The Best Public High Schools in Each State

The quality of public schools is a perennial topic of concern for parents of school-aged children and homeowners. Now a new report from Niche on the best high schools in each state may help shed light on whether you’re living or looking in the right neighborhood and can enjoy all the advantages that come with a coveted zip code.

A great public school isn’t a neighborhood signpost only parents of school-aged children should look for. According to a report in The New York Times, there is a direct correlation between school performance and home values. The article notes that in suburban areas, a five percent rise in test scores correlates to a two and a half percent rise in home values.

What the best public high schools have in common

To come up with their best public high schools list, Niche, a platform that looks at school and neighborhood rankings, looked at several factors including SAT and ACT scores, reading and math proficiency, AP enrollment, graduation rate and diversity.

What their list found was a good portion of the best public high schools are specialized ones that focus on a particular curriculum. Examples include the top two ranked schools, Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy and Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Virginia. Both schools offer a much-touted STEM-based (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) curriculum and have a tough admissions policy with acceptance rates similar to top-tier universities.

In the case of Illinois’ Mathematics and Science Academy, admission is open to anyone in the state, while Thomas Jefferson accepts students from six different school districts in Northern Virginia. Both schools note that admission is extremely competitive, with acceptance rates similar to top-tier universities.

Here are the rest of the best public high schools by state:

STATE	SCHOOL	LOCATION	RANK
Alabama	Loveless Academic Magnet Program High School	Montgomery	52
Alaska	West High School	Anchorage	1,301
Arizona	Basis Scottsdale	Scottsdale	7
Arkansas	Haas Hall Academy	Fayetteville	347
California	Canyon Crest Academy	San Diego	16
Colorado	Cherry Creek High School	Greenwood Village	122
Connecticut	Staples High School	Westport	125
Delaware	Charter School of Wilmington	Wilmington	26
District of Columbia	The School Without Walls High School	Washington, DC	179
Florida	Pine View School	Osprey	69
Georgia	Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science & Technology	Lawrenceville	13
Hawaii	Education Laboratory School	Honolulu	1,282
Idaho	Boise Senior High School	Boise	512
Illinois	Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy	Aurora	1
Indiana	West Lafayette Junior/Senior High School	West Lafayette	39
Iowa	Ames High School	Ames Community School District	164
Kansas	Blue Valley North High School	Overland Park	49
Kentucky	DuPont Manual High School	Louisville	35
Louisiana	Benjamin Franklin High School	New Orleans	32
Maine	Maine School of Science & Mathematics	Limestone	86
Maryland	Poolesville High School	Poolesville	30
Massachusetts	Massachusetts Academy of Math & Science	Worcester	10
Michigan	International Academy	Bloomfield Hills	54
Minnesota	Minnetonka Senior High School	Minnetonka	127
Mississippi	The Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science	Columbus	6
Missouri	Clayton High School	Clayton	72
Montana	Bozeman High School	Bozeman	1,210
Nebraska	Millard North High School	Omaha	500
Nevada	The Davidson Academy	Reno	25
New Hampshire	Hanover High School	Hanover	124
New Jersey	Bergen County Academies	Hackensack	12
New Mexico	Albuquerque Institute of Math & Science	Albuquerque	762
New York	Stuyvesant High School	New York City	4
North Carolina	Raleigh Charter High School	Raleigh	29
North Dakota	Fargo Davies High School	Fargo	1,194
Ohio	Dublin Jerome High School	Dublin	64
Oklahoma	Booker T. Washington High School	Tulsa	328
Oregon	South Eugene High School	Eugene	493
Pennsylvania	Conestoga Senior High School	Berwyn	24
Rhode Island	Barrington High School	Barrington	496
South Carolina	Academic Magnet High School	North Charleston	40
South Dakota	Brandon Valley High School	Brandon	1,675
Tennessee	Hume-Fogg Academic Magnet School	Nashville	87
Texas	Liberal Arts & Science Academy	Austin	11
Utah	Karl G. Maeser Preparatory Academy	Lindon	312
Vermont	South Burlington High School	South Burlington	441
Virginia	Thomas Jefferson High School for Science & Technology	Alexandria	2
Washington	Tesla STEM High School	Redmond	43
West Virginia	Morgantown High School	Morgantown	1,828
Wisconsin	Whitefish Bay High School	Whitefish Bay	100
Wyoming	Big Horn High School	Big Horn	1,875

Most of the very top public high schools included on this list offer an education on par with private schools, with the added benefit of no tuition cost. The trade-off: many of these public schools have extremely competitive entrance requirements or lottery systems, meaning that simply moving within the school district area is no guarantee that your child will automatically be admitted into the school.

While there may be other good schools in the same neighborhood, this isn’t always the case, as an article in the Washingtonian points out using the example of Thomas Jefferson High School (TJ). It notes that graduates from TJ outperform their peers from the same Northern Virginia county by 526 points on SAT scores, but neighboring high schools have some of the lowest graduation rates in the school district.

To learn more about the schools in your neighborhood or beyond, log in to NeighborWho to get home values, school ratings and crime statistics.