New York is a city that’s known all around the globe and for a seemingly endless list of reasons. It’s a melting pot of culture and is home to all sorts of industries, providing thousands of jobs for graduates from a variety of backgrounds to walk into. Education is just another category that the city excels in.
If you were to ask any student where they’d like to get an education, you can expect New York to be right up there at the top of their list. It’s home to some of the most elite high schools in the US, with schools facilitating the development of students in all sorts of areas. Whether you’re planning for college, a career, or still figuring it all out, we’ve compiled a list of the best schools in the state to help you land on an institution that’s positioned to help you accomplish your learning goals.
Top High Schools in New York: Public and Private
New York is known for its diverse and competitive education landscape. Whether you're looking for elite private academies or specialized public schools, the state offers a wide range of options that emphasize academic excellence, extracurricular achievement, and college readiness. Below, we spotlight 15 of the top high schools in New York that consistently stand out across various performance metrics.
There are approximately 1,279 of high schools in New York City, including public, private, and charter institutions across the state.
Queens High School for the Sciences at York College
🏆 Ranking: #1 in New York State, #25 nationally
📌 Location: Jamaica, Queens, NY
You’d be right in assuming that New York is one of the more difficult states for a school to top the rankings in. This is due to the sheer amount of competition across the state. Kickstarting our list, we’ve got the 25th-ranked school in the country and first overall right here in New York, Queens High School. The school's 100% graduation rate, along with a college readiness score of 98.2, ticks every box in a parent’s search criteria and also paints a picture of the excellent learning journey offered at the school.
When you close your eyes and imagine the inside of one of the best high schools in the country, you likely think of college-level labs, research tools, and facilities, which is exactly what the inside of this high school has to offer. Of course, it’s also got all the other bells and whistles that any aspiring high school student might look for, such as a tight-knit student community, rigorous AP curriculum, and excellent college placements that present a launchpad for those with ambitions of working in STEM thereafter.
Stuyvesant High School
🏆 Ranking: #2 in New York State, #26 nationally
📌 Location: Manhattan, New York, NY
It’s often the perception of parents and students alike that the fewer students that study at a school, the more attention and direction they’ll be able to avail of. This is largely true for the most part, but Stuyvesant, the second-best school in New York, shatters this presumption. The school has over 3,330 students enrolled between 9th and 12th grade, while leading the pack when it comes to grades. It’s just a fingernail behind Queens High with a graduation rate of 99% and a college readiness score of 95.3. This communicates that not only do its students get great results, but almost all of them go on to study at the top universities in the country. Earning a place at this high school is no walk in the park by any stretch of the imagination, as students will first need to get through its competitive entrance exam.
High School for Math, Science and Engineering at City College (HSMSE)
🏆 Ranking: #1 in MA, 27 nationally
📌 Location: Manhattan, NYC (CCNY campus)
For most students and parents, location is a major factor, including which high school they end up deciding on. The morning commute or the price of accommodation are major factors that don’t show up when you’re going off rankings alone. This is one of the best schools in the state, coming in third, while also being conveniently placed on the City College of New York campus. Not only does this make it accessible with endless commuting possibilities, but it also gives it countless additional learning resources and an academic environment with opportunities for personal mentorship.
New York City's public high school system, overseen by the NYC Department of Education, is the largest in the nation, serving over a million students. It encompasses a diverse range of schools, including traditional public schools, specialized high schools, and charter schools.
Another indicator that points to the school's success would be that the AP® participation rate here is 100%. Then you’ve got that it weaves in humanities and foreign language instruction into its curriculum, offering a more complete package around its reputable STEM program.
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Bronx High School of Science
🏆 Ranking: #4 in New York State, #37 nationally
📌 Location: Bronx, NY
Next up, we have a living legend among STEM schools, Bronx Science offers students access to professional-grade research facilities along with a tradition of academic achievement. Other things that have students flocking to the school would be the opportunity it provides when it comes to Advanced Placement coursework and exams. Whether it’s microbiology, philosophy, or robotics, students are encouraged to dig deep into their interests and present their work on national stages. If you’re a parent or student looking for somewhere to get the best high school grades possible, then this is certainly somewhere worth circling.
Staten Island Technical High School
🏆 Ranking: #5 in New York State, #50 nationally
📌 Location: Staten Island, NY
SITech combines strong academics with hands-on technical education to foster a learning environment that has students flocking from across not only the state, but the country. The first things that’ll likely stand out to you when researching the institution are its 99.1 college readiness score and that flawless 100% graduation rate.
Be fearless. Be adaptable. Be Fighting Seagulls.
Staten Island Technical High School Motto
Students who opt to pursue their education here seemingly put themselves in a great position to succeed in high school and in life after, with impressive metrics like these.
Students here can take AP courses alongside career-prep programs in robotics, computer science, and pre-engineering.
There’s also the school’s accomplished faculty, who are known for mentoring students closely and ensuring that each student graduates with both hard skills and confidence.
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Brooklyn Latin School
🏆 Ranking: #6 in New York State, #54 nationally
📌 Location: Brooklyn, NY
The sixth-best high school in New York, Brooklyn Latin, takes a classical approach to modern education. Considering that it's modeled after prestigious institutions like Boston Latin, it makes sense that the school places such a focus on public speaking, Socratic seminars, and writing-intensive assignments. You could point to these offerings as one of the reasons that make the school such an attractive option for aspiring high school students, and another reason why its graduates tend to transition seamlessly to college.
