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
1041	Surfside Academy	Public, Virtual, Alternative	K-12	1125 South Ditmar St.	Oceanside	92054	San Diego County	Oceanside Unified	No	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(760) 901-8600	234	6	37.5	73.1%	66 (28.2%)	13 (5.6%)	128 (54.7%)	8 (3.4%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (1.7%)	13 (5.6%)	$9,504			$345			$9,159	50.1	23.4	1619	578		062825014502
1042	Leadership & Public Service Virtual Academy	Public, Virtual, Alternative	K-12	474 Hartford Ave.	Los Angeles	90017	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(213) 316-9840	573	21	27.1	91.8%	48 (8.4%)	77 (13.4%)	419 (73.1%)	13 (2.3%)	1 (0.2%)	2 (0.3%)	13 (2.3%)	$18,805			$3,594			$15,211	50.1	56.6	848	194		062271014634
1043	Banning High	Public	9-12	100 West Westward	Banning	92220	Riverside County	Banning Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(951) 922-0285	1,145	55	20.7	91.5%	102 (8.9%)	80 (7.0%)	834 (72.8%)	50 (4.4%)	25 (2.2%)	2 (0.2%)	48 (4.2%)	$14,058			$1,721			$12,337	50.1	29.6	1499	456		060384000347
1044	Rio Mesa High	Public	9-12	545 Central Ave.	Oxnard	93036	Ventura County	Oxnard Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(805) 278-5500	1,951	85	23	72.6%	86 (4.4%)	20 (1.0%)	1,700 (87.1%)	92 (4.7%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.1%)	43 (2.2%)								49.8	44.9	1125	81		062927004521
1045	Marco Antonio Firebaugh High	Public	9-12	5246 Martin Luther King Blvd.	Lynwood	90262	Los Angeles County	Lynwood Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(310) 886-5200	1,633	67	24.3	94.8%	10 (0.6%)	48 (2.9%)	1,572 (96.3%)	3 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)								49.8	35.3	1359	314		062316010903
1046	Princeton High	Public	9-12	473 State St.	Princeton	95970	Colusa County	Princeton Joint Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 439-2261	43	5	8.2	67.4%	16 (37.2%)	0 (0.0%)	22 (51.2%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (7.0%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (4.7%)	$35,438			$4,603			$30,835	49.8	20.6	1692	646		063162004902
1047	Contreras Learning Center-Los Angeles School of Global Studies	Public	9-12	322 Lucas Ave.	Los Angeles	90017	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(213) 240-3850	317	19	16.3	97.2%	17 (5.4%)	8 (2.5%)	288 (90.9%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (0.9%)	$22,291			$4,863			$17,428	49.8	27.8	1544	497		062271011888
1048	Caruthers High	Public	9-12	2580 West Tahoe Ave.	Caruthers	93609	Fresno County	Caruthers Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 864-6500	682	33	20.7	89.1%	52 (7.6%)	1 (0.1%)	603 (88.4%)	18 (2.6%)	6 (0.9%)	1 (0.1%)	1 (0.1%)	$20,240			$2,818			$17,422	49.7	50.1	997	51		060006700731
1049	Linda Esperanza Marquez High C School of Social Justice	Public	9-12	6361 Cottage St.	Huntington Park	90255	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(323) 584-3800	541	28	19.3	95.0%	11 (2.0%)	13 (2.4%)	514 (95.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (0.6%)	$18,821			$4,040			$14,781	49.7	44.8	1128	79		062271013086
1050	Joseph A. Gregori High	Public	9-12	3701 Pirrone Rd.	Modesto	95356	Stanislaus County	Modesto City High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 574-1738	2,346	102	22.9	58.6%	435 (18.5%)	54 (2.3%)	1,356 (57.8%)	187 (8.0%)	6 (0.3%)	22 (0.9%)	284 (12.1%)	$17,998			$2,429			$15,569	49.7	54.1	904	146		062515012556

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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:

Charter Schools vs Regular Public Schools: Understanding the Key Differences

No Child Left Behind (NCLB): A Comprehensive Analysis of Its Impact on 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.