- What are the Best High Schools rankings, and why did U.S. News & World Report create them?
- What were the sources of information that U.S. News used to calculate the 2024 Best High Schools rankings?
- What methodology was used to calculate the 2024 Best High Schools rankings? Were there changes in the methodology from last year? What role did RTI International play in these rankings?
- How comparable are the 2024 U.S. News Best High Schools rankings to the rankings published from 2019 to 2023, and how comparable are the 2019 to 2024 rankings to those published in previous years?
- How do the Best High Schools compare in terms of location and other demographic information?
- Why did some schools' rankings change in the 2024 Best High Schools rankings when compared with the rankings published in 2023?
- How many high schools are listed on usnews.com?
- Was every public high school in the U.S. eligible to be evaluated as part of the rankings?
- Why were private high schools not included in the Best High Schools rankings?
- How were the 2024 Best High Schools rankings in each state, metro area, school district, and the magnet, charter and STEM schools rankings calculated?
- How did U.S. News decide if a school was a charter or magnet school? Where did descriptive information about the school come from?
- Why is a school not listed or ranked in the 2024 Best High Schools rankings?
- Why is my school's individual rank not displayed?
- Do the Best High Schools receive a reward?
- Whom should I contact if I have questions about the 2024 Best High Schools data, the current rankings or the rankings methodology?
The Best High Schools rankings identify the country's top-performing public high schools. The goal is to provide a clear, unbiased picture of how well public schools serve all of their students – from the highest to lowest achieving – in preparing them to demonstrate proficiency in basic skills as well as readiness for college-level work.
U.S. News acknowledges the importance of America's high schools and the role of education in driving the country's future. Recognizing schools that are performing well and providing them as models to other schools can inspire educators and communities to do better.
Also, by sharing this information, parents across the country can be armed with knowledge to help them make better-informed decisions about their child's education.
U.S. News does not collect or accept information directly from high schools. The data used to produce the Best High Schools rankings came entirely from the following third-party sources:
- The Common Core of Data is a U.S. Department of Education (ED) website, updated annually, that contains basic data on enrollment, student ethnicity and other profile information on all public high schools in the U.S. The ED collects data directly from the schools, school districts or state departments of education, which is reflected on usnews.com. The data in the rankings is generally from 2021-2022 for these indicators.
- Statewide math, reading and science assessment data used in the 2024 rankings in almost all cases is from the 2021-2022 school year. For a few states, earlier years' data is used.
- High school graduation rates data used in the 2024 rankings is from the 2021-2022 school year. The data for both state assessments and graduation rates are typically from each state's education agency website or directly from state education agencies.
- College Board was the source of the Advanced Placement examination data for each public high school, when applicable, that was used in rankings calculations. The AP exam data used in the analysis is for 12th grade students in the 2021-2022 school year.
- International Baccalaureate was the source of the IB examination data for each public high school, when applicable, that was used to create calculated values. The IB exam data used in the analysis is for 12th grade students in the 2021-2022 school year.
The methodology for identifying the top-ranked Best High Schools was developed with a core principle in mind: The top schools must serve all students well and must produce measurable academic outcomes that support this mission.
To produce the 2024 Best High Schools rankings, which are only available online, U.S. News teamed up with North Carolina-based RTI International, a global nonprofit social science research firm.
RTI implemented the U.S. News comprehensive rankings methodology, which reflects how well high schools serve all of their students, not just those who are planning to go to college. According to the U.S. News Best High Schools methodology, schools were rated on the following six measures, and the weights used for each indicator are in parentheses below.
- College readiness (30% of the ranking): This is the percentage of 12th graders from the class of 2021-2022 who took at least one AP or IB exam by the end of their senior year and the percentage of 12th graders who earned a qualifying score on at least one AP or IB exam in high school. Earning a qualifying score is weighted three times more than simply taking the exam.
- College curriculum breadth (10%): This is the percentage of 12th graders from the class of 2021-2022 who took a wide variety of AP and IB courses across multiple disciplines and the percentage of 12th graders who earned a qualifying score on them. Earning a qualifying score is weighted three times more than taking the exam.
