Summary:
Zip code 95324 has two high schools, both serving grades 9–12: Hilmar High and the continuation school Irwin High (Continuation), both in Hilmar Unified. Their clearest difference is attendance: in 2025–2026, chronic absenteeism was 18% at Hilmar and 69% at Irwin, a 52-percentage-point gap. The most important finding for families is this pronounced attendance contrast, with Irwin’s rate also above the district’s 12% and the state’s 18%.
Hilmar High stands out for strong completion but below-state test results: its graduation rate was 99% in 2025–2026, 11 points above the state’s 88%, and its dropout rate was 1% versus 8% statewide. Its reported results were also below the state in all three tested subjects: 43% in English language arts, 13% in math and 19% in science, compared with 49%, 38% and 36% statewide. Irwin stands out at the other end on absenteeism; its 69% rate was 52 points above Hilmar’s. Irwin’s test results are suppressed, so the available figures do not support an academic ranking between the two schools.
Hilmar’s test results weakened from 2024–2025 to 2025–2026: English language arts fell from 54% to 43%, math from 15% to 13%, and science from 25% to 19%, while state results rose in each subject. SchoolDigger’s overall ranking percentiles also declined: Hilmar went from the 50th percentile in 2023–2024 to the 32nd in 2025–2026, while Irwin fell from the 12th percentile in 2020–2021 to the 1st in 2022–2023; those ranking periods do not overlap. School context differs too: Hilmar enrolled 696 students with a 19.3 student–teacher ratio, compared with Irwin’s 16 students and 5.2 ratio. In 2024–2025, free/reduced lunch eligible was reported for 61% of Hilmar students and 81% of Irwin students, a 21-point difference; these figures describe context, not the cause of outcomes.
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