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
5102	Bret Harte Elementary	Public	K-6	909 Glenn Ave.	Modesto	95358	Stanislaus County	Modesto City Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 574-1952	867	38	22.7	86.5%	16 (1.8%)	1 (0.1%)	819 (94.5%)	7 (0.8%)	1 (0.1%)	1 (0.1%)	22 (2.5%)	$20,145			$2,899			$17,246	17	20.4	4821	281		062513003727
5103	Nystrom Elementary	Public	K-6	230 Harbour Way South	Richmond	94804	Contra Costa County	West Contra Costa Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(510) 231-1406	415	18	23	77.3%	10 (2.4%)	71 (17.1%)	302 (72.8%)	11 (2.7%)	2 (0.5%)	4 (1.0%)	14 (3.4%)	$5,543			$1,677			$3,866	17	16.7	5149	46		063255005047
5104	Elite Public	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	100 Whitney Ave.	Vallejo	94589	Solano County	Elite Public District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(707) 652-3142	612	29	20.9	62.1%	17 (2.8%)	343 (56.0%)	213 (34.8%)	10 (1.6%)	4 (0.7%)	5 (0.8%)	20 (3.3%)	$18,336			$873			$17,463	16.9	13.2	5458	354		060248514376
5105	Maxine Hong Kingston Elementary	Public	K-8	6324 North Alturas Ave.	Stockton	95207	San Joaquin County	Stockton Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 933-7493	720	32	22.8	75.4%	16 (2.2%)	74 (10.3%)	462 (64.2%)	113 (15.7%)	2 (0.3%)	2 (0.3%)	50 (6.9%)	$14,891			$3,354			$11,537	16.9	21.3	4745	360		063801011779
5106	Ridgecrest Elementary Academy for Language Music and Sci	Public, Charter	K-6	325 South Downs St.	Ridgecrest	93555	Kern County	Ridgecrest Elementary Academy for Language Music and Sci Di	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 375-1010	239	13	19.1	52.3%	68 (28.5%)	13 (5.4%)	125 (52.3%)	15 (6.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	18 (7.5%)	$17,953			$2,453			$15,500	16.9	26.5	4248	858		060193108706
5107	Creekside Elementary	Public	K-6	2515 Estate Dr.	Stockton	95209	San Joaquin County	Lodi Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 953-8285	501	21	24.4	83.8%	31 (6.2%)	69 (13.8%)	232 (46.3%)	102 (20.4%)	6 (1.2%)	8 (1.6%)	53 (10.6%)	$15,900			$2,554			$13,346	16.9	11.3	5602	495		062223008879
5108	Andres and Maria Cardenas Elementary	Public	K-5	6900 Calhoun Ave.	Van Nuys	91405	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(818) 908-6700	423	19	22.8	96.9%	15 (3.5%)	7 (1.7%)	374 (88.4%)	15 (3.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	12 (2.8%)	$29,759			$5,455			$24,304	16.9	30.5	3889	1219		062271012677
5109	Yuba City Charter	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	256 Wilbur Ave.	Yuba City	95991	Sutter County	Yuba City Charter District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 822-9667	256	20	12.7	84.4%	44 (17.2%)	2 (0.8%)	184 (71.9%)	13 (5.1%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.4%)	12 (4.7%)								16.9	19.8	4890	219		060199608658
5110	Juniper Elementary	Public	K-5	7655 Juniper Ave.	Fontana	92336	San Bernardino County	Fontana Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(909) 357-5480	446	20	22.8	84.8%	12 (2.7%)	43 (9.6%)	381 (85.4%)	8 (1.8%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	$14,679			$1,493			$13,186	16.9	17.4	5081	29		061392001591
5111	Tumbleweed Elementary	Public	K-5	1100 East Avenue R-4	Palmdale	93550	Los Angeles County	Palmdale Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(661) 273-4166	502	21	24.3	95.0%	8 (1.6%)	35 (7.0%)	447 (89.0%)	3 (0.6%)	2 (0.4%)	2 (0.4%)	5 (1.0%)	$18,180			$2,722			$15,458	16.9	23.8	4487	624		062958004577

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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:

A high school boy doing homework on a laptop

Virtual Schools: The Future of Online Education

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

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