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
941	Opportunities for Learning - Capistrano	Public, Charter	7-12	31878 Del Obispo St. Ste. 105	San Juan Capistrano	92675	Orange County	Opportunities for Learning - Capistrano District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(949) 248-1282	185	9	20.5	52.4%	80 (43.2%)	3 (1.6%)	59 (31.9%)	11 (5.9%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	26 (14.1%)	$26,624			$00			$26,624	54.4	55.4	867	74		060231111221
942	Northridge Academy High	Public	9-12	9601 Zelzah Ave.	Northridge	91325	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(818) 700-2222	832	48	17.5	85.5%	98 (11.8%)	25 (3.0%)	623 (74.9%)	52 (6.3%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.1%)	33 (4.0%)	$20,259			$4,152			$16,107	54.4	52.6	935	7		062271010862
943	Live Oak High	Public	9-12	2351 Pennington Rd.	Live Oak	95953	Sutter County	Live Oak Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 695-5415	603	31	19.5	71.5%	132 (21.9%)	6 (1.0%)	366 (60.7%)	82 (13.6%)	6 (1.0%)	1 (0.2%)	10 (1.7%)	$17,535			$1,076			$16,459	54.3	62.9	698	245		062205002615
944	Tracy High	Public	9-12	315 East 11th St.	Tracy	95376	San Joaquin County	Tracy Joint Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 830-3360	1,739	79	22.1	62.7%	357 (20.5%)	64 (3.7%)	959 (55.1%)	248 (14.3%)	9 (0.5%)	15 (0.9%)	81 (4.7%)	$16,563			$1,116			$15,447	54.2	54.1	903	41		060004707380
945	Monache High	Public	9-12	960 North Newcomb St.	Porterville	93257	Tulare County	Porterville Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 782-7150	1,855	89	20.7	81.2%	225 (12.1%)	7 (0.4%)	1,475 (79.5%)	85 (4.6%)	15 (0.8%)	0 (0.0%)	48 (2.6%)	$19,749			$2,021			$17,728	54.1	60.6	751	194		060006404879
946	Elizabeth Learning Center	Public, Alternative	K-12	4811 Elizabeth St.	Cudahy	90201	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(323) 271-3600	1,257	75	16.7	97.5%	18 (1.4%)	4 (0.3%)	1,223 (97.3%)	3 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	9 (0.7%)	$22,611			$4,914			$17,697	54	22	1652	706		062271002983
947	Acalanes Center for Independent Study	Public	9-12	1963 Tice Valley Blvd.	Walnut Creek	94595	Contra Costa County	Acalanes Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(925) 280-3945	61	6	9.5	16.4%	39 (63.9%)	1 (1.6%)	11 (18.0%)	7 (11.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (4.9%)	$39,678			$811			$38,867	54	70.7	556	391		060165010751
948	Mission Academy	Public, Virtual, Charter	6-12	43141 Business Center Pkwy Ste	Lancaster	93535	Los Angeles County	Mission Academy District	Yes	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(844) 788-3965	694	34	20.2	78.2%	142 (20.5%)	51 (7.3%)	420 (60.5%)	17 (2.4%)	2 (0.3%)	2 (0.3%)	48 (6.9%)								54	32.6	1433	485		060174614230
949	Rancho San Juan High	Public	9-12	1100 Rogge Rd.	Salinas	93906	Monterey County	Salinas Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 273-7700	1,600	77	20.7	84.1%	73 (4.6%)	9 (0.6%)	1,449 (90.6%)	41 (2.6%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.1%)	26 (1.6%)	$17,347			$1,785			$15,562	54	45.5	1114	165		063398014401
950	Nathaniel Narbonne Senior High	Public	9-12	24300 Western Ave.	Harbor City	90710	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(310) 257-7100	1,549	80	19.3	84.0%	47 (3.0%)	283 (18.3%)	1,067 (68.9%)	87 (5.6%)	0 (0.0%)	26 (1.7%)	39 (2.5%)	$21,603			$4,633			$16,970	54	60.5	756	194		062271003209

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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:

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

High school students working on a science experiment

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.