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.
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.
755 Ocean Ave., San Francisco, CA 94112
Phone Number: (415) 333-4021
#19 in Best Private High Schools in California
Overall Niche Grade: A+
Students: 490
Student-Teacher Ratio: 8:1
Average Graduation Rate: 100%
Yearly Tuition: $49,215
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.
3065 Jackson St., San Francisco CA 94115
Phone Number: (415) 447-3100
#22 in Best Private High Schools in California
Overall Niche Grade: A+
Students: 421
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 challenges each individual to live a life of integrity, inquiry, and purpose more extensive than oneself.
UHS believe 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.
Students will engage with each other in the many clubs, sports teams, affinity groups, student leadership opportunities, and performances. Through these activities and offerings, students will learn more about who they are, what they value, and what their stamp on UHS will be.
1563 Page St., San Francisco, CA 94117
Phone Number: (415) 626-2919
#25 in Best Private High Schools in California
Overall Niche Grade: A+
Students: 428
Student-Teacher Ratio: 10:1
Average Graduation Rate: 100%
Yearly Tuition: $53,019
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 our future world. They believe the best education occurs in a school of 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.
Urban School believes that a genuinely aspirational education also cultivates more intangible and enduring qualities of mind and character: empathy, optimism, determination, open-mindedness, creativity, analytical acuity, and, in a way that is undoubtedly more urgent than ever, original investment in making our world a better place.
35 Keyes Ave., San Francisco, CA 94129
Phone Number: (415) 561-5800
#56 in Best Private High Schools in California
Overall Niche Grade: A+
Students: 374
Student-Teacher Ratio: 7:1
Average Graduation Rate: 100%
Yearly Tuition: $48,500
If there is a word that describes the process of learning at Bay, it’s expansive. This San Francisco private high school is designed around and for its students, and they never fail to impress us with their capacity to learn, lead, express themselves, and build deep connections with their peers and mentors. They aim to give students the tools to know themselves and their values, make decisions based on what’s important to them, and create strong personal relationships.
The Bay intentionally fosters an environment that sends its graduates into the world with self-knowledge, empathy, and the tools they need to define success for themselves. Students take full advantage of extracurricular, artistic, and athletic opportunities. As they engage in school life and with the broader Bay Area community, they unlock their potential to become powerful, ethical citizens and leaders in the future.
2222 Broadway, San Francisco, CA 94115
Phone Number: (415) 563-2900
#3 in Best Catholic High Schools in San Francisco Bay Area
Overall Niche Grade: A+
Students: 1,100
Student-Teacher Ratio: 5:1
Average Graduation Rate: 100%
Yearly Tuition: $40,640
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. With an intentional suspension of 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 and authors, actors and 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 its students with a sense of purpose unique to the age in which they live. Their curriculum provides students with contemporary avenues of learning and essential strategies for expressing and engaging with their ideas.
Programming is Timely & Timeless, advancing communication and critical thinking skills through digital literacy and design coursework in context with the humanities, mathematics, sciences, and the arts.
150 Oak St., San Francisco, CA 94102
Phone Number: (415) 558-2000
#8 in Best Private K-12 Schools in San Francisco Bay Area
Overall Niche Grade: A+
Students: 1,071
Student-Teacher Ratio: 7:1
Average Graduation Rate: 100%
Yearly Tuition: $46,580
Rooted in San Francisco and informed by a global perspective, French American + International is the intellectual home for those seeking a world-class education and an inclusive, multicultural community. As one of the best private high schools in San Francisco, they inspire students to discover their individualities, pursue their passions, and think internationally. Their academic program is rigorous—meeting the high standards of both the French and American educational systems—with more attention given to the depth of understanding than just gathering information.
Their expectations are very high, but they provide plenty of support. At International High School, students earn an internationally recognized baccalaureate diploma in addition to a U.S. high school degree. We prepare our students to go on to thrive at the best universities anywhere in the world. Their students learn and grow in a culturally vibrant, dynamic environment. Each teacher of a student’s many class periods may be a citizen of as many different countries as.
But, its global education does not stop at the classroom door. Their students embark on trips around the world to learn through first-hand experience.
2001 37th Ave., San Francisco, CA 94116
Phone Number: (415) 731-7500
#9 in Best Catholic High Schools in California
Overall Niche Grade: A+
Students: 1,476
Student-Teacher Ratio: 12:1
Average Graduation Rate: 100%
Yearly Tuition: $26,075
One of the best private high schools in San Francisco, St. Ignatius College Preparatory, is more than merely a high school. It is a community of lifelong learners that has served students in the San Francisco Bay Area for 160 years. They are also part of a tradition of Catholic, Jesuit education spanning five centuries and six continents. Their roots, wide and deep, help students grow into men and women committed to faith and justice, leadership and service, academic excellence, and compassion.
