Three Bay Area public high schools cracked California’s top 10 in U.S. News & World Report’s new 2026-27 rankings, helping the San Jose metropolitan area lead the nation in the share of schools placing among the country’s top quarter.
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Dr. T.J. Owens Gilroy Early College Academy ranked fifth in California and No. 37 nationally, Lynbrook High School in San Jose placed ninth statewide and No. 92 nationally, while Mission San Jose High School in Fremont ranked 10th in California and No. 98 nationally. The schools earned high marks in benchmarks such as college readiness, state assessment scores and graduation rates.
The San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara metropolitan area had 60% of its ranked high schools place in the top quarter nationally, the highest share among major metro areas. The McAllen-Edinburg-Mission area in Texas followed at 59%, while Milwaukee-Waukesha in Wisconsin came in at 56%.
The Bay Area also improved its showing from last year, when only two schools from the region placed in California’s top 10. Gilroy Early College made one of the largest gains, rising from No. 64 to No. 37 nationally. Mission San Jose climbed from No. 107 to No. 98, while Lynbrook slipped from No. 86 to No. 92 nationally despite moving up one position on the statewide list.
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U.S. News evaluated about 27,000 eligible public high schools nationwide and ranked nearly 18,000 public, using six measures that include college readiness, state assessment performance and graduation rates. The rankings, which also consider curriculum breadth and the performance of underserved students, are based on data from the 2023-24 school year.
All three Bay Area schools recorded high Advanced Placement participation rates, which measure the percentage of students who took at least one AP exam. The rate reached 100% at Gilroy Early College, 91% at Mission San Jose and 86% at Lynbrook.
The schools varied widely in the share of students considered economically disadvantaged: 40% at Gilroy Early College, 18% at Mission San Jose and 7% at Lynbrook. Those percentages do not directly raise or lower a school’s ranking; U.S. News separately measures how well underserved students perform.
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Here is California’s complete top 10, with each school’s national ranking:
- Science Academy STEM Magnet, North Hollywood — No. 10 nationally
- Whitney High School, Cerritos — No. 11 nationally
- Oxford Academy, Cypress — No. 17 nationally
- Dr. Richard A. Vladovic Harbor Teacher Preparation Academy, Wilmington — No. 24 nationally
- Dr. T.J. Owens Gilroy Early College Academy, Gilroy — No. 37 nationally
- University High School, Fresno — No. 64 nationally
- California Academy of Mathematics and Science, Carson — No. 69 nationally
- Pacific Collegiate Charter, Santa Cruz — No. 82 nationally
- Lynbrook High School, San Jose — No. 92 nationally
- Mission San Jose High School, Fremont — No. 98 nationally
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