These Are The Best Public High Schools In NYC For 2026-27: U.S. News

NEW YORK CITY— Fifteen public high schools in NYC 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.

Here are the top 15 high schools in NYC, along with their national rankings:

1. Brooklyn Latin School — Brooklyn — #73 nationally
2. Baccalaureate School for Global Education — Queens — #201
3. Harlem Village Academy West Charter School — Manhattan — #224
4. The Clinton School — Manhattan — #226
5. Beacon High School — Manhattan — #2,502
6. Stuyvesant High School — Manhattan — #2,561
7. University Heights Secondary School–Bronx Community College — Bronx — #2,648
8. Queens High School for the Sciences at York College — Queens — #2,722
9. Bronx High School of Science — Bronx — #2,939
10. Staten Island Technical High School — Staten Island — #3,125
11. Brooklyn Technical High School — Brooklyn — #3,198
12. Mott Hall Bronx High School — Bronx — #3,218
13. Middle College High School at LaGuardia Community College — Queens — #3,225
14. Humanities Preparatory Academy — Manhattan — #3,349
15. High School Math Science and Engineering at CCNY — Manhattan — #3,459

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.