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
2141	McSwain Elementary	Public	K-8	922 Scott Rd.	Merced	95341	Merced County	McSwain Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 354-2700	912	44	20.9	35.1%	354 (38.8%)	3 (0.3%)	464 (50.9%)	56 (6.1%)	2 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	33 (3.6%)	$14,795			$489			$14,306	58.5	55.4	2268	127		062436003654
2142	University Elementary at La Fiesta	Public	K-5	8511 Liman Way	Rohnert Park	94928	Sonoma County	Cotati-Rohnert Park Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(707) 792-4840	291	14	20.7	50.2%	130 (44.7%)	5 (1.7%)	122 (41.9%)	9 (3.1%)	2 (0.7%)	2 (0.7%)	21 (7.2%)	$17,960			$1,249			$16,711	58.5	52.9	2401	259		060994013725
2143	California Virtual Academy San Mateo	Public, Virtual, Charter, Alternative	K-12	50 Moreland Rd.	Simi Valley	93065	Ventura County	California Virtual Academy San Mateo District	Yes	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(805) 581-0202	1,136	42	26.9	59.9%	232 (20.4%)	111 (9.8%)	496 (43.7%)	176 (15.5%)	9 (0.8%)	35 (3.1%)	77 (6.8%)	$10,730			$421			$10,309	58.5	56.2	2230	87		060180211787
2144	Washington	Public	K-5	4339 West 129th St.	Hawthorne	90250	Los Angeles County	Hawthorne	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(310) 676-3422	418	18	23.8	90.2%	19 (4.5%)	68 (16.3%)	298 (71.3%)	16 (3.8%)	1 (0.2%)	6 (1.4%)	10 (2.4%)	$24,140			$6,283			$17,857	58.5	42.3	3047	903		061668002097
2145	John Dolland Elementary	Public	K-5	15021 South Bloomfield Ave.	Norwalk	90650	Los Angeles County	Norwalk-La Mirada Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(562) 210-2560	586	26	22.4	73.7%	14 (2.4%)	9 (1.5%)	532 (90.8%)	23 (3.9%)	2 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (1.0%)	$17,432			$1,153			$16,279	58.5	56.4	2215	70		062769004158
2146	Penngrove Elementary	Public, Charter	K-6	365 Adobe Rd.	Penngrove	94951	Sonoma County	Petaluma City Elementary	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(707) 778-4755	472	16	29.5	36.0%	308 (65.3%)	2 (0.4%)	93 (19.7%)	15 (3.2%)	1 (0.2%)	5 (1.1%)	48 (10.2%)	$15,847			$692			$15,155	58.4	54	2341	195		063023004722
2147	Marigold Elementary	Public	K-5	2446 Marigold Ave.	Chico	95926	Butte County	Chico Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 891-3121	571	27	21.1	51.0%	335 (58.7%)	11 (1.9%)	131 (22.9%)	23 (4.0%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	70 (12.3%)	$17,372			$1,536			$15,836	58.4	55.8	2246	99		060837000821
2148	Fern Drive Elementary	Public	K-6	1400 West Fern Dr.	Fullerton	92833	Orange County	Fullerton Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 447-7710	372	15	24.8	59.7%	91 (24.5%)	2 (0.5%)	190 (51.1%)	50 (13.4%)	6 (1.6%)	1 (0.3%)	32 (8.6%)	$18,413			$360			$18,053	58.4	54.5	2316	168		061473001792
2149	Citizens of the World Charter School Hollywood	Public, Charter	K-5	1316 North Bronson Ave.	Los Angeles	90028	Los Angeles County	Citizens of the World Charter School Hollywood District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(323) 464-4292	446	18	24.7	60.3%	150 (33.6%)	28 (6.3%)	177 (39.7%)	38 (8.5%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	52 (11.7%)	$18,023			$1,015			$17,008	58.4	65.7	1784	365		060205012708
2150	Clinton William Jefferson	Public	K-8	6500 Compton Blvd.	Compton	90221	Los Angeles County	Compton Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(562) 630-7912	692	27	25.2	88.7%	4 (0.6%)	27 (3.9%)	660 (95.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.1%)	$21,340			$3,366			$17,974	58.3	54.7	2307	157		060962011323

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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.

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