- State assessment proficiency (20%): This measures how well students scored on state assessments that measure proficiency in reading, science and mathematics. Passing these assessments can be required for graduation. Examples of assessments include the Smarter Balanced Assessment System in California and the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness. This state assessment proficiency indicator is in almost all cases based on 2021-2022 data. For a few states, earlier years' data is used.
- State assessment performance (20%): This is the difference between how students performed on state assessments and what U.S. News predicted based on a school's student body. U.S. News' modeling across all 50 states and the District of Columbia indicates that the performance percentage of students from historically underserved subgroups – defined as Black students, Hispanic students, and students who are eligible for free and reduced price lunch – are highly predictive of a school's reading, science and math scores. This state assessment performance indicator is based on 2021-2022 data in almost all cases. For a few states, earlier years' data is used.
- Underserved student performance (10%): This is how well the student population receiving subsidized school lunch and Black and Hispanic populations perform on state assessments relative to statewide performance among students not in those subgroups. This state assessment underserved student performance indicator is based on 2021-2022 data in almost all cases. For a few states, earlier years' data is used.
- Graduation rate (10%): For the 2024 rankings, the graduation rate corresponds to the 2021 high school class graduation cohort who would have entered ninth grade in the 2017-2018 school year. High school graduation rates were collected directly from each state along with the math, reading and science assessment data.
The six measures that determined each school’s rank and their weights for the 2024 edition are unchanged from last year. The most recent year of data that was available was used in the rankings since COVID-19 testing waivers or other pandemic issues no longer affected states' data.
Assigning Ranks
The six indicators were first normalized using standardized scores and then weighted. Those weighted scores were then summed and transformed so that each eligible school receives an overall percentile score between zero and 100 at two decimal places, with the top performer scoring 100. The overall score as a percentile score indicates the percentile position a school is in out of the nearly 17,660 ranked schools. A school with a score of 90 means that 10% of the schools are ranked higher and 90% of the schools are ranked lower.
Finally, high schools are ranked against their peers in descending order of their overall scores. High schools placing in the top 75% display their individual rank on usnews.com. For lower-performing high schools, U.S. News elected to only display the bottom quartile ranking range of No. 13,242-17,655.
A more detailed explanation of the Best High Schools ranking methodology can be found here. Read the Best High Schools Technical Appendix for the most-detailed explanation of the methodology.
The 2024 Best High Schools rankings can be compared with the Best High Schools editions from 2019 to 2023 since the methodology in the 2024 Best High Schools rankings is only slightly changed from the previous five years.
The 2019 to 2024 Best High Schools rankings editions increased the number of ranked schools more than sixfold compared with previous editions and assessed schools using far more comprehensive criteria. U.S. News has published annual editions of Best High Schools rankings between 2007 to 2009 and 2012 to 2024. However, because U.S. News completely revamped its methodology in 2019, rankings from earlier editions are not comparable to those from 2019 to 2024. Furthermore, U.S. News will not provide rankings of schools predating the 2019 edition.
The first ranking of the U.S. News Best High Schools was published online on Nov. 30, 2007. Subsequent editions were published online on Dec. 5, 2008; Dec. 10, 2009; May 8, 2012; April 23, 2013; April 22, 2014; May 12, 2015; April 19, 2016; April 25, 2017; May 8, 2018; April 30, 2019; April 21, 2020; April 27, 2021; April 26, 2022; and Aug. 29, 2023. The current Best High Schools rankings were published online on April 23, 2024.
U.S. News published a state-by-state ranking of the 2024 Best High Schools based on the percentage of each state's ranked schools performing in the top 25% of schools nationally. This ranking reflects which states are most successfully educating students based on state test scores, graduation rates, and the proportions of students participating in, and earning qualifying scores on, AP and IB exams.
U.S. News also created a demographic profile of all ranked schools on an aggregate basis that groups them based on their ranking in terms of poverty distribution, minority distribution, school structure and community environment. This demographic profile assessment that aggregates data for all ranked schools is based on the ED's Common Core of Data from 2021-2022.
Each school's web directory page displays 2022-2023 information from the Common Core of Data. However, the demographic profile assessment used 2021-2022 data to align with the most recently available ranking factor data used in the calculations.
