Best High Schools in California

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Find the best California high schools with SchoolDigger.com! Focused on test scores for accurate rankings, our user-friendly site simplifies your search. Empower your decisions by exploring top-rated schools, only on SchoolDigger.com - the ultimate guide to K-12 schools!

Year after year, SchoolDigger is always the first to publish California test scores and rankings. Other sites use stale test score data that are several years old! Be in the know with the very latest performance metrics.

The list is updated annually upon the release of the CAST and Smarter Balanced Assessments test scores by the California Department of Education. The most recent update was on Thursday, October 10, 2024.

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School															Students/Teachers											Per Pupil Expenditures (2018)							Ranking (2024 vs 2023)
ID	Rank (of 2323)	School	Type	Grades	Address	City	Zip	County	District	Is Charter	Is Magnet	Is Virtual	Is Title I	Phone	# Students	Full-time Teachers	Student/ Teacher Ratio	Free/Disc Lunch Recipients	White	Black	Hispanic	Asian	American Indian	Pacific Islander	Two or More Races	Per Pupil Expenditures: Total	Personnel from Federal Funds	Non-Personnel from Federal Funds	Total from Federal Funds	Personnel from State and Local Funds	Non-Personnel from State and Local Funds	Total from State and Local Funds	Average Standard Score (2024)	Average Standard Score (2023)	Rank (2023)	Rank Change from 2023	SchoolDigger Rating (2024)
061623002028	511	Valhalla High	Public	9-12	1725 Hillsdale Rd.	El Cajon	92019	San Diego County	Grossmont Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(619) 593-5300	1,845	11	174.8	66.6%	1,240 (67.2%)	42 (2.3%)	394 (21.4%)	98 (5.3%)	3 (0.2%)	8 (0.4%)	60 (3.3%)	$9,468							68	67.8	509	2
064248006955	512	Whittier High	Public	9-12	12417 East Philadelphia St.	Whittier	90601	Los Angeles County	Whittier Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(562) 698-8121	1,710	81	21.1	86.3%	87 (5.1%)	15 (0.9%)	1,582 (92.5%)	16 (0.9%)	1 (0.1%)	2 (0.1%)	6 (0.4%)	$6,806							68	62.4	610	98
060159214346	513	JCS - Pine Hills	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	29141 Vallejo Ave.	Temecula	92592	Riverside County	JCS - Pine Hills District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 765-5500	755	37	20.5	39.1%	355 (47.0%)	26 (3.4%)	243 (32.2%)	22 (2.9%)	12 (1.6%)	1 (0.1%)	93 (12.3%)								68	67.1	527	14
060750008311	514	Carlsbad Seaside Academy	Public, Alternative	K-12	3557 Monroe St.	Carlsbad	92008	San Diego County	Carlsbad Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 331-5299	54	3	16.8	18.5%	37 (68.5%)	2 (3.7%)	10 (18.5%)	2 (3.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (3.7%)	$4,785							67.9	75.4	407	107
064119009203	515	Rancho Buena Vista High	Public	9-12	1601 Longhorn Dr.	Vista	92081	San Diego County	Vista Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 727-7284	1,962	95	20.5	59.5%	421 (21.5%)	34 (1.7%)	1,323 (67.4%)	73 (3.7%)	7 (0.4%)	17 (0.9%)	81 (4.1%)	$9,279							67.8	66.1	538	23
062865004456	516	Villa Park High	Public	9-12	18042 Taft Ave.	Villa Park	92861	Orange County	Orange Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 532-8020	2,059	82	25.1	56.7%	560 (27.2%)	33 (1.6%)	1,134 (55.1%)	242 (11.8%)	1 (0.0%)	6 (0.3%)	77 (3.7%)	$5,303							67.8	64.5	566	50
060229313702	517	Da Vinci Connect	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	12501 Isis Ave.	Hawthorne	90250	Los Angeles County	Da Vinci Connect District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(310) 725-5800	865	24	35.7	41.5%	160 (18.5%)	195 (22.5%)	306 (35.4%)	57 (6.6%)	3 (0.3%)	3 (0.3%)	139 (16.1%)								67.6	77.5	378	139
061488001874	518	Rancho Alamitos High	Public	9-12	11351 Dale St.	Garden Grove	92841	Orange County	Garden Grove Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(714) 663-6415	1,520	76	20	89.1%	57 (3.8%)	13 (0.9%)	938 (61.7%)	476 (31.3%)	1 (0.1%)	10 (0.7%)	23 (1.5%)	$13,038							67.5	54.3	779	261
060207107649	519	Chula Vista Learning Community Charter	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	590 K St.	Chula Vista	91911	San Diego County	Chula Vista Learning Community Charter District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(619) 426-2885	1,458	71	20.6	66.0%	26 (1.8%)	2 (0.1%)	1,419 (97.3%)	3 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	8 (0.5%)								67.4	64.3	573	54
060194613974	520	Rise Kohyang High	Public, Charter	9-12	600 South Lafayette Park Pl.	Los Angeles	90057	Los Angeles County	Rise Kohyang High District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(323) 284-2553	470	24	19.8	92.6%	6 (1.3%)	11 (2.3%)	336 (71.5%)	110 (23.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (1.1%)								67.3	68.1	507	13

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Other SchoolDigger ranking lists for California

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New! SchoolDigger ranking lists for CA student subgroups:

Female Students Male Students Asian Students African American Students Hispanic Students Native American Students Pacific Islander Students White Students Multi-racial Students English Language Learner Students Special Education Students Low Socio Economic Status Students Migrant Students Homeless Students Foster Care Students Military Connected Students

About our rankings:

Schooldigger calculates school rankings based on CAST Science, Smarter Balanced Assessments English Language Arts/Literacy, Smarter Balanced Assessments Mathematics test scores released by the California Department of Education.
These rankings were last updated on October 10, 2024, and are based on the most recent test scores available. We update rankings as we receive new test scores from the California Department of Education, usually on a yearly basis.
Our sources of data include the National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education and the California Department of Education.
For more information about our ranking process, please see our Ranking FAQ. Details about our methodology are here.

Educational resources:

High school students working on a science experiment

Magnet Schools: Unleashing the Power of Education

Public School Districts and Their Services: A Comprehensive Guide

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