BLOG

Our 10 Best Private High Schools in San Francisco
July 15, 2024

San Francisco private high schools not only offer you a wide-ranged academic curriculum but also provide students the arsenal of skills and competencies as they head on for that rigorous collegiate battle!

One of the most vital decisions parents must consider when their children enter high school is choosing a private school with excellent academic curriculums that fit their educational needs. That’s why exploring school options in San Francisco is a good step in finding the best private high schools in the area. With its cutting-edge curriculum, San Francisco private high school equips students with the skills and competencies to be active global citizens. It cannot be overemphasized how important it is to choose a school that can have a long-term effect on the student to flourish academically and socially. 

Parents Love Browsing Our Kid’s Events


Some private high schools in San Francisco also offer various academic programs, such as Advanced Placement courses or International Baccalaureate programs for students who want to pursue a more challenging curriculum. Not only that! Specific figures can suggest how private schools in San Francisco have impacted students preparing them for college admissions. Private schools also offer extracurricular activities that can speak a lot about a student’s interests and values.


Studies show that students who participate in extracurricular activities reap other benefits, such as developing teamwork skills or doing better academically. To identify the best private high school, we reviewed rankings for all private schools from the 2024 Best Private High Schools in San Francisco list released by school and neighborhood data clearinghouse Niche. The rankings below have been compiled based on several factors: 

  • analysis of critical data from the U.S. Department of Education
  • average SAT and ACT scores 
  • college enrollment
  • culture and diversity 
  • student-teacher ratio 
  • parent and student surveys
  • private school ratings collected from millions of Niche users

Scroll down below as we lead you to the best private high schools in San Francisco, where students will be guided to apply learning to impact the world.

Top 10 Best Private High Schools in San Francisco

Best private high schools in San Francisco - The Nueva School

1. The Nueva School

6565 Skyline Blvd., Hillsborough, CA 94010
Phone Number: (650) 350-4600

#1 in Best High Schools for STEM in America
Grade: A+
Students: 853
Student-Teacher Ratio: 6:1
Average Graduation Rate: 90%
Yearly Tuition: $53,350

Nueva is a place that brings together gifted students from across the San Francisco Bay Area to engage in a rigorous high school educational program anchored by a caring and compassionate community. This unique combination of academic and social-emotional learning makes Nueva the school it is today.

At Nueva, the amount of support and encouragement that students share with each other is one of the key ingredients of the magic in the community. The collective social embrace of learning from like-minded peers is just as important for gifted students in their school as the individual pursuit of knowledge.

2. The College Preparatory School

6100 Broadway, Oakland, CA 94618
Phone Number: (510) 652-0111

#1 in Best Private High Schools in Alameda County
Grade: A+
Students: 374
Student-Teacher Ratio: 7:1
Average Graduation Rate: 100%
Yearly Tuition: $57,600

College Prep is a home for ideas, discovery, and engagement—intellectual pursuits that our students treasure. Their academic offerings are buoyed by its warm culture and welcoming, verdant campus in Oakland’s Rockridge neighborhood. In and out of the classroom, students explore and extend their abilities, test their ideas, and acquire the skills to be positive and productive citizens.

College Prep students come to the school from over fifty different middle schools to learn with and from each other. Guided by inspiring teachers and mentors, they create a vibrant community rooted in shared values of kindness, respect, and a willingness to learn from the perspectives of others. They care about each other and the broader world in which we live.

3. Head-Royce School

4315 Lincoln Ave., Oakland, CA 94602
Phone Number: (510) 531-1300

#2 in Best Private K-12 Schools in California
Grade: A+
Students: 900
Student-Teacher Ratio: 6:1
Average Graduation Rate: 100%
Yearly Tuition: $54,000

Head-Royce School is a diverse K–12 community nestled in the Oakland hills that serves families seeking a transformative educational experience. It cultivates lifelong learners who lead with joy, purpose, and compassion and are well prepared to embrace the challenges and opportunities of the future.

