PORTSMOUTH, NH — Twenty-five public high schools in the Granite State earned the highest spots in the state in U.S. News & World Report's 2026-2027 Best High Schools.
U.S. News evaluated about 27,000 eligible public high schools nationwide and ranked nearly 18,000 of them. According to the study, New Hampshire has 94 school districts and 101 high schools. They employ more than 4,300 full-time teachers for more than 51,250 students.
Here are the top 25 high schools in New Hampshire, along with their national rankings:
High schools in Patch communities bubbling under the Top 25 were Nashua North, at 26th, Salem High School at 28th, Merrimack High School at 29th, and Nashua South at 32nd. Milford High School was 35th, Londonderry Senior High School was 39th, Merrimack Valley High School was 40th, and the Arts Academy Of New Hampshire Chartered Public High School in Salem at 49th. Concord High School was 54th, followed by Manchester Central 71st. Great Bay Charter School, Krevia Academy Public Charter School, Manchester Memorial, Manchester School of Technology, and Manchester West were all between 73rd and 84th. Unranked schools in Patch communities included Brentwood Academy, CSI Charter School, Spark Academy of Advanced Technologies Charter School, and Synergy Academy Chartered Public School.
The Academy for Science and Design was the only school to rank in the Top 200 nationally, coming in at 183rd.
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 2023-2024 school year and were produced with research firm RTI International.
Massachusetts had the largest share of high schools ranked in the top 25 percent nationally, at 47 percent, followed by New Jersey at 44 percent and Maryland at 43 percent.
Among metropolitan areas with a significant number of ranked schools, San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, California, had the largest share in the national top quarter, at 60 percent. McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Texas, followed at 59 percent, and Milwaukee-Waukesha, Wisconsin, at 56 percent.
Central Magnet School in Tennessee topped the national ranking, followed by Signature School in Indiana and Julia R. Masterman Secondary School in Pennsylvania.
Signature School also ranked first among charter schools. High Technology High School in New Jersey ranked first among STEM high schools.
The full rankings are available at U.S. News & World Report.
Editor's note: This post was scripted by another Patch staffer, not New Hampshire's editor, for publication on New Hampshire sites.
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