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
3021	JCS - Manzanita	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	5300 Jackson Dr.	La Mesa	91942	San Diego County	JCS - Manzanita District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(619) 303-4344	224	15	14.8	47.3%	78 (34.8%)	6 (2.7%)	115 (51.3%)	6 (2.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	19 (8.5%)	$16,181			$489			$15,692	42.7	47.4	2712	309		060184114353
3022	Aliso Elementary	Public	K-5	4545 Carpinteria Ave.	Carpinteria	93013	Santa Barbara County	Carpinteria Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(805) 684-4539	315	16	19.6	78.7%	35 (11.1%)	2 (0.6%)	271 (86.0%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (1.9%)	$24,510			$3,349			$21,161	42.7	42.9	3002	20		060756000724
3023	Mission Avenue Open Elementary	Public	K-6	2925 Mission Ave.	Carmichael	95608	Sacramento County	San Juan Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 575-2362	415	15	27.6	48.4%	238 (57.3%)	11 (2.7%)	46 (11.1%)	86 (20.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	34 (8.2%)	$15,856			$2,547			$13,309	42.7	46.9	2745	278		063462005800
3024	Plainsburg Union Elementary	Public	K-8	3708 South Plainsburg Rd.	Merced	95341	Merced County	Plainsburg Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 389-4707	113	6	19.4	47.8%	50 (44.2%)	0 (0.0%)	60 (53.1%)	3 (2.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$16,280			$1,837			$14,443	42.7	41.3	3103	79		063081004788
3025	Washington Colony Elementary	Public	K-8	130 East Lincoln Ave.	Fresno	93706	Fresno County	Washington Colony Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 233-0706	414	23	17.8	88.4%	16 (3.9%)	1 (0.2%)	377 (91.1%)	15 (3.6%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (1.0%)								42.7	50.4	2535	490		064146006850
3026	Jefferson Elementary	Public	K-5	8600 Jefferson St.	Paramount	90723	Los Angeles County	Paramount Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(562) 602-8024	356	19	19.2	92.7%	3 (0.8%)	20 (5.6%)	321 (90.2%)	8 (2.2%)	1 (0.3%)	3 (0.8%)	0 (0.0%)	$22,687			$1,775			$20,912	42.7	41.3	3104	78		062985008516
3027	El Nido Elementary	Public	K-8	161 East El Nido Rd.	El Nido	95317	Merced County	El Nido Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 385-8420	156	9	17.3	94.9%	16 (10.3%)	0 (0.0%)	138 (88.5%)	2 (1.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$24,309			$533			$23,776	42.7	28.3	4084	1057		061215001368
3028	Monroe Elementary	Public	K-6	8535 Garfield Ave.	Riverside	92504	Riverside County	Riverside Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(951) 352-8241	596	25	23.8	88.9%	35 (5.9%)	17 (2.9%)	508 (85.2%)	12 (2.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	24 (4.0%)	$16,912			$1,360			$15,552	42.7	31.9	3793	765		063315005152
3029	Robert Randall World Languages	Public	K-8	1300 Edsel Dr.	Milpitas	95035	Santa Clara County	Milpitas Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 635-2662	285	13	21.9	59.3%	8 (2.8%)	2 (0.7%)	229 (80.4%)	34 (11.9%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	11 (3.9%)	$17,600			$1,114			$16,486	42.6	27.6	4151	1122		062450003671
3030	Laurel Elementary	Public	K-5	13550 Lambert Rd.	Whittier	90605	Los Angeles County	East Whittier City Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(562) 789-2100	465	18	25.6	81.3%	20 (4.3%)	4 (0.9%)	427 (91.8%)	3 (0.6%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	11 (2.4%)	$19,037			$1,667			$17,370	42.6	46.5	2766	264		061185001317

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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:

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.