They commit to fostering global perspectives, resolving conflicts, repairing harm, promoting inclusion, respecting differences, and prioritizing BIPOC leadership. They welcome discomfort, learn from mistakes, and invest in training and curriculum revision for an anti-racist approach.

4. Lick-Wilmerding High School

755 Ocean Ave., San Francisco, CA 94112
Phone Number: (415) 333-4021

#10 in Best Private High Schools in California
Overall Niche Grade: A+
Students: 560
Student-Teacher Ratio: 9:1
Average Graduation Rate: 100%
Yearly Tuition: $59,850

A private high school with a public purpose in San Francisco, Lick-Wilmerding High School develops the head, heart, and hands of highly motivated students from all walks of life, inspiring them to become lifelong learners who contribute to the world with confidence and compassion. This attention to the whole person ensures that the LWHS graduate is an accomplished scholar, a creative thinker, and an agent for creating a better world.

LWHS’ rigorous head, heart, and hands curriculum equip students with the skills, habits of mind, and commitment to building lives of excellence and meaning. At LWHS, students forge lifelong friendships with their peers, with faculty, with the subjects they study, and with those individuals who need their talents and compassion to realize their full potential.

These relationships are born out of a passion shared by all members of the LWHS community. To be fully engaged with each other and with all that our world has to offer.

5. Marin Academy

1600 Mission Ave., San Rafael, CA 94901
Phone Number: (415) 453-4550

#1 in Best Private High Schools in Marin County
Grade: A+
Students: 440
Student-Teacher Ratio: 7:1
Average Graduation Rate: 100%
Yearly Tuition: $58,730

Marin Academy has long been recognized as a leader in rigorous experiential education. They are known for innovative curricular and co-curricular programs that engage students in real-world topics and in learning by doing.

Both in and out of the classroom, they encourage students to ask tough questions and initiate difficult conversations. By pushing the boundaries of not only what, but also how to learn, an MA education empowers students as learners and leaders.

Urban School of San Francisco

6. Urban School of San Francisco

1563 Page St., San Francisco, CA 94117
Phone Number: (415) 626-2919

#12 in Best High Schools for the Arts in California

Overall Niche Grade: A+
Students: 420
Student-Teacher Ratio: 9:1
Average Graduation Rate: 100%
Yearly Tuition: $55,647

Urban School is among the best private high schools in San Francisco. Since its founding in 1966, diversity, inclusion, equity, and access have been critical elements of Urban School’s mission and core values. They seek to create a community that reflects our city, state, and future world. They believe the best education occurs in a school with students, faculty/staff, and families from various socioeconomic backgrounds, cultures, races, religions, and sexual orientations.

The school has a larger public purpose of educating students who have been historically under-represented in independent schools. Urban School has never believed that institutional or individual success should be measured or understood through high SAT scores, flashy college acceptances, athletic championships, or impressive GPAs – though all are abundantly manifest at the school today.

7. San Francisco University High School

3065 Jackson St., San Francisco, CA 94115
Phone Number: (415) 447-3100

#38 in Best Private High Schools in California

Overall Niche Grade: A+
Students: 436
Student-Teacher Ratio: 6:1
Average Graduation Rate: 100%|
Yearly Tuition: $44,750

San Francisco University High School welcomes students of demonstrated motivation and ability to engage in an education that fosters responsibility and the spirited pursuit of knowledge. They are a school where adults believe in the promise of every student, and together, they work to build and sustain a community of diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and talents.

UHS believes that the most profound learning requires collaboration among people who embody a diversity of backgrounds, beliefs, experiences, and perspectives. They intend to be at the forefront of changing high school culture, affirming its fundamental commitment to intellectual challenge and vitality while simultaneously responding to the demands and opportunities of today.

