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
4962	Central Elementary	Public	K-5	122 West Fourth Ave.	Escondido	92025	San Diego County	Escondido Union	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 432-2431	575	28	20.9	94.3%	23 (4.0%)	3 (0.5%)	533 (92.7%)	4 (0.7%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	11 (1.9%)								18.5	21.3	4751	211		061288001451
4963	La Honda STEAM Academy	Public	K-6	1213 North A St.	Lompoc	93436	Santa Barbara County	Lompoc Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(805) 742-2300	531	21	25	84.0%	54 (10.2%)	4 (0.8%)	451 (84.9%)	8 (1.5%)	1 (0.2%)	1 (0.2%)	12 (2.3%)	$16,439			$1,328			$15,111	18.5	16.3	5197	234		062241007298
4964	Wilson Elementary	Public	K-5	2894 North Belle St.	San Bernardino	92404	San Bernardino County	San Bernardino City Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(909) 881-8253	449	24	18.7	92.4%	11 (2.4%)	26 (5.8%)	395 (88.0%)	4 (0.9%)	1 (0.2%)	1 (0.2%)	11 (2.4%)	$24,323			$4,446			$19,877	18.5	17.6	5067	103		063417005392
4965	Frank West Elementary	Public	K-5	2400 Benton St.	Bakersfield	93304	Kern County	Bakersfield City	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(661) 631-5830	650	35	18.3	94.8%	35 (5.4%)	58 (8.9%)	553 (85.1%)	4 (0.6%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$20,651			$2,642			$18,009	18.5	23.7	4496	469		060363000298
4966	Munsey Elementary	Public	K-6	3801 Brave Ave.	Bakersfield	93309	Kern County	Bakersfield City	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(661) 631-5390	663	33	19.8	86.7%	50 (7.5%)	89 (13.4%)	506 (76.3%)	5 (0.8%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	12 (1.8%)	$21,262			$3,151			$18,111	18.5	23.6	4519	447		060363000310
4967	Merle S. Casey Elementary	Public	K-5	219 North Eucalyptus Ave.	Rialto	92376	San Bernardino County	Rialto Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(909) 820-7904	563	25	22.5	93.1%	12 (2.1%)	12 (2.1%)	531 (94.3%)	3 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.4%)	2 (0.4%)	$21,338			$4,098			$17,240	18.5	16.9	5131	164		063237004988
4968	Elkhorn Elementary	Public	K-6	2235 Elkhorn Rd.	Castroville	95012	Monterey County	North Monterey County Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 633-2405	550	26	21.1	83.5%	41 (7.5%)	0 (0.0%)	494 (89.8%)	4 (0.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	11 (2.0%)	$19,297			$4,216			$15,081	18.5	16.7	5154	186		062759004143
4969	Tierra Bonita Elementary	Public	K-6	44820 North 27th St. East	Lancaster	93535	Los Angeles County	Eastside Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(661) 946-3038	636	28	22.7	86.0%	20 (3.1%)	136 (21.4%)	446 (70.1%)	13 (2.0%)	1 (0.2%)	3 (0.5%)	17 (2.7%)	$20,449			$3,945			$16,504	18.5	18	5032	63		061191007108
4970	Chawanakee Academy Charter	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	45077 Road 200	O Neals	93645	Madera County	Chawanakee Unified	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 868-4200	187	9	20.6	57.2%	106 (56.7%)	0 (0.0%)	51 (27.3%)	1 (0.5%)	13 (7.0%)	1 (0.5%)	15 (8.0%)	$20,453			$290			$20,163	18.5	29.5	3971	999		060011607170
4971	Linell K. Walker Elementary	Public	K-4	2089 Newburg Rd.	Fortuna	95540	Humboldt County	Fortuna Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(707) 725-2519	256	13	19.6	84.0%	102 (39.8%)	1 (0.4%)	130 (50.8%)	2 (0.8%)	2 (0.8%)	0 (0.0%)	19 (7.4%)	$16,788			$1,266			$15,522	18.4	20.6	4803	168		060142001618

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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 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

Charter Schools vs Regular Public Schools: Understanding the Key Differences

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