LA QUINTA HIGH SCHOOL (GGUSD photo).

There are 171 high schools in Orange County and various various ranking firms have sought to determine which are” the best.”

Several new such “studies” based on a variety of factors including test stores, advanced placement students and teacher-student ratios, have been recently released.

The outcomes have been diverse and somewhat in conflict. Here’s what we found of the two latest:

2026 Best Public High Schools (Orange County) by niche.com

The top school was Orange County School of the Arts in Santa Ana. Schools in our coverage area of Garden Grove, Huntington Beach, Stanton and Westminster included in their top 50 are:

• La Quinta, (22nd), Garden Grove Unified School District.
Huntington Beach (33rd), Huntington Beach Union High School District.
• Pacifica (34th), GGUSD
• Marina (37th), HBUHSD
• Garden Grove (38th), GGUSD.
• Bolsa Grande (41st), GGUSD.
• Westminster (45th), HBUHSD.
• Ocean View (49th), HBUHSD.

Money Inc. 30 Best High Schools in OC

The leading school was Oxford Academy in Cypress, part of the Anaheim Union High School District. They only “local”school Included in their top 30 for schools in our area is Garden Grove High, rated 26th.