The 50 Best High Schools in Texas
Texas runs more than 1,500 public high schools, and its best list is a fight between three kinds of schools: Dallas ISD's Townview magnet powerhouses, the selective academies of Houston, Austin, and San Antonio, and the big suburban comprehensives of Southlake, Coppell, Katy, and Frisco. We scored the candidates on Texas state outcomes (50%), U.S. News rankings (25%), Niche grades (15%), and GreatSchools ratings (10%), then ranked the composite. The top spot goes to Dallas — the School for the Talented and Gifted, #1 in Texas and #8 in the nation in the 2026–27 U.S. News edition — with its Townview neighbor, the School of Science and Engineering, right behind it.
Then every school on the draft list went through the existence gate: checked against Texas Education Agency campus records and NCES to confirm it is a real, open campus — not a district, not a program inside another school, and not a name that closed years ago. The gate caught real traps. KIPP Austin Brave still appears in a 2026 charter ranking roundup, but KIPP Texas's board voted on December 10, 2025 to close it at the end of the 2025–26 school year, so it is out. The Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science is a famous program, but it operates wholly inside the University of North Texas and is not a TEA-listed campus, so it is out too. And Houston's original Westchester High School closed in 1985 — the Westchester Academy on our list at #35 is a different, current Spring Branch ISD campus on the same site, verified separately.
How this ranking was built — and what got cut
The composite is the published school formula — TEA/state outcomes 50%, U.S. News 25%, Niche 15%, GreatSchools 10% — applied to Texas public high schools only: comprehensive, magnet, charter, and early-college/T-STEM campuses that grant standard diplomas and hold their own TEA campus listing. Selectivity is disclosed, not hidden: the top of this list is dominated by application and audition magnets (TAG, Carnegie Vanguard, DeBakey, LASA), and the highest-ranked school a student can simply be zoned to is Westlake High School in Austin at #19, followed by Carroll Senior High School in Southlake at #20. Private schools were out of scope for this list by design.
The existence gate, run against TEA campus records and NCES, returned 47 clean, 2 flags, and a set of documented kills across an 88-school pool. The kills are the credibility of the list: KIPP Austin Brave (closed at the end of 2025–26 by a December 10, 2025 board vote, even though it still circulates on 2026 ranking pages), iUniversity Prep (Niche's #8 public high school in Texas, but a fully virtual academy with no campus — ambiguity is out), the Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science (a UNT program, not a TEA campus), and every district name offered up as a school — Carroll ISD, Highland Park ISD, and Eanes ISD are districts; their campuses, Carroll Senior High School, Highland Park High School, and Westlake High School, are what appear here.
Two flags are disclosed rather than smoothed over. Spring Branch Academic Institute (#10) is its own TEA campus (101920018) with a perfect 100 of 100 on its 2025 TEA School Report Card and a #3 Niche ranking in Texas — but it enrolls just 174 students across grades 1–12 and graduates roughly 39 a year, so its slot is held below the magnets with full four-signal coverage: a small-sample hold, on the published precedent. Mansfield Frontier High School (#12) made its U.S. News debut in 2026–27 at #3 in Texas and #33 nationally with a 100% graduation rate; a single-edition debut with no prior-edition history earns the slot and the flag at the same time. The bottom of the list is a band, not a photo finish — Allen High School is the documented first alternate.
The full Top 50
Dallas
Dallas
Austin
Houston
Dallas
Houston
San Antonio
Dallas
Austin
Houston
Grand Prairie
Mansfield
Dallas
Dallas
San Antonio
San Antonio
Houston
Houston
Austin
Southlake
Dallas
Austin
Katy
Coppell
Sugar Land
Austin
Plano
Frisco
Mercedes
Lubbock
Westlake
Bulverde
Dallas
Houston
Houston
Houston
Katy
Fort Worth
Fort Worth
Grand Prairie
San Antonio
Frisco
Frisco
Irving
Lucas
Sugar Land
Houston
Houston
Houston
Olmito
How we rank
Ranked on academics, college readiness, graduation outcomes, and student & parent reviews — 2026 composite.
Before any scoring, every candidate passes our existence gate: confirmed open, operating at the location listed, and showing recent activity. Anything closed, moved, or mislabeled is removed — no exceptions, no grandfathering. Weights and sources are published on our methodology page.
Notes & corrections
School facts move — districts consolidate, charters close, new academies open. This list is re-verified against state and federal registries before it is posted anywhere, and spot-checked on a rolling basis. If you spot a change we haven't caught, email [email protected] and we will correct the record publicly. If it's listed, it exists.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best high school in Texas?
The School for the Talented and Gifted in Dallas ranks #1. It is #1 in Texas and #8 nationally in the 2026–27 U.S. News edition, #1 in Texas on Niche's 2026 public list, and an A-rated TEA campus — first or tied-first on every quarter of the composite. It is a selective magnet: admission is by application, which we disclose rather than bury. Its Townview Center neighbor, the School of Science and Engineering, ranks #2.
How are Texas high schools ranked here?
Texas state outcomes carry 50% of the composite (TEA A–F accountability, TEA School Report Card data, and state assessment tables), U.S. News rankings 25%, Niche grades 15%, and GreatSchools ratings 10%. Every finalist was first verified as an open, TEA-listed campus against TEA and NCES records. Only public high schools were scored for this list.
Why isn't the Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science (TAMS) ranked?
Because there is no TEA-listed high school campus to rank. TAMS is an early-entrance residential program that operates wholly within the University of North Texas — admitted students withdraw from their high schools and take UNT courses as UNT students (UNT's own description, 2024). It is an excellent program; it is not a Texas public high school campus, and this list ranks campuses. The same rule removed iUniversity Prep, a virtual academy with no campus, despite its #8 Niche ranking in Texas.
Are magnet and charter schools included?
Yes — magnets, charters, and early-college high schools are included when they are their own TEA-listed campus granting a standard diploma, and their selectivity is disclosed. Eight of the top ten are magnets or charters. The top-ranked open-enrollment comprehensive high schools are Westlake (Austin) at #19, Carroll Senior (Southlake) at #20, and Highland Park (Dallas) at #21.
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