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
1461	Santa Cruz County Community	Public	7-12	400 Encinal St.	Santa Cruz	95060	Santa Cruz County	Santa Cruz County Office of Education	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 466-5728	730	32	22.6	58.5%	256 (35.1%)	9 (1.2%)	426 (58.4%)	12 (1.6%)	8 (1.1%)	0 (0.0%)	11 (1.5%)	$31,571			$2,919			$28,652	31.3	30	1488	27		069103610668
1462	Visalia Charter Independent Study	Public, Charter	7-12	1821 West Meadow Ln.	Visalia	93277	Tulare County	Visalia Unified	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(559) 735-8055	515	48	10.8	70.3%	93 (18.1%)	9 (1.7%)	365 (70.9%)	23 (4.5%)	2 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	22 (4.3%)	$22,586			$4,349			$18,237	31.2	43.9	1150	312		064116011823
1463	Dos Palos High	Public	9-12	1701 East Blossom St.	Dos Palos	93620	Merced County	Dos Palos Oro Loma Joint Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 392-0300	639	33	19.3	88.6%	59 (9.2%)	16 (2.5%)	546 (85.4%)	3 (0.5%)	15 (2.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$20,954			$2,293			$18,661	31.2	48.4	1043	420		060003301258
1464	TEACH Technical Charter High	Public, Charter	9-12	10616 South Western Ave.	Los Angeles	90047	Los Angeles County	TEACH Technical Charter High District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(323) 872-0707	363	19	18.8	91.2%	4 (1.1%)	113 (31.1%)	244 (67.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.6%)	$22,261			$1,909			$20,352	31.2	35.8	1343	121		060247013741
1465	Oakdale Charter	Public, Charter	7-12	1235 East D St.	Oakdale	95361	Stanislaus County	Oakdale Joint Unified	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 848-4361	56	3	20.7	37.5%	32 (57.1%)	1 (1.8%)	19 (33.9%)	2 (3.6%)	1 (1.8%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (1.8%)	$13,353			$00			$13,353	31.2	42.4	1184	281		060006206752
1466	Desert Mirage High	Public	9-12	86150 Avenue 66	Thermal	92274	Riverside County	Coachella Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 397-2255	1,875	85	22.1	97.3%	4 (0.2%)	3 (0.2%)	1,847 (98.5%)	2 (0.1%)	13 (0.7%)	1 (0.1%)	4 (0.2%)	$28,784			$1,262			$27,522	31.1	29.6	1497	31		060907011175
1467	Monte Vista	Public, Alternative	K-12	1220 Fourth St.	Simi Valley	93065	Ventura County	Simi Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(805) 579-6326	371	20	18.3	45.3%	162 (43.7%)	7 (1.9%)	167 (45.0%)	10 (2.7%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.3%)	23 (6.2%)	$13,325			$1,153			$12,172	31.1	31.1	1467			063684009639
1468	Coliseum College Prep Academy	Public	6-12	1390 66th Ave.	Oakland	94621	Alameda County	Oakland Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(510) 879-3232	861	58	14.8	98.7%	10 (1.2%)	122 (14.2%)	688 (79.9%)	24 (2.8%)	1 (0.1%)	2 (0.2%)	14 (1.6%)	$26,922			$4,986			$21,936	31.1	46.1	1095	373		062805011920
1469	Hamilton	Public	6-12	57430 Mitchell Rd.	Anza	92539	Riverside County	Hemet Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(951) 763-1865	450	26	17.5	81.1%	151 (33.6%)	5 (1.1%)	223 (49.6%)	12 (2.7%)	30 (6.7%)	0 (0.0%)	26 (5.8%)	$28,972			$2,450			$26,522	31.1	42.7	1181	288		061692011020
1470	Lincoln (Abraham) (Alternative)	Public, Virtual, Alternative	K-12	1919 B St.	Marysville	95901	Yuba County	Marysville Joint Unified	No	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(530) 740-6489	265	8	32.7	69.4%	108 (40.8%)	8 (3.0%)	98 (37.0%)	17 (6.4%)	7 (2.6%)	1 (0.4%)	26 (9.8%)	$14,188			$2,128			$12,060	31.1	15.3	1813	343		062409009399

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Other SchoolDigger ranking lists for California

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New! SchoolDigger ranking lists for CA student subgroups:

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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:

A high school boy doing homework on a laptop

Virtual Schools: The Future of Online Education

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.