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Best High Schools in Zip Code 93454

New rankings! SchoolDigger recently updated its California rankings with newly released test scores for the 2025-26 school year.

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At a glance

Schools

6,223

Students

Top rankedPioneer Valley High1140^th of 2,135 California high schools

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Biggest riser

Santa Maria High up 13 spots statewide this year

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Summary:

Zip code 93454 has two high schools, Santa Maria High and Pioneer Valley High, in the Santa Maria Joint Union High district; both serve grades 9–12 and enroll about 3,000 students. Pioneer Valley leads Santa Maria in all three 2025–26 tested subjects, but both schools fall below state proficiency in every subject. The biggest shared concern is math: the schools’ average is about 20%, compared with 38% statewide, a gap of about 19 percentage points.

Pioneer Valley High stands out overall on the supplied current measures, with a 95% graduation rate versus 87% at Santa Maria High, a 4% dropout rate versus 9%, and chronic absenteeism of 16% versus 19%. Its 2025–26 proficiency is also higher: 46% versus 43% in ELA, 19.7% versus 19.4% in math, and 32% versus 28% in science. The math results are nearly tied; Pioneer Valley’s lead is 0.3 percentage points. Both schools are similar in size, and their 2024–25 student-teacher ratios are 21.9 at Santa Maria and 22.0 at Pioneer Valley.

Recent score trends are mixed: science improved at both schools, while ELA declined at both. From 2024–25 to 2025–26, Santa Maria gained 4 percentage points in math and 4 in science, while Pioneer Valley’s math fell 2 points and its science rose 7; ELA fell 1 point at Santa Maria and 4 at Pioneer Valley. SchoolDigger rankings also moved in different directions from 2023–24 to 2025–26: Santa Maria rose from the 41st to the 42nd percentile, while Pioneer Valley fell from the 56th to the 47th. As context, 76% of Santa Maria students and 72% of Pioneer Valley students were free/reduced lunch eligible in 2024–25. These figures describe school-level results and do not establish what explains the differences.

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Ranking:

E Elementary M Middle H High A Alternative P Private

Choose columns to see: Summary School Students/Teachers Ranking Test Scores Finance All

School													Students/Teachers											Ranking (2026)				Ranking (2025)				CAST Science (2026)			Smarter Balanced Assessments English Language Arts/Literacy (2026)		Smarter Balanced Assessments Mathematics (2026)		Per Pupil Expenditures (2025)
Name	Type	Grades	Address	City	Zip	County	District	Is Charter	Is Magnet	Is Virtual	Is Title I	Phone	Enrollment	Full-time Teachers	Student/ Teacher Ratio	Free/reduced lunch (2024-25)	White	Black	Hispanic	Asian	American Indian	Pacific Islander	Two or More Races	Average Standard Score (2026)	Statewide Rank (2026)	State Percentile (2026)	SchoolDigger Rating (2026)	Average Standard Score (2025)	Statewide Rank (2025)	State Percentile (2025)	Rank Change from Previous Year	CAST Science 11th Grade	CAST Science 12th Grade	CAST Science All Grades	Smarter Balanced Assessments English Language Arts/Literacy 11th Grade	Smarter Balanced Assessments English Language Arts/Literacy All Grades	Smarter Balanced Assessments Mathematics 11th Grade	Smarter Balanced Assessments Mathematics All Grades	Per Pupil Expenditures Total	Sub-total from Federal Funds	Sub-total from State/Local Funds
Santa Maria High	Public	9-12	901 South Broadway	Santa Maria	93454	Santa Barbara County	Santa Maria Joint Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(805) 925-2567	3,143	144	21.9	76.1%	39 (1.2%)	6 (0.2%)	3,057 (97.3%)	29 (0.9%)	4 (0.1%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (0.1%)	41.4	1238^th of 2135 public high schools	42.0%		40.3	1251^st of 2162 public high schools	42.1%	13	29.0	5.9	28.3	43.5	43.5	19.4	19.4	$20,087	$1,280	$18,807
Pioneer Valley High	Public	9-12	675 Panther Dr.	Santa Maria	93454	Santa Barbara County	Santa Maria Joint Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(805) 922-1305	3,080	140	22.0	71.9%	70 (2.3%)	13 (0.4%)	2,893 (93.9%)	87 (2.8%)	4 (0.1%)	2 (0.1%)	8 (0.3%)	45	1140^th of 2135 public high schools	46.6%		47.2	1092^nd of 2162 public high schools	49.5%	48	32.2	7.1	31.6	45.9	45.9	19.7	19.7	$19,590	$1,227	$18,363

Cities Near Zip Code 93454

City	Distance	# of Schools	Statewide Rank
Santa Maria	2.15 mi	39	695^th
Orcutt	5.08 mi	2
Los Alamos	10.01 mi	1	681^st
Lompoc	13.41 mi	17	734^th
Vandenberg Afb	13.41 mi	3	354^th

See the top CA California cities

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

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMERS: Not all boundaries are included. We make every effort to ensure that boundaries are up-to-date. But it's important to note that these are approximations and are for general informational purposes only. To verify legal descriptions of boundaries or school locations, contact your local tax assessor's office and/or school district.