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
261	El Camino High	Public	9-12	1320 Mission Rd.	South San Francisco	94080	San Mateo County	South San Francisco Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(650) 877-8806	1,053	60	17.6	25.1%	65 (6.2%)	6 (0.6%)	399 (37.9%)	502 (47.7%)	2 (0.2%)	15 (1.4%)	64 (6.1%)	$20,433			$1,465			$18,968	87.2	88.1	260	1		063753006342
262	Orcutt Academy Charter	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	500 Dyer St.	Orcutt	93455	Santa Barbara County	Orcutt Union Elementary	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(805) 938-8900	812	35	23.2	50.5%	311 (38.3%)	11 (1.4%)	371 (45.7%)	19 (2.3%)	4 (0.5%)	2 (0.2%)	89 (11.0%)	$11,142			$331			$10,811	87.1	87.1	278	16		062871012315
263	Ponderosa High	Public	9-12	3661 Ponderosa Rd.	Shingle Springs	95682	El Dorado County	El Dorado Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 677-2281	1,675	73	23	17.8%	1,134 (67.7%)	19 (1.1%)	335 (20.0%)	89 (5.3%)	20 (1.2%)	3 (0.2%)	69 (4.1%)	$15,217			$876			$14,341	87.1	89.4	246	17		061207001344
264	Menlo-Atherton High	Public	9-12	555 Middlefield Rd.	Atherton	94027	San Mateo County	Sequoia Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(650) 322-5311	2,158	120	17.9	33.0%	747 (34.6%)	69 (3.2%)	918 (42.5%)	180 (8.3%)	36 (1.7%)	96 (4.4%)	111 (5.1%)	$18,820			$876			$17,944	87	90.7	207	57		063639006195
265	La Mirada High	Public	9-12	13520 Adelfa Dr.	La Mirada	90638	Los Angeles County	Norwalk-La Mirada Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(562) 210-3315	1,726	73	23.6	57.0%	204 (11.8%)	45 (2.6%)	1,244 (72.1%)	178 (10.3%)	3 (0.2%)	11 (0.6%)	41 (2.4%)	$18,975			$1,427			$17,548	87	74.7	483	218		062769004172
266	Shasta Collegiate Academy	Public	9-12	2200 Eureka Way	Redding	96001	Shasta County	Shasta Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 245-2760	76	7	10.3	46.1%	52 (68.4%)	0 (0.0%)	11 (14.5%)	3 (3.9%)	4 (5.3%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (7.9%)	$18,169			$340			$17,829	86.9	76.1	469	203		063660010676
267	Vista Murrieta High	Public	9-12	28251 Clinton Keith Rd.	Murrieta	92563	Riverside County	Murrieta Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(951) 894-5750	3,328	146	22.8	51.5%	950 (28.5%)	231 (6.9%)	1,435 (43.1%)	342 (10.3%)	11 (0.3%)	21 (0.6%)	332 (10.0%)	$14,305			$929			$13,376	86.9	87.8	264	3		060002911249
268	Washington (George) High	Public	9-12	600 32nd Ave.	San Francisco	94121	San Francisco County	San Francisco Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(415) 750-8400	2,068	93	22.2	51.8%	276 (13.3%)	86 (4.2%)	417 (20.2%)	1,054 (51.0%)	4 (0.2%)	9 (0.4%)	220 (10.6%)	$21,184			$1,749			$19,435	86.9	91.7	185	83		063441005617
269	Millennium Charter	Public, Charter	9-12	51 East Beverly Pl.	Tracy	95376	San Joaquin County	Millennium Charter District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 290-0511	436	27	16.2	22.5%	79 (18.1%)	20 (4.6%)	242 (55.5%)	72 (16.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	23 (5.3%)	$15,096			$157			$14,939	86.7	75.8	474	205		060169811426
270	Heritage High	Public	9-12	101 American Ave.	Brentwood	94513	Contra Costa County	Liberty Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(925) 634-0037	2,566	116	22.1	19.4%	759 (29.6%)	279 (10.9%)	678 (26.4%)	629 (24.5%)	12 (0.5%)	11 (0.4%)	188 (7.3%)	$14,422			$1,186			$13,236	86.6	81.7	380	110		062160010755

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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:

No Child Left Behind (NCLB): A Comprehensive Analysis of Its Impact on Education

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.