Best High Schools in California

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Find the best California high 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 2162)	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
11	University High	Public, Charter	9-12	2611 East Matoian M/S UH134	Fresno	93740	Fresno County	University High District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 278-8263	498	20	24.8	21.3%	128 (25.7%)	14 (2.8%)	143 (28.7%)	170 (34.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	43 (8.6%)	$15,228			$661			$14,567	99.1	99.5	4	7		060183411911
12	University Preparatory	Public	7-12	13853 Seneca Rd.	Victorville	92392	San Bernardino County	Victor Valley Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 243-5940	1,136	44	26.1	74.6%	117 (10.3%)	60 (5.3%)	807 (71.0%)	103 (9.1%)	4 (0.4%)	1 (0.1%)	42 (3.7%)								99.1	98.3	31	19		063697211114
13	Pacific Collegiate Charter	Public, Charter	7-12	3004 Mission St.	Santa Cruz	95060	Santa Cruz County	Pacific Collegiate Charter District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 479-7785	536	31	17.5	9.7%	331 (61.8%)	2 (0.4%)	86 (16.0%)	37 (6.9%)	1 (0.2%)	1 (0.2%)	77 (14.4%)								99.1	99.2	12	1		060254208363
14	Academy of the Canyons	Public	9-12	26455 Rockwell Canyon Rd.	Santa Clarita	91355	Los Angeles County	William S. Hart Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(661) 362-3056	385	13	29.3	15.3%	104 (27.0%)	12 (3.1%)	85 (22.1%)	168 (43.6%)	1 (0.3%)	1 (0.3%)	14 (3.6%)	$14,055			$500			$13,555	99.1	96.5	78	64		064251008517
15	Dr. Richard A. Vladovic Harbor Teacher Preparation Academy	Public	9-12	1111 Figueroa Pl.	Wilmington	90744	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(310) 834-3932	452	18	25	65.5%	11 (2.4%)	55 (12.2%)	237 (52.4%)	124 (27.4%)	3 (0.7%)	5 (1.1%)	17 (3.8%)	$17,826			$2,202			$15,624	99	99.4	8	7		062271010844
16	Mission San Jose High	Public	9-12	41717 Palm Ave.	Fremont	94539	Alameda County	Fremont Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(510) 657-3600	1,794	72	24.7	18.0%	60 (3.3%)	10 (0.6%)	78 (4.3%)	1,591 (88.7%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.1%)	51 (2.8%)	$15,763			$725			$15,038	99	98.9	19	3		061440001678
17	Piedmont High	Public	9-12	800 Magnolia Ave.	Piedmont	94611	Alameda County	Piedmont City Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(510) 594-2626	733	41	17.8	3.5%	388 (52.9%)	17 (2.3%)	73 (10.0%)	118 (16.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	136 (18.6%)	$26,141			$676			$25,465	99	98.9	20	3		063033004731
18	La Canada High	Public	7-12	4463 Oak Grove Dr.	La Canada	91011	Los Angeles County	La Canada Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(818) 952-4205	1,989	86	23	4.7%	876 (44.0%)	7 (0.4%)	266 (13.4%)	620 (31.2%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.1%)	218 (11.0%)	$17,326			$455			$16,871	98.9	98.7	25	7		062013002408
19	Lynbrook High	Public	9-12	1280 Johnson Ave.	San Jose	95129	Santa Clara County	Fremont Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 366-7700	1,702	74	23.1	6.5%	93 (5.5%)	5 (0.3%)	61 (3.6%)	1,395 (82.0%)	11 (0.6%)	1 (0.1%)	136 (8.0%)	$24,485			$466			$24,019	98.8	99.2	14	5		061443001698
20	Canyon Crest Academy	Public	9-12	5951 Village Center Loop Rd.	San Diego	92130	San Diego County	San Dieguito Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(858) 350-0253	2,147	83	25.7	11.4%	738 (34.4%)	11 (0.5%)	183 (8.5%)	990 (46.1%)	2 (0.1%)	1 (0.0%)	217 (10.1%)	$13,735			$380			$13,355	98.8	98.9	21	1		063438011396

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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 Native American Students Pacific Islander 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 CAST Science, Smarter Balanced Assessments English Language Arts/Literacy, Smarter Balanced Assessments Mathematics 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

A high school boy doing homework on a laptop

Virtual Schools: The Future of Online 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.