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Traverse City High School

Q: Is Traverse City High School a good school?

Traverse City High School ranks 588 th of 800 Michigan high schools. SchoolDigger rates this school 1 star out of 5.

Public Grades 9-12

588^th

SchoolDigger Rank ?

of 800 Michigan High Schools

Better than 26% of Michigan high schools

Summary

Traverse City High School is a small alternative high school in Traverse City, MI, serving 171 students in grades 9-12 within the highly-rated Traverse City Area Public Schools district.

This school serves a very different population than the district's traditional high schools. Nearly 60% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch—about three times the rate at West Senior High or Central High School. It's designed for students who haven't thrived in larger, traditional settings, which helps explain the academic metrics. State test proficiency is significantly below both district peers and state averages—for example, only 36.4% of 11th graders were proficient in SAT reading/writing versus 75% at West Senior. The graduation rate of 46.7% is less than half the district's 90.2% rate, though it has more than doubled from just 20.9% three years ago. Chronic absenteeism, while still high at 38.9%, has also dropped dramatically from a peak of 71.7%.

There are encouraging signs of progress. The school spends more per student ($16,076) than the traditional high schools (around $13,500), reflecting smaller class sizes and extra support—the student-teacher ratio is 16.3:1 versus over 23:1 elsewhere. Test scores and graduation rates are trending upward. However, comparisons to similar schools are sobering. Suttons Bay Senior High School serves a nearly identical percentage of economically disadvantaged students (61.6%) with a similar small enrollment, yet achieves a 94.2% graduation rate and ranks in the 45th percentile statewide. While Traverse City High School shows real improvement, it still has substantial ground to cover to match the outcomes of peer schools facing similar demographic challenges.

171

Students ?

16.3

Student/teacher ratio ?

$16,076

Per pupil spending ?

59.6%

Free/discounted lunch ?

3962 3 Mile Rd N
Traverse City, MI 49686-9164

(231) 933-5860

District: Traverse City Area Public Schools

Feeder schools for Traverse City High School:

Elementary:	Blair Elementary School
	Central Grade School
	Cherry Knoll Elementary School
	Courtade Elementary School
	More...
	Eastern Elementary School
	Long Lake Elementary School
	Silver Lake Elementary School
	TCAPS Montessori School
	Traverse Heights Elementary School
	Westwoods Elementary School
	Willow Hill Elementary School
Middle:	East Middle School
	West Middle School

Racial breakdown:

White:

81.3%

Hispanic:

6.4%

African American:

5.8%

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At a glance

▲ Ranking trend: Improving — 19th percentile in 2007 → 26th in 2026

Strengths

✓Ranking is trending up — up 7 percentile points since 2007

Worth a look

!Test scores below the Michigan average (27% vs 39% meeting standards)

!Graduation rate below the Michigan average (47% vs 84%)

!Dropout rate above the Michigan average (13% vs 7%)

Students meeting standards (2025-2026) ?

This school27%

District avg52%

Michigan avg39%

588^th of 800

Michigan public high schools ?

Bottom 26%▼ down 11 pts since 2016

From bottom 37% (2016) to bottom 26% (2026)

See the entire ranking list of Michigan High Schools →

★★★★★

SchoolDigger rating ?

3^rd of 3High Schools in the Traverse City Area Public Schools

146^th of 625Traverse City Area Public Schools among Michigan districts

Statewide rank percentile over time (100 = the top-ranked school in the state; click a legend item to add a student group)

Show full rank history (all student groups)

All Students

Year	Avg score	Statewide rank	Michigan percentile	Rating
2026	23.4	588 of 800	26.5%	★☆☆☆☆
2025	30.6	503 of 739	31.9%	★★☆☆☆
2024	8.8	675 of 743	9.2%	☆☆☆☆☆
2018	22.8	601 of 824	27.1%	★☆☆☆☆
2016	33.9	533 of 852	37.4%	★★☆☆☆
2015	31.7	571 of 832	31.4%	★★☆☆☆
2013	18.1	619 of 805	23.1%	★☆☆☆☆
2010	8.3	697 of 765	8.9%	☆☆☆☆☆
2009	16.6	625 of 754	17.1%	★☆☆☆☆
2007	18.5	620 of 767	19.2%	★☆☆☆☆
2006	21.1	585 of 705	17.0%	★☆☆☆☆

