These St. Louis public high schools ranked among the best in Missouri

ST. LOUIS — Where did you go to high school?

Thousands of St. Louisans can take even more pride in their answer after the latest rankings from U.S. News & World Report. 

St. Louis is home to nine of the 10 best public high schools in the state, according to the 2021 list released Tuesday. The greater St. Louis area dominated the rankings for Missouri again, with results that were similar to the 2020 rankings.

Saint Louis Public Schools’ Metro Academic and Classical High School, located in the Central West End, was ranked the top public school in the state. It got high marks for having a 100% participation rate in the Advanced Placement courses and exams. It also ranked high nationally for students’ math and reading performance and proficiency.

Best high schools in Missouri:

(Number in parenthesis is national ranking)

1. Metro Academic and Classical High School (137)
2. Lincoln College Prep. (235)
3. Ladue Horton Watkins High School (296)
4. Clayton High School (342)
5. Kirkwood Sr. High School (376)
6. McKinley Classical Leadership Academy (485)
7. Parkway West High School (737)
8. Lafayette Sr. High School (794)
9. Marquette Sr. High School (876)
10. Lindbergh Sr. High School (920)

See the full ranking of best Missouri high schools here.

The Kirkwood School District congratulated students, staff and the entire school community for the big achievement.

"We are proud of this recognition and understand it takes all of us working together to make this recognition possible,” said KHS principal Mike Havener.

All of the top 10 schools in Illinois were located in the Chicago area.

U.S. News compiled data from nearly 24,000 public high schools across the country, using these six factors to come up with the final rankings: college readiness, math and reading proficiency, math and reading performance, underserved student performance, college curriculum breadth and graduation rate.

The best overall high schools in the U.S. spanned from coast to coast.

Best U.S. high schools:

1. Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology – Alexandria, Virginia
2. Academic Magnet High School – North Charleston, South Carolina
3. The Davidson Academy of Nevada – Rena, Nevada
4. Payton College Preparatory High School – Chicago
5. School for Advanced Studies (SAS) – Miami
6. Sumner Academy of Arts and Science – Kansas City, Kansas
7. Merrol Hyde Magnet School – Hendersonville, Tennessee
8. BASIS Chandler – Chandler, Arizona
9. Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science and Technology – Lawrenceville, Georgia
10. Signature School – Evansville, Indiana

See the full rankings and details about how each school performed on U.S. News & World Report’s website.