Demographic Breakdown of the Best High Schools

U.S. News evaluated 21,035 public schools in 49 states and the District of Columbia for the 2013 Best High Schools rankings, with 18,196 schools eligible to be ranked. Below, we have also conducted a detailed demographic breakdown of the 4,805 medal winners.

Poverty distribution: This is the percentage of a school's 2010-2011 total enrollment that was eligible for free or reduced-price lunches, or the percent of economically disadvantaged students. The schools that were medal winners are broken down by different percentages of poverty, ranging from less than 5 percent to greater than or equal to 75 percent.

Minority distribution: This is the percentage of a school's 2010-2011 total enrollment that was American Indian/Alaskan Native, Asian, Black or Hispanic. The medal-winning schools are broken down by different percentages of minorities, ranging from less than 5 percent to greater than or equal to 75 percent.

School structure: This is the breakdown of which medal winners were designated as either charter or magnet as reported to the U.S. Department of Education Common Core Data website for the 2010-2011 school year.

Community environment: This is the distribution by type of geographic area where the medal-winning high schools are located across the U.S. The locations range from large cities, suburbs of large cities and mid-sized cities to small towns and remote rural areas.

From analyzing this demographic data, displayed in the table below, it's clear that the top-ranked high schools are a very diverse group of schools.

For example, 75 percent of all medal winners are high schools with students in poverty of greater than or equal to 25 percent of enrollment. Also, 50 percent of all medal-winning high schools had minority enrollment of greater than or equal to 25 percent of their students.

Finally, 54 percent of the medal winners are schools located away from cities and suburbs, including in remote or rural areas.

Total number of gold medals

Percent of schools with gold medals

Total number of silver medals

Percent of schools with silver medals

Total number of bronze medals

Percent of schools with bronze medals

Total schools with medals

500

10.4%

1,790

37.3%

2,515

52.3%

Poverty distribution

Schools with poverty enrollment >=25%

153

30.6%

1,176

65.7%

2,296

91.3%

Schools with poverty enrollment >=50%

72

14.4%

496

27.7%

1,312

52.2%

Schools with poverty enrollment >= 75%

32

6.4%

143

8.0%

384

15.3%

Schools with no significant poverty enrollment (

129 25.8% 62 3.5% 37 1.5%

Title I schools (which receive federal funds based on proportion of low-income students or families)

203

40.6%

822

45.9%

1,614

64.2%

Minority distribution

Schools with minority enrollment >=25%

336

67.2%

999

55.8%

1,065

42.3%

Schools with minority enrollment >=50%

180

36.0%

577

32.2%

624

24.8%

Schools with minority enrollment >= 75%

96

19.2%

353

19.7%

377

15.0%

Schools with no significant minority enrollment (

12 2.4% 163 9.1% 589 23.4%

School structure

Charter schools

71

14.2%

74

4.1%

169

6.7%

Magnet schools

74

14.8%

128

7.2%

56

2.2%

Community environment

Schools in large cities

125

25.0%

256

14.3%

218

8.7%

Schools in mid-size cities

33

6.6%

110

6.1%

58

2.3%

Schools in small cities

43

8.6%

125

7.0%

59

2.3%

Schools in suburban areas of large cities

219

43.8%

508

28.4%

186

7.4%

Schools in suburban areas of mid-size cities

11

2.2%

53

3.0%

34

1.4%

Schools in suburban areas of small cities

5

1.0%

42

2.3%

24

1.0%

Schools in towns on fringe of urban areas

3

0.6%

39

2.2%

41

1.6%

Schools in towns distant from urban areas

1

0.2%

97

5.4%

180

7.2%

Schools in remote towns

1

0.2%

57

3.2%

162

6.4%

Schools in rural areas on fringe of urban areas

52

10.4%

295

16.5%

295

11.7%

Schools in rural areas distant from urban areas

3

0.6%

134

7.5%

720

28.6%

Schools in remote rural areas

4

0.8%

74

4.1%

538

21.4%