Jesuit is developing intellectual skills that go beyond academic excellence. Being intellectual at SI means taking what you’ve learned in the classroom out into the world and applying it to your personal experience. Every student can explore multiple co-curricular opportunities to ignite their passions. Students learn to be creative leaders as they prepare to change the world.
1201 Ortega St., San Francisco, CA 94122
Phone Number: (415) 661-5232
#10 in Best Private K-12 Schools in San Francisco Bay Area
Overall Niche Grade: A+
Students: 885
Student-Teacher Ratio: 10:1
Average Graduation Rate: 100%
Yearly Tuition: $30,510
Lycée Français de San Francisco High is the perfect conclusion of the bilingual and international education. It prepares its multilingual students for universities across the world. They provide excellent dual education and the many learning opportunities students can enjoy through its Open and Global learning programs that can support their applications to some of the most prestigious programs in the world.
Their curriculum is all-encompassing, adaptable, and demanding and gives students a desirable, unique profile. LFSF High offers students many opportunities to immerse themselves in cultures, languages, and geographies through a global travel program that provides them with a rich understanding of different cultural perspectives that can only be achieved by living, learning, and working in a foreign country.
Students in grades 10, 11, and 12 can participate each year in the HS service-learning program once they have completed 40 hours of local community service. It is a 3-year program, and each year focuses on a different theme and global location.
1835 Ellis St., San Francisco, CA 94115
Phone Number: (415) 345-9777
#10 in Best Private K-12 Schools in San Francisco Bay Area
Overall Niche Grade: A+
Students: 188
Student-Teacher Ratio: 5:1
Average Graduation Rate: 100
Yearly Tuition: $52,211
The Jewish Community High School of the Bay (JCHS) is a unique college preparatory high school committed to integrating deep learning, universal wisdom, and Jewish values. Learning with others has a long tradition in Judaism and is embodied in the practice of chevrutah, or partner study. Through talking, listening, questioning, and mutual support, students learn the content of their classes, and more importantly, how to become independent learners.
They empower each student to embrace their Jewish identity, generate empathy and compassion, delight in lifelong education, and improve the world. At JCHS, students are inspired by teachers who challenge them to explore and open their minds through a blend of classroom and experiential learning that encourages creativity, critical thinking, and a deeper understanding of the world.
Many classes are designed with opportunities for students to integrate their knowledge across disciplines to deepen students’ understanding of course content and themselves. Through working together in classes, playing fields, traveling on Journeys, and in the theater, JCHS students and faculty create a genuine community of learners.
1950 Page St., San Francisco, CA 94117
Phone Number: (415) 431-3161
#10 in Best Private K-12 Schools in San Francisco Bay Area
Overall Niche Grade: A+
Students: 188
Student-Teacher Ratio: 5:1
Average Graduation Rate: 100%
Yearly Tuition: $52,211
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, students will gain knowledge skills critical for success in college and beyond.
2901 California St., San Francisco, CA 94115
Phone Number: (415) 409-3739
#108 Best Private High Schools in California
Overall Niche Grade: A+
Students: 292
Student-Teacher Ratio: 7:1
Average Graduation Rate: 100%
Yearly Tuition: $53,950
Drew School knows and believes in teenagers — their ideas, dreams, opinions, and potential. That’s why they’ve created a private high school community in San Francisco that challenges the traditional definition of success and celebrates achievement one student at a time. They engage each student in the process of intellectual discovery to develop an individual voice, the confidence to express it, and the empathy to understand its impact.
The result is that their students develop into fascinating individuals who are sought after by colleges and who know themselves well when they step out into the world. Learning at Drew is all about understanding, not just the memorization of information for the sake of passing an exam. They believe that information delivered to a student that doesn’t seem relevant in that student’s life becomes quickly forgotten.
Proper understanding is long-lasting and, therefore, far more helpful than simply knowing. Understanding something means you can explain it, teach it, and make someone else understand it. While ‘knowing’ can be temporary, understanding is yours to keep.
