Best High Schools in Philadelphia for 2024: A Step-by-Step Guide

As understudies become increasingly drenched in our dynamic world, the high school years can be a basic proving ground for life planning. Furthermore, assuming you're a parent looking for homes for the deal in Philadelphia, you might need to investigate region high schools even before your kids enter center school.

Finding the best high school for your understudy can feel overwhelming, particularly within a significant city like Philadelphia. It's the country's 6th most crowded city according to 2024 U.S. Registration Agency measurements.

Among Philadelphia's 218 locale schools, 82 contract schools, and 31 elective schools, there are 111 that high schoolers join in. Getting brilliant training for your understudy is a lot simpler on the off chance that you're in a decent school. Our school search permits you to look by grade level, school type (public, private or sanction), and school rating (Specialty and GreatSchools).

Some Philadelphia Schools Require an Application

According to the charitable GreatPhillySchools, Philadelphia's state-funded schools include sanction citywide, contract independent, digital, region citywide, locale area, or region extraordinary concede assignments. Tuition-based schools are assigned independent or Catholic.

Assuming the school drafted for your personal residence isn't the best fit, understudies can apply for up to five other independent schools by normal application through the school selection process The vast majority of the School Region of Philadelphia's almost 40 citywide exceptional confirmations and contract schools require affirmation by application and lottery. Notwithstanding, in late 2023, the locale declared that changes are not too far off regarding how understudies will be chosen for exceptional confirmation schools to work on the framework's value.

Plans to Optimize Admissions

Beginning with the 2024-25 school year, a few eighth graders who meet explicit standards can skirt the lottery framework at select schools, including Julia R. Masterman, Girard Scholarly Music Program, and others. Confirmation inclination for understudies in unambiguous Postal divisions is still essential for the cycle at schools, for example, Carver Engineering and Science, and Focal High School. Numerous non-public schools and some sanction schools have their own independent affirmations cycle and deadlines.

Best Public High Schools in Philadelphia

Both Specialty and GreatSchools accumulate information from numerous sources to help assess and contrast factors that might be significant with you. Specialty accumulates a large number of understudy, parent, and educator surveys and reviews, as well as information from the Branch of Schooling, the U.S. Registration, and the FBI.

We've collected a decision of the best open secondary schools in Philadelphia that all secure an A+ on Forte and a GreatSchools rating of 9 or higher. We've also remembered nuances for the Philadelphia neighborhoods where these amazing schools reside.

Central High School

• Neighborhood: Logan 
• School District: Philadelphia City School District
• Niche Grade: A+ 
• GreatSchools Rating: 9

This extraordinary affirmations school, arranged between Widener Dedication School and the confidential La Salle College, is the country's most seasoned continuously operating public high school. Starting around 2024, Focal High School will be driven by a former student who is the primary African American and first lady leader of Focal High.

Numerous Focal graduated classes at present proposition internships and the school is known for grant-winning games, music, science, mechanical technology, and expressions programs. Coursework can include AP classes and double enlistment with LaSalle and Sanctuary colleges. Confirmation expects As and Bs and 95% participation.

Focal possesses a lavish 5-section of land grounds within Philadelphia's Logan area. The people group has a schooltown feel and a plentiful load of original and remodeled line houses. Public travel choices offer simple admittance to Center City. The middle condo cost is $145,000 and the middle single-family cost is around $200,000.

Harriton Senior High School

• Neighborhood: Bryn Mawr 
• School District: Lower Merion School District
• Niche Grade: A+
• GreatSchools Rating: 9

A Public Blue Lace School, Harriton Senior High offers AP coursework and tests, IB programs, and double enlistment with the College of Technical Disciplines. It's positioned #6 best school prep public high school in the state by Specialty and understudies partake in an 11-to-1 understudy educator proportion.

Harriton is in the Bryn Mawr area, which originated in the 1880s as a railroad resort town. Today, Bryn Mawr holds numerous original buildings reused for present-day living. Its rural design includes custom domains, contemporary forms, various green spaces, and a dynamic midtown.

