How States Compare in the 2017 Best High Schools Rankings
A state-by-state breakdown of the 2017 Best High Schools rankings shows that Maryland is the leading performer for the third year in a row. This state-by-state performance rating is solely based on which states have the largest proportion of their high schools earning gold and silver medals.
This year, 27.5 percent of Maryland's eligible schools earned gold and silver medals from U.S. News. Florida came in second with 24.4 percent and California came in third with 23.6 percent.
The gold and silver awards reflect which schools are most successfully preparing students for college, based on students participating in and achieving passing scores on Advanced Placement tests. For a school to be eligible for a gold or silver medal, its students must also do well on the appropriate statewide tests and graduate at high rates, as explained in the rankings methodology.
[See the full Best High Schools rankings.]
When it comes to the total number of gold medal schools, California had the most -- 85 -- followed by Texas with 65 and New York with 55.
Only 38 states and the District of Columbia had at least one school that earned a gold medal, and six of those had only one such school. All states except South Dakota earned at least one gold or silver medal.
South Dakota's schools were not eligible for gold or silver medals because the state did not give U.S. News permission to use its schools' AP data in the rankings. However, 31.5 percent of South Dakota's schools won bronze medals based on their performance on state tests and their graduation rates.
Bronze medals did not count in this state-by-state analysis.
State rank* | State | Number of eligible high schools** | Gold medal schools (percent and total number) | Silver medal schools (percent and total number) | Total number of gold and silver medals | Percent of schools with gold and silver medals |
1 | MD | 204 | 5.9% | 21.6% | 56 | 27.5% |
2 | FL | 722 | 5.4% | 19% | 176 | 24.4% |
3 | CA | 2,126 | 4% | 19.6% | 501 | 23.6% |
4 | CT | 136 | 5.9% | 17.6% | 32 | 23.5% |
5 | MA | 354 | 6.2% | 15.3% | 76 | 21.5% |
6 | OH | 866 | 2.2% | 16.5% | 162 | 18.7% |
7 | VT | 61 | 1.6% | 16.4% | 11 | 18.0% |
8 (tie) | DC | 34 | 2.9% | 14.7% | 6 | 17.6% |
8 (tie) | DE | 34 | 5.9% | 11.8% | 6 | 17.6% |
10 | NJ | 412 | 6.1% | 11.2% | 71 | 17.2% |
11 | VA | 320 | 4.7% | 12.2% | 54 | 16.9% |
12 | NY | 1,252 | 4.4% | 12.1% | 206 | 16.5% |
13 | NV | 111 | 2.7% | 13.5% | 18 | 16.2% |
14 | UT | 136 | 2.2% | 13.2% | 21 | 15.4% |
15 | CO | 317 | 4.7% | 10.1% | 47 | 14.8% |
16 | NH | 82 | 0% | 14.6% | 12 | 14.6% |
17 | KY | 270 | 1.5% | 13% | 39 | 14.4% |
18 | GA | 441 | 4.1% | 10.2% | 63 | 14.3% |
19 | WI | 492 | 1.2% | 13% | 70 | 14.2% |
20 | RI | 57 | 3.5% | 10.5% | 8 | 14% |
21 | TX | 1,740 | 3.7% | 8.8% | 218 | 12.5% |
22 (tie) | IL | 655 | 2.1% | 10.2% | 81 | 12.4% |
22 (tie) | PA | 675 | 0.9% | 11.6% | 84 | 12.4% |
24 | ME | 111 | 1.8% | 9.9% | 13 | 11.7% |
25 | AZ | 470 | 2.8% | 8.7% | 54 | 11.5% |
26 | HI | 53 | 0% | 11.3% | 6 | 11.3% |
27 | MN | 517 | 1.4% | 9.3% | 55 | 10.6% |
28 | WA | 370 | 2.2% | 8.4% | 39 | 10.5% |
29 | MI | 831 | 0.7% | 9.5% | 85 | 10.2% |
30 | IN | 410 | 1.2% | 8.5% | 40 | 9.8% |
31 | MT | 84 | 1.2% | 8.3% | 8 | 9.5% |
32 | AR | 279 | 0.4% | 9% | 26 | 9.3% |
33 | NC | 572 | 2.8% | 6.3% | 52 | 9.1% |
34 | AL | 360 | 0.6% | 8.1% | 31 | 8.6% |
35 | OR | 290 | 0.3% | 7.2% | 22 | 7.6% |
36 | SC | 228 | 0.9% | 6.6% | 17 | 7.5% |
37 | TN | 358 | 2% | 5.3% | 26 | 7.3% |
38 | ID | 66 | 0% | 6.1% | 4 | 6.1% |
39 | MO | 410 | 0.5% | 5.4% | 24 | 5.9% |
40 | OK | 251 | 0% | 5.6% | 14 | 5.6% |
41 | AK | 111 | 0% | 5.4% | 6 | 5.4% |
42 | LA | 332 | 1.2% | 3.6% | 16 | 4.8% |
43 | ND | 109 | 0% | 4.6% | 5 | 4.6% |
44 | WV | 114 | 0% | 4.4% | 5 | 4.4% |
45 | KS | 313 | 0% | 4.2% | 13 | 4.2% |
46 | NM | 191 | 1% | 2.6% | 7 | 3.7% |
47 | IA | 338 | 0% | 3.6% | 12 | 3.6% |
48 | WY | 63 | 0% | 3.2% | 2 | 3.2% |
49 | MS | 236 | 0% | 2.1% | 5 | 2.1% |
50 | NE | 238 | 0.4% | 1.3% | 4 | 1.7% |
51 | SD | 130 | 0% | 0% | 0 | 0.0% |
*Rank determined by total percentage of schools in the analysis that earned gold or silver medals. Percentages may not add up exactly due to rounding.
**Number of schools that had a state performance index calculated.
Robert Morse is chief data strategist at U.S. News, where he develops the methodologies and surveys for annual education rankings, including Best Colleges and Best Graduate Schools.