470 West Portal, San Francisco, CA 94127
Phone Number: (415) 431-2736
#28 in Best High Schools for the Arts in California
Overall Niche Grade: A+
Students: 160
Student-Teacher Ratio: 8:1
Average Graduation Rate: 99%
Yearly Tuition: $45,750
There is something different about San Francisco Waldorf School. You see it in a high school student who looks you in the eye with confidence that comes from self-knowledge. You feel it when a grade school student steps to the chalkboard to answer a math question, composed because she has the full and caring support of the teacher and her classmates. You hear it in the joyful laughter of a kindergartener who is helping a friend climb a tree.
San Francisco Waldorf School is one of the best private high schools that offer innovative and rigorous education based on human connection. To ensure the best fit and success of their future students, they get to know every applicant. Waldorf School looks for curious, who want to learn everything, and who want to go in-depth.
Like many great colleges, they look beyond test scores. Their highly-trained faculty teach the right things at the right time and discover the unique spark in each individual—the things that inspire a love of learning, goodness, and the world.
1055 Ellis St., San Francisco, CA 94109
Phone Number: (415) 775-6626
#11 in Best Catholic High Schools in San Francisco Bay Area
Overall Niche Grade: A+
Students: 1,325
Student-Teacher Ratio: 14:1
Average Graduation Rate: 99%
Yearly Tuition: $21,050
The tenets that SHC was founded upon in 1852 remain today: a commitment to serving San Francisco’s diverse youth and providing an academically rigorous Catholic education. Students and their families choose Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory for the strength of its academics, diverse array of co-curricular opportunities, and the warmth of an inclusive and nurturing community.
They are proud of its vibrant, close-knit community and work together to educate today’s youth and create tomorrow’s leaders. At SHC, they design challenging curricula to engage the whole student. SHC’s learning infrastructure and integrated co-curricular support curiosity, educational excellence, and self-discovery from thoughtful preparatory classes to rigorous honors and Advanced Placement courses.
Their emphasis on learning is based on solid relationships — with fellow students, knowledgeable teachers, and the world—and our dynamic blend of liberal arts, scientific inquiry, and research-based pedagogy help develop resourceful, independent thinkers.
1555 Irving St., San Francisco CA 94122
Phone Number: (415) 564-1063
#211 in Best Private High Schools in California
Overall Niche Grade: A
Students: 60
Student-Teacher Ratio: 4:1
Average Graduation Rate: 100%
Yearly Tuition: $30,000
Woodside International School (WIS) began educating students in the Fall of 1976 and became fully accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) in 1983. It is one of the best private high schools located in a safe and thriving multicultural neighborhood in the heart of San Francisco. Woodside attracts a wide socioeconomic range of San Francisco Bay Area families and those from overseas.
Each year, WIS offers students the opportunity to join or create a variety of clubs of their choice. Students share passions, develop new interests and develop friendships with a broader group of peers. Students are encouraged to join Spanish and Russian Language Clubs, Sports Club, eSports Club, Events Planning Club, Peer Tutoring, and more!
Local and global initiatives provide hands-on learning opportunities and foster valuable life skills while encouraging students to embark on a lifetime journey of creating a better world for all.
175 Frida Kahlo Way, San Francisco, CA 94112
Phone Number: (415) 586-8200
#425 in Best Catholic High Schools in America
Overall Niche Grade: A
Students: 968
Student-Teacher Ratio: 15:1
Yearly Tuition: $22,500
Archbishop Riordan High School, an Archdiocesan Catholic High School in the Marianist tradition, prepares students from all backgrounds and corners of the world for leadership and lifelong excellence. With a rigorous college preparatory curriculum, Riordan offers a path to success for all learners. They are committed to 21st-century learning that includes leading curricular innovation and exploring alternative instruction and assessment.
Its dedicated, knowledgeable, and compassionate faculty meets its students where they are, supporting them to individual excellence. A Riordan student’s academic course load will not merely fulfill the University of California and California State University requirements, and it will exceed them, allowing more time for additional electives.
Students also can take university-level courses at City College of San Francisco, located directly across the street from Riordan’s campus.
25 Whittier St., San Francisco, CA 94112
Phone Number: (415) 802-2851
#12 in Best Christian High Schools in San Francisco Bay Area
Overall Niche Grade: A-
Students: 240
Student-Teacher Ratio: 10:1
Yearly Tuition: $12,000
As one of the best private high schools in the area, San Francisco Christian School offers Godly wisdom, wholesome family values, and world-class education to students from the Bay Area worldwide. From strong academics, including technology and the arts, to unusual extracurricular activities like the top-performing school choir, its international school offers something for every student.