Brooklyn Technical High School
🏆 Ranking: #7 in New York State, #67 nationally
📌 Location: Brooklyn, NY
This is the biggest school, cracking the top 15 institutions here in the state of New York. With over 5,940 students enrolled between grades 9-12, the school's lengthy list of accolades become all the more impressive. Let’s take its graduation rate and college readiness scores, for example, which are 96% and 95.3, respectively.
With so many students being put through the transformative learning process facilitated at the school, having such a proportion of them achieving results is nothing short of incredible.
This has a big part to play in earning its position as one of the best schools in the state, and it's definitely well-deserved.
The school offers more choices than you could ever opt for when it comes to clubs, sports, and competitions, too. Then, it’s also got a range of specialized “majors,” students can focus on areas like environmental science, software engineering, or architecture, all while completing a full AP course load.
The NYC public school system is the largest in the United States, with over 1.1 million students enrolled in more than a thousand schools. The system includes more than 1,200 high schools.
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High School of American Studies at Lehman College
🏆 Ranking: 8 in New York State, #76 nationally
📌 Location: Bronx (Lehman College campus), NY
On the other end of the scale, with a much smaller student body, considering just under 400 students, we have the High School of American Studies. If the name didn’t already give it away, the school’s curriculum places a special focus on U.S. history, but it’s also loaded with honors and AP coursework, helping students master critical thinking and academic writing right from the start. Its campus is also shared with Lehman College, so you can rest assured that students here have more learning resources than they could ever use.
Townsend Harris High School
🏆 Ranking: 9 in New York State, #78 nationally
📌 Location: Queens, NY
This Queens-based school is beloved by students and parents alike for its well-rounded curriculum and high-achieving environment. Despite being home to a student body of over 1,320, it still maintains a class size that allows it to stand out even among some of the elite companies mentioned thus far on our list. Its student-to-teacher ratio of 15:1 signals to parents and students that they’ll get plenty of one-on-one time with the teacher in their classes.
Baccalaureate School for Global Education (BSGE)
🏆 Ranking: 10 in New York State, #106 nationally
📌 Location: Queens, NY
With a name like Baccalaureate, you likely expect the school to have a degree of academic performance, but this small Astoria school exceeds all preconceived expectations one could have. As an International Baccalaureate World School, BSGE does a great job of encouraging students to take on global issues through writing, research, and multilingual study. This is something that doesn’t always show up when it comes to high school rankings, but the skills definitely give its graduates an easier time growing accustomed to all that lies ahead in college.
Jericho Senior High School
🏆 Ranking: #11 in New York State, #114 nationally
📌 Location: Jericho, Nassau County, NY
Jericho is one of the top-performing suburban schools in the state, and it’s not hard to see why. For starters, it's got a high AP pass rate, along with an impressive college admissions rate of 86.3, and its students are achieving across the board. As you may have learned from your own search and thus far in this article, there’s plenty more to it than impressive academics. The learning experience here is more than well-rounded, where students are able to engage in just about everything from building robots, writing op-eds, or performing in theater productions, making it a dream destination for those with big goals.
Success Academy High School of the Liberal Arts – Harlem
🏆 Ranking: Ranked #116 nationally
📌 Location: Harlem, Manhattan, NY
This public charter school in Harlem is known for setting the bar high and helping its students reach whatever goals they have set for themselves. This school offers the perfect vehicle for those looking to prepare for what lies ahead of them once they get done with high school. The college readiness scores of 100 signify the effectiveness of the transformative process that takes place at the institution between the 9th to 12th grades.
Eleanor Roosevelt High School
🏆 Ranking: #122 nationally
📌 Location: Upper East Side, Manhattan, NY
Located in Manhattan’s Upper East Side, Eleanor Roosevelt High School not only offers an accessible commuting option but also combines rigorous academics with a creative and collaborative school culture.
Students take multiple AP courses and participate in all sports and electives, ranging from art history to ethics.
There’s so much of the learning experience here that takes place beyond the classroom, while also maintaining grades across the board that have the school ranking so high here in a state as competitive as New York.
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Columbia Secondary School for Math, Science & Engineering
🏆 Ranking: #137 nationally
📌 Location: Manhattan, NY
Columbia Secondary School for Math, Science & Engineering is a school that brings Ivy League energy to public education. It’s hard to point to any one thing that allows this school to provide the learning experience it does, as it’s seemingly great across the board.
But some of the things that students and parents alike value are its strong links to Columbia University, where students engage in research projects, STEM challenges, and advanced writing workshops. The school’s name alone definitely holds plenty of weight and will draw the eyes of the admissions board and employers alike when they’re sorting through piles of applications.
Millennium Brooklyn High School
🏆 Ranking: #292 nationally
📌 Location: Brooklyn, NY
Rounding off our list of the best schools across New York, we've got Millennium Brooklyn, which offers a smaller, focused high school experience that works its way into elite company year after year as one of the best schools in New York. The school attracts students from far and wide with its curriculum that is both challenging and flexible. This is invaluable for students looking to get the grades they know they are capable of in standardized tests while also strengthening those college applications along the way.
Choosing the Right High School in New York
Whether you're drawn to prestigious private institutions or the best-performing public schools, New York offers some of the most rigorous and respected high school education in the country. From gifted programs to Ivy League pipelines, the best high schools in New York prepare students for success in college and beyond.
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