ALGONQUIN, IL — High schools serving Algonquin and Lake in the Hills ranked among Illinois' public schools in U.S. News & World Report's 2026-27 Best High Schools rankings.
Harry D. Jacobs High School in Algonquin ranked No. 104 in Illinois and No. 2,504 nationally. Jacobs also ranked No. 99 among high schools in the Chicago metropolitan area and No. 1 among Community Unit School District 300 high schools.
Dundee-Crown High School ranked No. 224 in Illinois and No. 5,708 nationally. It ranked No. 171 in the Chicago metropolitan area and No. 3 among District 300 high schools.
Huntley High School ranked No. 86 in Illinois and No. 2,082 nationally, placing it ahead of both Jacobs and Dundee-Crown in the state and national rankings.
Crystal Lake South High School ranked No. 119 in Illinois and No. 2,894 nationally, while Grayslake North ranked No. 88 in Illinois and No. 2,098 nationally.
Other highly ranked suburban schools included Adlai E. Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, which ranked No. 8 in Illinois and No. 208 nationally, and Vernon Hills High School, which ranked No. 14 in Illinois and No. 343 nationally.
Northside College Preparatory High School in Chicago had the highest Illinois ranking at No. 30 nationally, followed by Payton College Preparatory High School at No. 54 and Lane Technical High School at No. 80.
U.S. News evaluated about 27,000 eligible public high schools nationwide and ranked nearly 18,000 of them.
The rankings are based on six performance measures, including student achievement on state-required assessments, graduation rates and college readiness. U.S. News also considers how well schools serve underserved students, participation and performance on Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate exams, curriculum breadth and overall student outcomes.
The rankings use data from the 2023-24 school year and were produced with research firm RTI International.
The full rankings are available at U.S. News & World Report.
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