8. Convent & Stuart Hall

2222 Broadway, San Francisco, CA 94115
Phone Number: (415) 563-2900

#3 in Best Catholic High Schools in California

Overall Niche Grade: A+
Students: 1,100
Student-Teacher Ratio: 6:1
Average Graduation Rate: 100%
Yearly Tuition: $55,015

Convent & Stuart Hall believes in the unique power of educating girls and boys separately and together. The fundamental value in this paradoxical school structure is the lived experience of our students, as they see possibilities in themselves beyond social norms. By intentionally suspending the societal and cultural roles and behaviors assigned to boys or girls, their school environment provides a well-scaffolded framework for students to grow fully into all the dimensions of their being.

In this context, girls and boys see themselves as physicists, authors, actors, athletes, thinkers, and friends. As independent school educators, Convent & Stuart are urged to design and deliver a pre-eminent education for each student. They emphasize serious study and cultivate social responsibility to imbue their students with a sense of purpose unique to their age. Their curriculum provides students with contemporary avenues of learning and essential strategies for expressing and engaging with their ideas.

9. Bentley School

1000 Upper Happy Valley Rd., Lafayette, CA 94549
Phone Number: (510) 843-2512

#1 Best Private K-12 Schools in Contra Costa County
Grade: A+
Students: 650
Student-Teacher Ratio: 6:1
Average Graduation Rate: 100%
Yearly Tuition: $55,800

Students come to Bentley School from all corners of the Bay Area and myriad backgrounds and personal histories. Their individual and unique stories enrich our entire community and inspire our faculty to raise the bar continually. Passionate and curious by nature and nurtured by challenge, Bentley students energize all of us to continue growing and learning together.

At Bentley, their intentional balance of joy and hard work makes for genuinely happy learners. When students are happy and flourishing, they are more motivated and effective learners. Challenges feel less insurmountable, change is less scary, and taking (age-appropriate) risks becomes exciting. Our intentional programs and experiences like advisory, Mini-term, and PACT (Passion Action Character Team) are essential to making sure every person at Bentley is seen, known, and cherished.

10. San Francisco High School of the Arts

1950 Page St., San Francisco, CA 94117
Phone Number: (415) 431-3161

#22 Best Private High Schools in San Francisco Bay Area

Overall Niche Grade: A+
Students: 49
Student-Teacher Ratio: 3:1
Average Graduation Rate: 100%
Yearly Tuition: $41,100

San Francisco High School of the Arts offers students in grades 9-12 a rigorous, college-preparatory program enhanced and supported by individualized college advising, counseling, and standardized test prep. Their team of highly certified instructors with diversified backgrounds is dedicated to inspiring and helping students love learning. HSArts’ curriculum emphasizes five areas of study: English, History, Maths, Sciences, and Chinese. Independent study is also available in all core subjects.

Unique to the Bay Area, San Francisco High School of the Arts is the only private art school for grades 6-12. HSArts’ aspiring artists cultivate the character and skills necessary for lifelong learning, independent thought, and creative exploration. While students develop a well-rounded understanding of the world through academics and the arts, they will also gain knowledge and skills critical for success in college and beyond.

Our 10 Best Private High Schools in San Francisco

Our 10 Best Private High Schools in San Francisco

In deciding how to prepare your child for college, you must consider the class size, conducive learning facility, intelligent technology, school activities, accountable college counseling, comfortable libraries, educational service trips, and tuition fees. Given the factors to weigh in as you finally decide to send your children to a private high school in San Francisco, your next step is assessing which academic institution can perfectly fit your child’s needs.

Choose any of these private high schools in San Francisco as your child’s foundation for a better future!

San Francisco offers so many opportunities for kids to enjoy and have fun all year round! Check out our list of resources, or browse through our things to do in San Francisco with kids. Still looking for more activities for kids in San Francisco? No problem! Check out our comprehensive listing of places to go in the region and our highly recommended education blog posts.

Parents Love Browsing Our Kid’s Events

25 Best Private High Schools in Sacramento Area
Top 25 Private High Schools in Santa Clara County
10 Best Private High Schools in San Jose
25 Best Kids Birthday Party Places in San Francisco

Subscribe to our 4kids blog via email!

Just enter your email address below and you’ll get an email every time we publish a new post!

Posted By :

Categories :

Tags :