The primary reason for a school's rise or fall in the 2024 Best High Schools rankings versus the 2023 rankings in almost all cases was based on a high school's performance relative to other high schools in the six ranking indicators described above in the third question. This was especially true for the college readiness ranking indicators that are based on AP and IB test-takers and passers. Small changes in college readiness factors and year-to-year changes in AP and IB test-taking and passage rates by the current graduating class can result in big moves for a school in the rankings. The 2022 graduating class used in the rankings may have had a far larger proportion of AP or IB test-takers and passers than the 2021 graduating class or vice versa – those differences can account for large jumps in a school's overall numerical rank.
U.S. News didn't change the weights of the six rankings factors used in the 2024 edition compared with the 2023 edition.
When ranking nearly 17,660 public high schools, very modest year-over-year changes in a school's overall performance across the six ranking factors may also cause movements in a school's overall score, which can result in a large change up or down in its overall numerical rank. This is because of the large number of schools that are ranked and how close they are to one another in the rankings. For example, if a school's overall score rose by 1 point from 97 in 2023 to 98 in 2024, it would rise in the rankings by nearly 177 places. If a school's score fell by half a point from 97 in 2023 to 96.5 in 2024, it would fall by around 89 places in the rankings. If a school's score rose by a tenth of a point from 97 in 2023 to 97.1 in 2024, it would rise by close to 18 places in the rankings. Even very small movements in a school's data can result in changes to its overall score, which can result in increases or decreases in its overall numerical ranking by many places.
Information on nearly 25,000 public high schools is accessible online via the U.S. News high schools search function, the state rankings pages, district pages and school profile pages. Around 7,000 schools that aren't ranked in the national rankings are listed on the Best High Schools website and are labeled as unranked. However, some schools are not included on the Best High Schools website because they were too small or were missing primary data.
Each individual school's profile page contains enrollment, ethnic and economic diversity data, detailed location information, state assessment statistics, and AP and IB data, where applicable. For the nearly 17,660 ranked schools, their profiles have national and state rankings, and if applicable, a charter, magnet or STEM ranking.
Yes, all public high schools were eligible, and nearly all were evaluated in the process of calculating the rankings.
U.S. News reviewed nearly 25,000 public high schools in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. That number was reduced to nearly 17,660 schools that were eligible to be ranked. This is the total number of active public high schools that could be analyzed because they had 12th grade enrollment of 15 students or greater during the 2021-2022 school year and had state assessment data available.
In almost all cases, students at private high schools across the country are not required to take the statewide accountability tests that are mandatory for students at U.S. public high schools. Since private schools do not have the state accountability testing data that U.S. News uses for the Best High Schools rankings methodology, they are not included in the rankings. However, U.S. News does publish profile data on many private schools in its directory.
- State rankings: Overall, the 2024 Best High Schools state rankings are based exclusively on the national rankings. If a school is nationally ranked, it will be ranked in its state based on its national rank. For example, if the highest-ranked high school in a state is No. 60 nationally, then that school is ranked No. 1 in that state; if the second highest-ranked school in that same state is No. 77 nationally, then that school is ranked No. 2 in that state. Also, if a school is ranked in a ranking range nationally, meaning it's ranked in the bottom 25% nationally, it will be in a ranking range in its state ranking. For example, a Pennsylvania school in the national ranking range No. 13,242-17,655 would be ranked No. 499-656 in Pennsylvania's state ranking.
- Metropolitan rankings: U.S. News once again ranked high schools by metropolitan area. For high schools to be ranked in any metro area, that metro needed to include three or more ranked high schools. The metro rankings use the same methodology as the national rankings, but schools are grouped and reranked within their metropolitan areas when applicable. For example, the highest nationally ranked U.S. school located within the Chicago metropolitan area is the No. 1 school in the Chicago metro rankings. High schools that have their ranking published as a ranking range in the national and state rankings also display a ranking range in the metro rankings. Their metro area ranking range is based on the total number of high schools in their metro area and the number of schools in their metro area with a ranking range. U.S. News strictly linked its metropolitan areas to Core Based Statistical Areas, or CBSAs, as defined in 2020 by the federal government’s Office of Management and Budget using 2020 U.S. Census Bureau data. A metropolitan area may encompass parts of multiple states. For example, Chicago’s CBSA includes the city proper, as well as nearby parts of Illinois and neighboring Indiana and Wisconsin. For some of the largest metropolitan areas, U.S. News elected to relabel for display purposes the government’s CBSA descriptor.
