5 Best High Schools In San Francisco: U.S. News

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — Lowell High School continues its dominance as the best high school in San Francisco, the Bay Area, and is among the best in the nation, according to a new report by U.S. News and World Report.

Out of more than 1600 ranked high schools in California in 2022, Lowell is No. 6, an improvement of one slot compared to last year. It is ranked No. 82 in the entire nation out of 17,800 schools.

U.S. News heaped praise on the school, "Lowell High School offers a rigorous curriculum focused on honors-level and Advanced Placement courses, including chemistry, calculus and economics. Lowell High School also offers a variety of foreign languages, and its athletic teams claim more city championships than any other public high school in San Francisco. Distinguished Lowell alumni include three Nobel Prize winners and famed gorilla researcher Dian Fossey."

According to the U.S. News rankings, these are the top 5 high schools in San Francisco Unified School District in 2022:

• Lowell, ranked No. 6 in California; No. 82 in the nation
• Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts, ranked No. 91 in California; No. 679 in the nation
• George Washington, ranked No. 146 in California; No. 1,033 in the nation
• Abraham Lincoln, ranked No. 193 in California; No. 1,330 in the nation
• Galileo, ranked No. 199 in California; No. 1,357 in the nation

Also worth noting, KIPP San Francisco College Preparatory is ranked No. 52 in California and 407 in national rankings.

Search for more high schools in the U.S. News and World Report rankings here.

This year’s schools were ranked on six measures: college readiness, college curriculum breadth, state assessment performance, state assessment proficiency, reading and math proficiency, reading and math performance, underserved student performance and graduation rates.

The data used in this year’s ranking is from the 2019-20 academic school year. U.S. News adjusted its calculation of these measures to account for the impact COVID-19 had on schools in the 2019-20 school year.

Since most states closed schools for in-person instruction starting in March 2020 — typically just before most states conduct assessments — the U.S. Department of Education granted waivers allowing all states to forgo state testing for the 2019-20 school year.

To account for this, U.S. News relied on past assessment data from the three prior ranking years. Researchers also incorporated state science assessment data from the 2018-19 school year.

Read more about the Best High Schools methodology.

In addition to the national rankings, U.S. News also published rankings at the state, metro area and school district levels. Only metro areas and school districts with three or more high schools were included in these subrankings.

The 2022 ranking of best high schools was released Tuesday.