These Are The Top 25 Public High Schools In NJ, New Rankings Say

NEW JERSEY — Several New Jersey schools are among the best public schools in America, according to new rankings from the education platform Niche.

Niche’s 2024 Best Schools and Districts rankings include data on 94,058 public schools, 30,809 private schools and 12,192 school districts.

This year’s rankings include 7,375 newly-ranked public schools. The company said its rankings were created to provide families with valuable information — both quantitative and qualitative — on schools in their area or in a neighborhood they’re not familiar with yet.

Here are Niche's 25 top-ranked high schools in New Jersey. All have overall Niche grades of A+.

1. The Academy for Mathematics, Science, and Engineering, Rockaway
2. High Technology High School, Lincroft
3. Bergen County Academies, Hackensack
4. Marine Academy of Technology and Environmental Science, Manahawkin
5. Biotechnology High School, Freehold
6. Union County Magnet High School, Scotch Plains
7. Dr. Ronald E. McNair Academic High School, Jersey City
8. Academy for Information Technology, Scotch Plains
9. Bergen County Technical High School - Teterboro
10. Academy for Allied Health Science, Scotch Plains
11. West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South, West Windsor
12. Union County Vocational-Technical High School, Scotch Plains
13. West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North, West Windsor
14. Millburn High School, Millburn Township
15. Princeton High School, Princeton
16. Tenafly High School, Tenafly
17. Academy of Allied Health and Science, Neptune
18. Marine Academy of Science and Technology, Highlands
19. Middlesex County Academy for Science, Mathematics, & Engineering Technologies, Edison
20. Northern Highlands Regional High School, Allendale
21. Ridgewood High School, Ridgewood
22. Northern Valley Regional High School - Demarest
23. Summit Senior High School, Summit
24. Livingston Senior High School, Livingston
25. Northern Valley Regional High School - Old Tappan

The Niche.com rankings, which have come out for the past nine years, compare K-12 schools and districts across the United States. The website combines input from current students, alumni and parents with hard data from sources including the U.S. Department of Education.

These 2024 rankings include updated data for 94,058 public schools, 30,809 private schools, and 12,192 school districts around the country. School and district ranks include public and private schools as well as boarding, charter and magnet schools, and schools for STEM and the arts.
A major change this year is that SAT and ACT-related factors have been removed from the K-12 rankings, said Niche.

“The education industry has seen significant changes in 2023, and the future still holds a lot of uncertainty,” the company said. “But one thing that remains consistent is the decreased emphasis on standardized testing. At first, the rise of test-optional college admissions was primarily in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, but more than three years later, colleges are continuing the trend.”

Niche said the 2024 Best Schools rankings also include some other newcomers as well as the 7,375 newly-ranked public schools: 1,433 newly-ranked private schools, and 364 newly-ranked school districts.

“Deciding where to send their children to school is one of the most important decisions parents will have to make,” said Luke Skurman, Founder and CEO of Niche. “Primary and secondary education can set a trajectory for a person’s life that influences their future career path, their earning potential, and the impact they will make on the world. Our 2024 K-12 rankings are one tool we hope will help make families feel confident in their choices for laying the foundation for their children’s futures.”

Check back with Patch this week for coverage on New Jersey’s best school districts and best private schools.