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
3271	Mar Vista Elementary	Public	K-6	6860 Soquel Dr.	Aptos	95003	Santa Cruz County	Pajaro Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 688-5211	270	15	17.8	54.1%	136 (50.4%)	1 (0.4%)	102 (37.8%)	9 (3.3%)	1 (0.4%)	3 (1.1%)	18 (6.7%)								39.2	40.7	3138	133		062949004545
3272	John J. Montgomery Elementary	Public	K-6	2010 Daniel Maloney Dr.	San Jose	95121	Santa Clara County	Evergreen Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 270-6718	504	23	21.9	58.9%	10 (2.0%)	4 (0.8%)	243 (48.2%)	222 (44.0%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.4%)	23 (4.6%)	$11,771			$797			$10,974	39.2	42.7	3017	255		061314001495
3273	Ambler Avenue Elementary	Public	K-5	319 East Sherman Dr.	Carson	90746	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(310) 532-4090	445	23	19.7	80.9%	2 (0.4%)	322 (72.4%)	107 (24.0%)	5 (1.1%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	8 (1.8%)	$25,902			$3,981			$21,921	39.2	36.7	3388	115		062271002809
3274	Lakewood Elementary	Public	K-5	750 Lakechime Dr.	Sunnyvale	94089	Santa Clara County	Sunnyvale	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 522-8272	372	21	18	33.6%	37 (9.9%)	7 (1.9%)	226 (60.8%)	66 (17.7%)	2 (0.5%)	5 (1.3%)	29 (7.8%)	$33,457			$2,260			$31,197	39.2	37.4	3342	68		063846006463
3275	Pacific View Leadership Elementary	Public	K-5	6196 Childs Ave.	San Diego	92139	San Diego County	San Diego Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(619) 430-1600	227	9	26.3	76.7%	4 (1.8%)	9 (4.0%)	163 (71.8%)	36 (15.9%)	3 (1.3%)	0 (0.0%)	12 (5.3%)	$22,556			$3,079			$19,477	39.2	27.2	4191	916		063432005498
3276	Helen Keller Elementary	Public	K-6	3521 Palm Ave.	Lynwood	90262	Los Angeles County	Lynwood Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(310) 886-5700	407	17	23.9	94.6%	6 (1.5%)	27 (6.6%)	371 (91.2%)	2 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)								39.2	28.7	4048	772		062316010900
3277	Wilton Place Elementary	Public	K-5	745 South Wilton Pl.	Los Angeles	90005	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(213) 389-1181	297	21	14.1	93.9%	2 (0.7%)	10 (3.4%)	260 (87.5%)	20 (6.7%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (1.3%)	$33,739			$6,165			$27,574	39.2	26.8	4229	952		062271003467
3278	Desert Garden Elementary	Public	K-6	1900 South Sixth St.	El Centro	92243	Imperial County	El Centro Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 352-2051	358	16	22.3	81.8%	1 (0.3%)	4 (1.1%)	349 (97.5%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.6%)	$22,879			$1,839			$21,040	39.2	43.7	2941	337		061203001333
3279	Vintage Parkway Elementary	Public	K-5	1000 Vintage Pkwy.	Oakley	94561	Contra Costa County	Oakley Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(925) 625-6800	481	20	24	44.3%	123 (25.6%)	25 (5.2%)	274 (57.0%)	19 (4.0%)	3 (0.6%)	4 (0.8%)	33 (6.9%)	$13,630			$1,409			$12,221	39.1	51.3	2495	784		062808000190
3280	Sun Empire Elementary	Public	K-6	2649 North Modoc Ave.	Kerman	93630	Fresno County	Kerman Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 843-9200	490	23	21.2	86.7%	35 (7.1%)	0 (0.0%)	446 (91.0%)	7 (1.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.4%)	$16,169			$2,093			$14,076	39.1	39.7	3192	88		061949008869

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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:

Per-Pupil Spending: Understanding the Breakdown of Federal, State, and Local Funds

Charter Schools vs Regular Public Schools: Understanding the Key Differences

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