Female

Year	Avg score	Statewide rank	Michigan percentile	Rating
2026	26.8	504 of 686	26.5%	★☆☆☆☆
2025	19.2	505 of 629	19.7%	★☆☆☆☆

Low Socio Economic Status

Year	Avg score	Statewide rank	Michigan percentile	Rating
2026	26.2	547 of 719	23.9%	★☆☆☆☆
2025	74.3	122 of 635	80.8%	★★★★☆

Male

Year	Avg score	Statewide rank	Michigan percentile	Rating
2026	17.9	566 of 693	18.3%	★☆☆☆☆
2025	62.7	208 of 628	66.9%	★★★☆☆

White

Year	Avg score	Statewide rank	Michigan percentile	Rating
2026	9.2	617 of 671	8.0%	☆☆☆☆☆
2025	14.4	553 of 639	13.5%	★☆☆☆☆
2024	3.8	621 of 638	2.7%	☆☆☆☆☆

How student groups rank statewide ? (each group's percentile vs the same group at other schools — higher is better; the +/- beside each compares the group with this school's overall percentile)

Female (2026)27th percentile~ school

Low Socio Economic Status (2026)24th percentile-3 vs school

Male (2026)18th percentile-8 vs school

White (2026)8th percentile-18 vs school

By subject vs Michigan (2025-2026) ?

Evidence-Based Reading and Writing36%-16 vs state

Science23%-12 vs state

Social Studies23%-20 vs state

★

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Schools Near Traverse City High School