They provide an accessible private education that extends from kindergarten through high school, and they gladly welcome students of all backgrounds. The use of Christian education includes more than what takes place inside the classroom. SFCS offers a wide range of extracurricular activities to enhance the educational experience of its students. That includes athletics beginning in the 5th grade for boys and girls, clubs, student leadership, yearbook, music, art, and community service opportunities.
These activities combined with Christian education create a wonderful experience for every student.
3625 24th St., San Francisco, CA 94110
Phone Number: (415) 824-2052
#8 in Best All-Girls High Schools in San Francisco Bay Area
Overall Niche Grade: A-
Students: 355
Student-Teacher Ratio: 12:1
Average Graduation Rate: 100%
Yearly Tuition: $2,900
Founded as Immaculate Conception Academy in 1883, as an all-girls Catholic high school, it has shared a rich history with San Francisco and its surrounding bay area. In 2009 the school, sponsored by the Mission San Jose Dominicans, joined the Cristo Rey Network to further the vision of its foundress, Mother Maria Pia Backes. The school was rebranded in 2017 to embrace its membership while honoring its original identity as an academy.
ICA Cristo Rey Academy offers a Catholic college preparatory education while providing a unique work experience to cultivate women of study, prayer, community, and service who will engage in the formation of a prosperous world. With a supportive network of dedicated educators and corporate mentors, ICA Cristo Rey delivers a unique learning experience incorporating 137 years of Dominican Catholic traditions, academic rigor, and a distinctive work-study program.
1160 Battery St., Suite 40, San Francisco, CA 94111
Phone Number: (415) 765-9078
#350 in Best Private High Schools in California
Overall Niche Grade: B+
Students: 37
Student-Teacher Ratio: 3:1
Every part of the Fusion Academy experience is personalized for each student. It is this approach that makes them the most engaging private high school in San Francisco. Its thoughtfully designed love, motivating, teaching allows them to get to know each student and build a program customized for their strengths, interests, and learning preferences. Students may attend full-time for middle and high school or part-time with classes for credit, tutoring and mentoring, post-secondary counseling, and more.
Fusion Academy is one of the best private high schools in San Francisco, where positive relationships and one-to-one classrooms unlock academic potential. They offer rolling enrollment and customized scheduling so students can start at any time of the year and take classes at a time of day that works best for them. The campus is open for in-person instruction that follows COVID-19 safety guidelines and offers virtual and hybrid learning options.
2690 Jackson St., San Francisco, CA 94115
Phone Number: (415) 683-5459
Overall Niche Grade: A
Students: 20
Student-Teacher Ratio: 3:1
The Academy of Thought and Industry at San Francisco is a Montessori-inspired private high school that delivers a robust education for independence and develops curious, self-motivated adolescents who thrive in school and life. Its unique program is rooted in a curriculum that emphasizes thinking and doing to acquire deep knowledge and understanding.
Students unlock their potential with the help of individualized coaching, low student-to-teacher ratios, and a supportive school community. ATI combines deep, rigorous academic study with the freedom to pursue projects based on interest, passion, and curiosity. Their students don’t just memorize — they understand by integrating and applying at every step.
They follow the union of thought and industry, of the mind and the hand. Each concept is placed into the world. Each lesson is motivated by the exploration of a real-world problem to capture the imagination and spark curiosity.
838 Kearny St., San Francisco, CA 94108
Phone Number: (415) 922-6081
#275 in Best High Schools for the Arts in America
Overall Niche Grade: A-
Students: 175
Student-Teacher Ratio: 6:1
Average Graduation Rate: 100%
Yearly Tuition: $39,800
At Sterne, they know that there cannot be a one size fits all educational approach in a world where everyone’s learning profile is unique. Every day, they teach students how to unlock the learning style that works best for them. They believe that when support is a part of, not an exception to the school day, students can focus on being students while also becoming confident, capable learners.
No matter what a student may need to achieve their version of greatness, their goal remains the same — remove academic barriers, close learning gaps, and equip students with specific skills to take with them on their educational journey. Sterne students are charismatic leaders, community organizers, artists, performers, and athletes. Sterne families are engaged, invested, and excited to see their program continue to grow to meet the needs of its students.
They are a strong community, united in the belief that all students deserve to learn in an environment that recognizes and celebrates their strengths. As a student at Sterne, whatever your interests, they encourage you to participate in any of the social or enrichment programs they offer.
In deciding how to prepare your child for college, you have to consider the class size, conducive learning facility, intelligent technology, school activities, accountable college counseling, comfortable libraries, educational service trips, and tuition fee. Given the said factors to weigh in as you finally decide to send your children to a private high school in San Francisco, your next step is to assess 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.
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