Best Public Schools in Zip Code 88001

ZIP 88001 covers Las Cruces and contains 35 schools — 20 elementary, 8 middle, and 7 high schools — nearly all within Las Cruces Public Schools, which ranks 49th of 87 New Mexico districts at the 44th percentile with 2 stars. Enrollment ranges from 94 students at Mesilla Valley Leadership Academy to 2,128 at Organ Mountain High School. Free/reduced-price lunch is near-universal, around 99–100% at most schools, so the strongest performers here are succeeding in a very high-poverty context rather than a mixed-income one.

The clear high-school standout is Arrowhead Park Early College High School: 13th of 132 (90th percentile, 5 stars), 73.17% ELA and 41.46% math, and a 97.3% graduation rate against 80.2% district and 80.6% state. Among elementaries, Desert Hills Elementary ranks 19th of 346 (95th percentile, 5 stars) with 75.31% ELA and 52.67% math, while White Sands Elementary ranks 28th of 346 (92nd percentile) with 68.55% ELA, 59.75% math, and 72.55% science. Mesilla Valley Leadership Academy tops the middle schools at 16th of 191 (92nd percentile) with 81.82% ELA. By contrast, Centennial High School is the strongest comprehensive high school at 54th of 132 and the 59th percentile, while Mayfield High sits in the bottom fifth statewide.

Math is the ZIP's biggest shared weakness. District elementary/middle math is 24.5% versus 44.73% ELA, and high school math is 11.92% versus 38.45% ELA; Organ Mountain High School reports 5.7% math, Las Cruces High 7.47%, and Mayfield High 5.79%. Science is often a relative bright spot — White Sands posts 86.36% in 8th grade, Mesilla Valley 84.38%, and Desert Hills 76.54% in 5th grade. Graduation rates split sharply: Organ Mountain 83.4%, Centennial 77.9%, Las Cruces High 77.1%, Mayfield 77.4%, New America School - Las Cruces 53.8%, and Sendero School Of Academics And Career Preparation 26.5%. Where scores appear as “—,” the state suppressed them for privacy — that is not a zero, and no value should be assumed.