At its heart is the ladies' Bryn Mawr School, place of graduation of Katherine Hepburn. The private, all-young ladies Baldwin School (given an A+ on Specialty) likewise calls Bryn Mawr home. The middle condo cost is $1.2 million and the middle cost for single-family homes is $1.4 million.

Julia R. Masterman Laboratory and Demonstration School

• Neighborhood: Spring Garden
• School District: Philadelphia City School District
• Niche Grade: A+ 
• GreatSchools Rating: 9

In 2024, Specialty named Julia R. Masterman Lab and Exhibit School the Philadelphia region's #1 high school. Masterman is one of a few schools presently granting confirmation on qualification without requiring a lottery as a component of the application interaction. This public center high magnet school flaunts a 100 percent graduation rate and an almost 90% school registration rate.

Understudies living anyplace in the city might apply, and permission depends on government-sanctioned testing scores, participation, and grades. It offers an extraordinary high school in sight, with a rich choice of extracurricular exercises that include discussion, chess, and mechanical technology clubs and champion theater and music programs.

Masterman is in the Spring Nursery area, where three-story Italianate condos mix with contemporary forms featuring roof porches with city sees. Occupants can stroll to a well-known canine park, the Philadelphia Gallery of Workmanship, and cafés in revamped memorable buildings. Retail basics are simple access and the local area gets a 90 out of 100 from Walk Score, giving it a person on foot well disposed beguile close to Philly's Middle City.

Lower Merion High School

• Neighborhood: Wynnewood
• School District: Lower Merion School District
• Niche Grade: A+
• GreatSchools Rating: 9

At Lower Merion High School, understudies can partake in AP coursework and a skilled program. Extracurricular exercises include an honor winning music program and multiple dozen games groups, including a title young men ball group. Understudies partake in a 13-to-1 understudy educator proportion, and in 2019, LMHS procured a "A bad situation for Disdain" assignment from the Counter Maligning Association for its obligation to inclusivity. School enlistment is face to face and in view of assigned decision zones.

LMHS is in the very much wooded and quaint Wynnewood area, laid out in the last part of the 1600s. Local people appreciate beautiful rivulets and pleasantly prepared parks while living on the Philadelphia Main Line, which offers helpful SEPTA train travel into downtown. Many homes have pioneer style and the middle single-family home cost is $870,000.

Plymouth-Whitemarsh Senior High School

• Neighborhood: Plymouth Meeting
• School District: Colonial School District
• Niche Grade: A+
• GreatSchools Rating: 9

Understudies at Plymouth-Whitemarsh Senior High School can take part in many AP courses, various double enlistment courses and PC programming coursework that procured a School Board AP Software engineering Female Variety Grant in 2019. The Plymouth-Whitemarsh sports program has landed title wins in swimming, wrestling, golf, b-ball and cheerleading.

The school is within the Plymouth Meeting area, which offers plentiful parks, the Plymouth Meeting Shopping Center, LEGOLAND, and the Green Valley Nation Club. Local people are near large-name food merchants, public venue conveniences, a well-known Maple Sections of land Ranch Market and noteworthy Villanova College. Midcentury present-day colonials and split-level homes win at a middle cost of $500,000.

Top Confidential High Schools in Philadelphia
While government-funded schools in Philadelphia are free, the outstanding tuition-based schools on our rundown are all educational cost-based. All acquire an A+ grade from Specialty.

Friends Select School

Neighborhood: Logan Square |Niche Grade: A+

Companions Select is a private, K-12 Quaker School offering prominent upper school projects and undertakings focusing on civil rights, noteworthy historical centers and government. Understudies take part in internships, and the school is known for its powerful games and expression programs. Upper school educational cost is around $49,000, and over 30% of the school's families get financial guide.

In 2023, FSS opened its new four-story STEAM building with a computerized plan lab, workmanship studios, and three science labs. In 2024, FSS procured the #3 situation on two Specialty rundowns: best Christian high schools in Pennsylvania and most different confidential high schools in Philadelphia.

