Summary:
ZIP code 84651 in Payson, Utah, has one listed high school, Payson High, serving grades 6–12 with 1,648 students in the Nebo District. Because it is the only high school in the ZIP code, there are no local school-to-school comparisons; the most useful benchmarks are district and Utah averages. The grades 6–12 structure also means some schoolwide figures may include middle-grade students.
The strongest part of Payson High is student completion. Its 2024–2025 graduation rate was 94.8%, above the Nebo District rate of 93.5% and the Utah rate of 89.8%. Its dropout rate was also comparatively low at 4.2%, versus 5.7% in the district and 8.5% statewide. However, chronic absenteeism is a major concern: 34.2% of students were chronically absent, compared with 26.6% in the district and 23.8% statewide. The school has a student-teacher ratio of 23.6:1, and its reported free/reduced-price lunch rate is 26.03%.
Academic performance is the most important challenge for families to consider. In 2025–2026, proficiency was 42.2% in English Language Arts, 14.1% in mathematics, and 26.3% in science. Mathematics was especially weak compared with the district’s 27.8% and Utah’s 29.4%. ELA declined 7.2 percentage points from the prior year, while mathematics fell 2.9 points and science improved slightly by 0.7 points. The school’s statewide ranking also declined from the 24th percentile in 2023–2024 to the 16th percentile in 2025–2026. Overall, families should weigh the school’s strong graduation and dropout results against elevated absenteeism and low test performance, particularly in mathematics.
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