Grayslake High Schools Rank Among Illinois’ Best, U.S. News Says

GRAYSLAKE, IL — Grayslake Central and Grayslake North high schools ranked among the top public high schools in Illinois in U.S. News & World Report’s 2026-27 Best High Schools rankings.

Grayslake Central High School ranked No. 101 in Illinois and No. 2,456 nationally. It also ranked No. 96 among high schools in the Chicago metropolitan area.

Grayslake North High School ranked No. 88 in Illinois and No. 2,098 nationally. It ranked No. 87 among Chicago-area high schools. The rankings evaluated about 27,000 eligible public high schools nationwide and ranked nearly 18,000 schools.

For comparison, several other Lake County schools landed higher in the rankings. Adlai E. Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire ranked No. 8 in Illinois and No. 208 nationally, while Lake Forest High School ranked No. 11 in Illinois and No. 277 nationally.

Vernon Hills High School ranked No. 14 in Illinois and No. 343 nationally, while Libertyville High School ranked No. 20 in Illinois and No. 462 nationally. Deerfield High School ranked No. 17 in Illinois and No. 387 nationally.

The Illinois school rankings were led by Northside College Preparatory High School in Chicago, which ranked No. 30 nationally. Payton College Preparatory High School ranked No. 54 nationally, followed by Lane Technical High School at No. 80.

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.