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
1761	De Laveaga Elementary	Public	K-5	1145 Morrissey Blvd.	Santa Cruz	95065	Santa Cruz County	Santa Cruz City Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 429-3807	481	20	23.5	27.7%	221 (45.9%)	6 (1.2%)	200 (41.6%)	19 (4.0%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	34 (7.1%)	$16,889			$1,887			$15,002	66.6	70.8	1559	202		063559006061
1762	Las Animas Elementary	Public	K-5	6550 Cimino St.	Gilroy	95020	Santa Clara County	Gilroy Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(669) 205-4500	800	34	23.8	41.3%	102 (12.8%)	9 (1.1%)	478 (59.8%)	102 (12.8%)	3 (0.4%)	2 (0.3%)	104 (13.0%)	$14,923			$1,580			$13,343	66.5	70.1	1587	175		061518001914
1763	Mountain View Elementary	Public	K-6	2002 East Alluvial Ave.	Fresno	93720	Fresno County	Clovis Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 327-7500	611	28	21.9	57.1%	138 (22.6%)	32 (5.2%)	265 (43.4%)	121 (19.8%)	7 (1.1%)	3 (0.5%)	45 (7.4%)	$13,828			$1,656			$12,172	66.5	71.3	1534	229		060903008125
1764	Oak Valley Elementary	Public	K-5	595 Second St.	Buellton	93427	Santa Barbara County	Buellton Union Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(805) 688-6992	377	18	20.9	56.8%	142 (37.7%)	5 (1.3%)	193 (51.2%)	7 (1.9%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	29 (7.7%)	$13,239			$1,418			$11,821	66.5	39.7	3190	1426		060633010661
1765	Rio del Sol	Public	K-8	3001 North Ventura Rd.	Oxnard	93036	Ventura County	Rio Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(805) 307-0080	839	33	25.7	54.6%	104 (12.4%)	23 (2.7%)	558 (66.5%)	97 (11.6%)	2 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	55 (6.6%)	$23,003			$1,927			$21,076	66.5	58.3	2131	366		063276014252
1766	Dr. Albert Schweitzer Leadership Academy	Public	K-6	229 South Dale Ave.	Anaheim	92804	Orange County	Magnolia Elementary	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 527-7761	521	25	20.8	80.8%	31 (6.0%)	25 (4.8%)	386 (74.1%)	64 (12.3%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (1.3%)	8 (1.5%)	$22,468			$2,999			$19,469	66.5	64.2	1867	101		062343003564
1767	Jessie Hayden Elementary	Public	K-5	14782 Eden St.	Midway City	92655	Orange County	Westminster	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 894-7261	514	23	22.3	80.2%	13 (2.5%)	3 (0.6%)	199 (38.7%)	287 (55.8%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	11 (2.1%)	$21,867			$2,442			$19,425	66.5	67.7	1695	72		064215002349
1768	Twin Oaks Elementary	Public	K-6	2835 Club Dr.	Rocklin	95765	Placer County	Rocklin Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(916) 624-4101	506	25	20.2	34.2%	230 (45.5%)	8 (1.6%)	114 (22.5%)	75 (14.8%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	78 (15.4%)	$14,530			$437			$14,093	66.4	71.9	1497	271		060001308256
1769	Escalona Elementary	Public	K-5	15135 Escalona Rd.	La Mirada	90638	Los Angeles County	Norwalk-La Mirada Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(562) 210-2745	424	19	22.3	51.7%	58 (13.7%)	5 (1.2%)	304 (71.7%)	35 (8.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	22 (5.2%)	$21,214			$2,332			$18,882	66.4	72.9	1455	314		062769004163
1770	Pine Elementary	Public	K-8	3295 Holt Rd.	Holtville	92250	Imperial County	Holtville Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 356-2615	210	11	18.8	65.7%	71 (33.8%)	0 (0.0%)	138 (65.7%)	1 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$21,002			$2,783			$18,219	66.4	79.3	1186	584		061743002187

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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:

Charter Schools vs Regular Public Schools: Understanding the Key Differences

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.