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
361	Walter Hays Elementary	Public	K-5	1525 Middlefield Rd.	Palo Alto	94301	Santa Clara County	Palo Alto Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(650) 322-5956	305	15	20.5	17.0%	71 (23.3%)	6 (2.0%)	60 (19.7%)	131 (43.0%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (1.6%)	32 (10.5%)	$30,130			$947			$29,183	94.6	96.3	239	122		062961004588
362	Westwood Elementary	Public	K-5	17449 Matinal Rd.	San Diego	92127	San Diego County	Poway Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(858) 487-2026	832	38	22	14.2%	336 (40.4%)	9 (1.1%)	129 (15.5%)	254 (30.5%)	3 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	101 (12.1%)	$16,393			$655			$15,738	94.6	93.9	440	78		063153004900
363	Empire Oaks Elementary	Public	K-5	1830 Bonhill Dr.	Folsom	95630	Sacramento County	Folsom-Cordova Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 294-9130	366	18	20.1	9.6%	157 (42.9%)	6 (1.6%)	63 (17.2%)	95 (26.0%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.5%)	43 (11.7%)	$27,414			$1,116			$26,298	94.6	94.3	400	37		061389010355
364	Curtner Elementary	Public	K-6	275 Redwood	Milpitas	95035	Santa Clara County	Milpitas Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 635-2852	663	26	25.5	23.5%	22 (3.3%)	3 (0.5%)	77 (11.6%)	506 (76.3%)	4 (0.6%)	5 (0.8%)	46 (6.9%)	$14,983			$1,086			$13,897	94.6	96.1	256	108		062450003665
365	Silver Strand Elementary	Public	K-5	1350 Leyte Rd.	Coronado	92118	San Diego County	Coronado Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(619) 522-8934	324	14	23.1	24.7%	194 (59.9%)	15 (4.6%)	62 (19.1%)	9 (2.8%)	1 (0.3%)	2 (0.6%)	40 (12.3%)								94.6	95.2	329	36		060987001074
366	Lexington Elementary	Public	K-5	19700 Old Santa Cruz Hwy.	Los Gatos	95033	Santa Clara County	Los Gatos Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 335-2150	174	10	18.3	5.2%	97 (55.7%)	4 (2.3%)	26 (14.9%)	21 (12.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	26 (14.9%)	$23,885			$1,346			$22,539	94.6	96.5	212	154		062283003491
367	Escondido Elementary	Public	K-5	890 Escondido Rd.	Stanford	94305	Santa Clara County	Palo Alto Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(650) 856-1337	432	24	17.8	20.6%	144 (33.3%)	14 (3.2%)	143 (33.1%)	91 (21.1%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	39 (9.0%)	$28,136			$1,155			$26,981	94.6	94.2	419	52		062961004584
368	Bud Rank Elementary	Public	K-6	3650 Powers Ave.	Clovis	93619	Fresno County	Clovis Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 327-4900	656	28	23.2	24.8%	276 (42.1%)	30 (4.6%)	198 (30.2%)	94 (14.3%)	3 (0.5%)	2 (0.3%)	52 (7.9%)	$13,629			$546			$13,083	94.5	93.4	479	111		060903012029
369	Laurelwood Elementary	Public	K-5	955 Teal Dr.	Santa Clara	95051	Santa Clara County	Santa Clara Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 423-1600	571	27	21.2	11.2%	134 (23.5%)	6 (1.1%)	78 (13.7%)	301 (52.7%)	5 (0.9%)	1 (0.2%)	46 (8.1%)	$26,684			$1,445			$25,239	94.5	97	166	203		063543006042
370	Evelyn Costa Elementary	Public	K-8	1675 South Gobind Blvd.	Mountain House	95391	San Joaquin County	Lammersville Joint Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 836-7280	612	26	23.3	6.2%	18 (2.9%)	13 (2.1%)	33 (5.4%)	520 (85.0%)	10 (1.6%)	0 (0.0%)	18 (2.9%)	$11,978			$279			$11,699	94.5	93.6	460	90		060141014685

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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:

Public School Districts and Their Services: A Comprehensive Guide

Student-Teacher Ratios and their Impact on Class Sizes & School Selection

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