- Charter and magnet rankings: The charter and magnet school rankings methodology looked at all public high schools ranked nationally that were designated as either a charter or magnet school, or both, as reported to the ED in its 2021-2022 Common Core of Data. If the highest-ranked high school that is a charter school is No. 3 nationally, then that school is ranked No. 1 in the Best Charter High Schools ranking. If the second highest-ranked high school that is a charter school is No. 8 nationally, then that school is ranked No. 2 in the charter schools ranking. This same rankings methodology was also followed to produce the Best Magnet High Schools ranking. If a charter or magnet school is ranked in a ranking range nationally, meaning it's ranked in the bottom 25% nationally, it will be in a ranking range in the Best Charter High Schools or Best Magnet High Schools rankings. For example, a school in the national ranking range No. 13,242-17,655 would be ranked No. 646-784 in the Best Magnet High Schools ranking.
- School district rankings: U.S. News also published distinct rankings of high schools by school district. Each school district with three or more high schools has a No. 1 ranked school for that district, and so forth. A school's rank in its district is based entirely on its national rank. For example, if the highest-ranked high school in a school district is No. 30 nationally, then that school is ranked No. 1 in that district; if the second highest-ranked school in that same district is No. 250 nationally, then that school is ranked No. 2 in that district.
- STEM rankings: To determine the top science, technology, engineering and math schools, U.S. News looked at its top 2,000 ranked high schools from the national rankings – up from 1,000 schools – and then evaluated the participation and success of those schools' AP students on the science and math exams. From that group, the top 500 schools – up from 250 – were ranked in the 2024 Best High Schools for STEM. Read the full STEM methodology here.
U.S. News uses designations found on the Common Core of Data, from the ED's website, as the basis for those designations. U.S. News did not independently verify the data that was reported to the ED by individual states, school systems or schools.
If the Common Core of Data site said a school was a charter or magnet or had other descriptive information about the school, then that is the school-type designation and information U.S. News used. We used the Common Core of Data from the 2022-2023 school year on usnews.com.
U.S. News ranked the vast majority of public high schools in the U.S. In some cases, a high school did not receive a rank because it did not have a 12th grade (typically newer schools), it had an enrollment of fewer than 15 12th graders or its state suppressed too much of its assessment data to be used in the rankings. Certain specialty schools, such as those with vocational orientations, are also not included. There are around 7,000 of these schools listed as unranked on usnews.com.
U.S. News elected not to publish national, state, charter and magnet schools' ranks of schools in the bottom 25% of the overall national ranking. This means high schools ranked in the bottom 25% of the national ranking appear in a ranking range of No. 13,242-17,655 in the national ranking. In terms of the state, charter and magnet schools rankings, any school that is in the ranking range in the national ranking will be in a ranking range in its state's ranking. In addition, charter and magnet schools that are in the national ranking range will be in a ranking range in the charter and magnet rankings.
U.S. News offers trademarked award badge "logos" for highly ranked high schools to promote and celebrate their awards. To find out if your school is eligible for a badge, please visit the badge-eligibility page or look for the "Award Winner" icon at the top of your high school's U.S. News profile page below the school name and address. Permission to use a Best High Schools badge in any medium – including websites, print, plaques and apparel – must be obtained from BrandConnex, U.S. News' exclusive licensing and plaque/banner agent; a fee will be charged for such uses. Questions related to badge usage should be directed to schoolrankings@usnews.com. Licensing of badges will not affect current or future rankings.
Visit the U.S. News school marketing center for additional information.
Because of the large number of inquiries, parents and teachers should direct questions to school administrators. High school, school district or state education officials and administrators with specific questions about a school's current ranking, the accuracy of current data or why a school was ranked as it was in the current rankings should email such questions to official@usnews.com.
Please include details about the high school, including the full street address, city, county, state and ZIP code; your title; your email address; and a link to the page from usnews.com that the school appears on. Please limit inquiries to one official representative per school or district.
