Best High Schools in California

A teacher and two students give a thumbs-up in a classroom.

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 10, 2024.

Be the first to know when we post new test scores and rankings!

School														Students/Teachers											Per Pupil Expenditures (2024)							Ranking (2024 vs 2023)					ID
Rank (of 2323)	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 (2024)	Average Standard Score (2023)	Rank (2023)	Rank Change from 2023	SchoolDigger Rating (2024)	ID
1231	New Pacific School-Rancho Cordova	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	10710 Bear Hollow	Rancho Cordova	95670	Sacramento County	New Pacific School-Rancho Cordova District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(866) 992-9033	98	4	24.3	52.0%	48 (49.0%)	2 (2.0%)	21 (21.4%)	22 (22.4%)	3 (3.1%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (2.0%)	$18,290			$183			$18,107	36.4			(n/a)		069114414710
1232	Leadership & Public Service Virtual Academy	Public, Virtual, Alternative	K-12	1435 West 27th St.	Los Angeles	90007	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(213) 316-9840	672	35	18.9	88.8%	52 (7.7%)	105 (15.6%)	483 (71.9%)	13 (1.9%)	1 (0.1%)	2 (0.3%)	16 (2.4%)	$18,805			$3,594			$15,211	36.4	23	1620	388		062271014634
1233	Mountain Oaks	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	150 Old Oak Rd.	San Andreas	95249	Calaveras County	Calaveras County Office of Education	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(888) 686-6257	398	8	50.2	56.8%	286 (71.9%)	3 (0.8%)	66 (16.6%)	2 (0.5%)	9 (2.3%)	1 (0.3%)	31 (7.8%)	$12,959			$215			$12,744	36.4	38.9	1179	54		069100308686
1234	Channel Islands High	Public	9-12	1400 Raiders Way	Oxnard	93033	Ventura County	Oxnard Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(805) 385-2787	2,444	100	24.3	80.6%	38 (1.6%)	9 (0.4%)	2,228 (91.2%)	142 (5.8%)	5 (0.2%)	4 (0.2%)	11 (0.5%)								36.3	21.2	1667	433		062927004517
1235	Potter Valley High	Public	9-12	10401 Main St.	Potter Valley	95469	Mendocino County	Potter Valley Community Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(707) 743-1142	81	6	13.5	54.3%	40 (49.4%)	0 (0.0%)	36 (44.4%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (2.5%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (3.7%)	$15,239			$1,033			$14,206	36.3	6.9	2266	1031		063140004868
1236	Independence High	Public	9-12	812 Niblick Rd.	Paso Robles	93446	San Luis Obispo County	Paso Robles Joint Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(805) 769-1620	127	7	18.4	63.8%	46 (36.2%)	0 (0.0%)	71 (55.9%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (1.6%)	0 (0.0%)	8 (6.3%)	$18,947			$1,174			$17,773	36.2	25	1560	324		060004812391
1237	Pacific Coast Charter	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	294 Green Valley Rd.	Watsonville	95076	Santa Cruz County	Pajaro Valley Unified	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 786-2180	197	8	24.5	55.8%	27 (13.7%)	0 (0.0%)	163 (82.7%)	3 (1.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (2.0%)								36.2	42.5	1055	182		062949008364
1238	Open Door Charter	Public, Charter	9-12	901 Blanco Cir.	Salinas	93901	Monterey County	Monterey County Office of Education	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(831) 840-8199	46	2	23.4	93.5%	3 (6.5%)	2 (4.3%)	41 (89.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$44,737			$214			$44,523	36.2			(n/a)		069102114477
1239	Compton High	Public	9-12	1200 East Alondra Blvd.	Compton	90221	Los Angeles County	Compton Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(310) 635-3881	1,297	56	23.3	95.1%	2 (0.2%)	176 (13.6%)	1,104 (85.1%)	1 (0.1%)	1 (0.1%)	11 (0.8%)	2 (0.2%)	$22,951			$3,287			$19,664	36.2	36.3	1243	4		060962000976
1240	Grace M. Davis High	Public	9-12	1200 West Rumble Rd.	Modesto	95350	Stanislaus County	Modesto City High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 574-1668	2,022	90	22.3	73.0%	337 (16.7%)	62 (3.1%)	1,264 (62.5%)	149 (7.4%)	6 (0.3%)	17 (0.8%)	187 (9.2%)	$18,989			$2,805			$16,184	36	28.3	1462	222		062515003739

Sign up for updates!

Be the first to know when we update our rankings!

Other SchoolDigger ranking lists for California

Elementary Schools Middle Schools High Schools Districts Cities

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 English Language Learner Students Special Education Students Low Socio Economic Status Students Migrant Students Homeless Students Foster Care 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 10, 2024, 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:

High school students working on a science experiment

Magnet Schools: Unleashing the Power of Education

Girl in a wheelchair raising her hand in a classroom setting

Understanding an IEP: The Ultimate Guide for Parents and Educators

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