$20,690	42.9	30.1	1485	295		063459005736

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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 Native American Students Pacific Islander 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 CAST Science, Smarter Balanced Assessments English Language Arts/Literacy, Smarter Balanced Assessments Mathematics 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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Virtual Schools: The Future of Online Education

Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA): Transforming Education in America

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