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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)				PSAT English Language Arts (2026)			PSAT Mathematics (2026)			SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing (2026)	SAT Mathematics (2026)	M-Step English Language Arts (2026)		M-Step Math (2026)		M-Step Science (2026)		M-Step Social Studies (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/Discounted Lunch Recipients (2025)	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	PSAT English Language Arts 8th Grade	PSAT English Language Arts 9th Grade	PSAT English Language Arts 10th Grade	PSAT Mathematics 8th Grade	PSAT Mathematics 9th Grade	PSAT Mathematics 10th Grade	SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing 11th Grade	SAT Mathematics 11th Grade	M-Step English Language Arts 6th Grade	M-Step English Language Arts 7th Grade	M-Step Math 6th Grade	M-Step Math 7th Grade	M-Step Science 8th Grade	M-Step Science 11th Grade	M-Step Social Studies 8th Grade	M-Step Social Studies 11th Grade	Per Pupil Expenditures Total	Sub-total from Federal Funds	Sub-total from State/Local Funds
Traverse City High School	Public	9-12	3962 3 Mile Rd N	Traverse City	49686	Grand Traverse County	Traverse City Area Public Schools	No	No	No	No	(231) 933-5860	171	10	16.3	59.6%	139 (81.3%)	10 (5.8%)	11 (6.4%)	1 (0.6%)	9 (5.3%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.6%)	23.4	588^th of 800 public high schools	26.5%		30.6	503^rd of 739 public high schools	31.9%	85							36.4	406.1						22.9		22.9	$16,076	$701	$15,376
North EdCareer Technical	Public	11-12	880 Parsons Rd	Traverse City	49686	Grand Traverse County	Northwest Education Services	No	No	No	No	(231) 922-6260	0	38	.0		0 ()	0 ()	0 ()	0 ()	0 ()	0 ()	0 ()								(n/a)
Central High School	Public	8-12	1150 Milliken Dr	Traverse City	49686	Grand Traverse County	Traverse City Area Public Schools	No	No	No	No	(231) 933-6500	1,326	56	23.6	20.3%	1,191 (89.8%)	38 (2.9%)	41 (3.1%)	33 (2.5%)	22 (1.7%)	1 (0.1%)	0 (0.0%)	83	96^th of 800 public high schools	88.0%		70.9	178^th of 739 public high schools	75.9%	82		78.3	81.4		51.9	59.1	68.9	51.9						37.8		42.7	$13,463	$701	$12,763
The Greenspire High School	Public, Charter	9-12	2200 Dendrinos Drive	Traverse City	49684	Grand Traverse County	The Greenspire School	Yes	No	No	Yes	(231) 421-5905	176	10	17.6	39.8%	151 (85.8%)	0 (0.0%)	8 (4.5%)	1 (0.6%)	3 (1.7%)	2 (1.1%)	11 (6.3%)	53	335^th of 800 public high schools	58.1%		87.2	64^th of 739 public high schools	91.3%	271		63.6	53.3		18.2	20.0	66.7	13.9						47.2		52.8	$10,141	$279	$9,862
The Greenspire School	Public, Charter	6-12	1026 Red Dr	Traverse City	49684	Grand Traverse County	The Greenspire School	Yes	No	No	Yes	(231) 421-5905	93	9	10.3	37.6%	77 (82.8%)	3 (3.2%)	1 (1.1%)	2 (2.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	10 (10.8%)								(n/a)	66.7			20.0					24.2	23.3	21.2	16.7	43.3		50.0		$11,572	$280	$11,293
West Senior High	Public	9-12	5376 N Long Lake Rd	Traverse City	49685	Grand Traverse County	Traverse City Area Public Schools	No	No	No	No	(231) 933-7502	1,384	56	24.6	21.2%	1,245 (90.0%)	27 (2.0%)	50 (3.6%)	22 (1.6%)	35 (2.5%)	5 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	87.7	67^th of 800 public high schools	91.6%		84.5	77^th of 739 public high schools	89.6%	10		76.4	74.7		52.7	55.9	75.0	51.0						47.0		55.3	$13,483	$699	$12,784
Kingsley Area High School	Public	9-12	7475 Kingsley Rd	Kingsley	49649	Grand Traverse County	Kingsley Area Schools	No	No	No	No	(231) 263-5262	401	26	15.6	37.7%	379 (94.5%)	7 (1.7%)	9 (2.2%)	3 (0.7%)	1 (0.2%)	1 (0.2%)	1 (0.2%)	83.2	95^th of 800 public high schools	88.1%		90.3	50^th of 739 public high schools	93.2%	45		75.0	70.4		46.3	50.0	62.8	37.2						54.4		60.3	$14,368	$814	$13,554
Elk Rapids High School	Public	9-12	308 Meguzee Pt	Elk Rapids	49629	Antrim County	Elk Rapids Schools	No	No	No	No	(231) 264-8108	360	18	20.3	18.9%	329 (91.4%)	0 (0.0%)	14 (3.9%)	1 (0.3%)	8 (2.2%)	2 (0.6%)	6 (1.7%)	84	89^th of 800 public high schools	88.9%		93.5	40^th of 739 public high schools	94.6%	49		78.0	71.4		38.5	36.3	73.2	56.1						63.3		63.3	$14,960	$506	$14,454
Sunrise Academy	Public	9-12	308 Meguzee Pt	Elk Rapids	49629	Antrim County	Elk Rapids Schools	No	No	No	No	(231) 264-8108	21	1	15.5	47.6%	17 (81.0%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (14.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (4.8%)								(n/a)																	$10,005	$360	$9,645
Forest Area High School	Public	9-12	7661 Shippy Rd SW	Fife Lake	49633	Kalkaska County	Forest Area Community Schools	No	No	No	No	(231) 369-2884	156	10	15.1	44.9%	150 (96.2%)	3 (1.9%)	2 (1.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.6%)	34.9	498^th of 800 public high schools	37.8%		24.6	544^th of 739 public high schools	26.4%	46		32.4	44.1		18.9	14.7	40.5	21.6						35.9		44.7	$15,266	$979	$14,287

Frequently Asked Questions about Traverse City High School

What schools feed into Traverse City High School?

What district is Traverse City High School in?

Traverse City Area Public Schools

What is the racial makeup of Traverse City High School?

Students at Traverse City High School are 81% White, 6% Hispanic, 6% African American, 5% American Indian.

How many students attend Traverse City High School?

In the 2024-25 school year, 171 students attended Traverse City High School.

Is Traverse City High School a good school?

Traverse City High School ranks 588^th of 800 Michigan high schools. SchoolDigger rates this school 1 star out of 5.

Rate Traverse City High School!

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Schools in Traverse City, MI

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Latest Michigan data All new data »

2025–26 M-Step, PSAT & SAT test scoresSep 4, 2026

2024–25 school spending dataJun 13, 2026

2024–25 dropout rates & graduation ratesJun 13, 2026

2024–25 attendance dataJan 6, 2026

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