New Ranking Of Wisconsin's Public High Schools Released By U.S. News

MADISON, WI — These public high schools in Wisconsin 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 35 high schools in Wisconsin:

1. Whitefish Bay High School — Whitefish Bay

2. High School of Health Sciences — Wales

3. Little Chute Career Pathways Academy — Little Chute

4. Cedarburg High School — Cedarburg

5. Homestead High School — Mequon

6. Eisenhower Middle/High School — New Berlin

7. Gibraltar High School — Fish Creek

8. Middleton High School — Middleton

9. Brookfield East High School — Brookfield

10. Reagan College Preparatory High School — Milwaukee

11. Hamilton High School — Sussex

12. Nicolet High School — Glendale

13. Waunakee High School — Waunakee

14. New Glarus High School — New Glarus

15. Kohler High School — Kohler

16. Shorewood High School — Shorewood

17. New Berlin Middle/High School — New Berlin

18. Arrowhead High School — Hartland

19. Cambridge High School — Cambridge

20. Muskego High School — Muskego

21. De Pere High School — De Pere

22. Grafton High School — Grafton

23. Brookfield Central High — Brookfield

24. Oostburg High School — Oostburg

25. Golda Meir School — Milwaukee

26. Oregon High School — Oregon

27. Franklin High School — Franklin

28. Northland Pines High School — Eagle River

29. Sevastopol High School — Sturgeon Bay

30. East High — Wauwatosa

31. Carmen High School of Science and Technology — Milwaukee

32. Memorial High School — Eau Claire

33. Lakeview Technology Academy — Pleasant Prairie

34. Rock University High School — Janesville

35. Platteville High School — Platteville

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.