The school sits at the focal point of the Logan Square area along the Schuylkill Waterway close to downtown. The grounds are a block from the city's famous Love Park close to Philadelphia City Lobby and within a mile of the Philadelphia Historical Center of Workmanship. Bistros, bars, and enormous box stores are walkable, and light rail and transport travel bring the remainder of Philadelphia close. High-ascent condominiums and memorable brownstones are important for Logan Square's cosmopolitan texture, where the middle apartment costs is $739,000.

Germantown Friends School

Neighborhood: Germantown |Niche Grade: A+

Germantown Companions School is a private, Quaker school positioned by Specialty in 2024 as the #1 best confidential high school in the Philadelphia Region. Likewise in 2024, GFS sent off plans to fabricate another All-School Lodge and Community for Human expression, focusing on versatile reuse and energy proficiency. The school is a perceived forerunner in certain environmental activity and sustainability efforts through its Dynamic Expectation program.

Understudies contend in excess of twelve games and appreciate in excess of 70 upper school clubs and affinity gatherings. Educational cost for ninth through twelfth graders in 2024 is $46,750, and in excess of 33% of the school's families get financial guidance.

Situated close to LaSalle College and the 1,800-section of land Wissahickon Valley Park in the Germantown area, GFS is walking distance from shopping and dining along noteworthy Germantown Road, lined with former streetcar tracks. Homes ooze period-style originality, and the middle apartment cost is 208,000. The middle cost for a single-family home is 337,500.

St. Joseph’s Preparatory School

Neighborhood: North Philadelphia West |Niche Grade: A+

St. Joseph's Private Academy positions #1 on Specialty's rundown of best high schools for competitors in Pennsylvania, and its football program has brought home eight PIAA state titles. This metropolitan all-young men Catholic school run by Jesuits has a centuries-in length history of producing good-to-go pioneers.

Notwithstanding its stalwart games, the school's many clubs include broadcasting, filmmaking, jazz band, and Mathletes. Candidates should finish the Prep Selection test and have generally As. The educational cost is around $28,000 in 2024.

The school is within the North Philadelphia West area. This region is home to remarkable jazz artists and social liberties activists, and brimming with columns of brownstones and lively paintings. Retail, dining, and diversion choices flourish, including the Martin Luther King Entertainment Center and Fairmount Park's Fighters' Path, where Muhammad Ali took on Joe Frazier. The middle cost for a condo is $179,000, while $366,000 is the middle cost for a single-family home.

William Penn Charter School

Neighborhood: East Falls |Niche Grade: A+

William Penn Contract School is a prekindergarten through twelfth-level Quaker Companions school specializing in helping understudies accomplish four domains: gallant students, merciful companions, productive communicators, and change cultivators. Understudies can partake in eight varsity sports and in excess of 40 clubs, as well as vast local area administration occasions. The educational cost is $41,975 in 2024, and 40% of families get financial guidance.

WPCS is near the Thomas Jefferson College grounds in Philadelphia's East Falls area, known for its riverfront eateries, markets, and stops. In this forested suburb, twin and rowhomes blend in with single-family Tudor-recovery and Pioneer single-family homes. Popular bars, pizza shops, and a craftsman ranchers market add to East Falls' mixed energy. The middle cost for a condo is $315,000, and the middle cost for a single-family home is around $480,000.

Factors to Consider Beyond School Rankings

While the schools in our rundown all get high generally Specialty grades, and GreatSchools ratings were accessible, it's likewise savvy to zero in on the information that concerns you most. Specialty gives a general grade as well as unambiguous grades for scholastics, school prep, clubs and exercises, variety, sports, and instructors. For instance, assuming you're generally interested in the nature of the teaching staff and educational plan, look for Specialty grades acquired in both the educators and the scholastics classes. Different elements found on Specialty include non-public school educational cost, normal graduation rate, and understudy instructor proportion.

Much more basic at times than a school's measurements is whether the school's way of life feels like a solid match. You can actually take a look at this by touring the school grounds. You might need to affirm more modest class sizes, fresher offices, or walkability to school. Furthermore, if, for instance, you might want to see the reason why St. Joseph's Private Academy gets an A+ for sports, you could meet the mentors or visit the game conveniences. School guides can provide you with a feeling of how invested a high school is in school confirmations.