The 10 Best High Schools in St. Louis, MO (2026)

If you’re moving to St. Louis and schools are your top priority, this article breaks down the top 10 schools in the St. Louis metro.

From Rockwood Summit to Ladue Horton Watkins, this list will help you narrow your search for the perfect home for your family.

How St. Louis High Schools Rank in 2026

We have tracked this list since 2023, and the order below follows Niche’s ranking of public high schools in the St. Louis area. Because that is a metro ranking rather than a county or state one, it covers both sides of the river, which matters here: one school on this list is in Illinois. There is no 2024 column because no 2024 snapshot of Niche’s page was ever archived, not because Niche skipped a year.

Alongside it we have put each school’s U.S. News ranking, graduation rate and college-readiness score. The two bodies weigh different things, and on this list they disagree more sharply than on any other page we maintain. Where they part company, the gap is usually the most useful thing on the row.

Source: Niche, Best Public High Schools in the St. Louis Area. 2026 read from the live ranking on 2026-08-25; 2025 from the Internet Archive capture of the same page dated 2025-08-24; 2023 is this article’s original order.

Three years in, the movement matters more than any single placement. Metro High has climbed from eighth to third, and on the U.S. News list it is not third but first, in the metro and in Missouri.

Parkway West has fallen five places on Niche while U.S. News still rates it fourth in the metro, which is about as wide as the two bodies get. Ladue and Clayton have not moved at all in three editions. Two schools have arrived in the top ten since we first wrote this, and two have dropped out of it.

#1: Ladue Horton Watkins

2026 rankings: #1 in the St. Louis area on Niche, graded A+, and unmoved across all three editions. U.S. News places it 11th in the metro, with a 98% graduation rate and a 61.3 college-readiness score.

Ladue Horton Watkins is the number one school system on this list. It serves all of Ladue, Olivette, and parts of Creve Coeur, Frontenac, Huntleigh, and Westwood. Ladue typically ranks very high across the board.

Those looking to save money may want to consider living in Olivette or Creve Coeur, which can still be pricey but not as expensive as Ladue.

#2: Clayton High School

2026 rankings: #2 on Niche, graded A+, also unmoved since 2023. U.S. News is more enthusiastic still, ranking it 3rd in the metro with a 97% graduation rate and the second-highest college-readiness score on this page at 65.6.

Clayton High School is located right next to downtown Clayton and Shaw Park and serves all of Clayton and some parts of Richmond Heights.

It’s one of the highest-ranking school districts, but living in Clayton can certainly be pricey. Clayton is a great mix of urban and suburban living, with downtown Clayton having a ton of commerce, restaurants and offices.

#3: Metro High

2026 rankings: #3 on Niche, graded A+, up from 6th in 2025 and 8th when we first published. U.S. News ranks it first in the St. Louis metro and first in Missouri, with a 99% graduation rate and a college-readiness score of 91.2, comfortably the highest on this page. It is also the smallest school here at 317 students.

Metro Academic and Classical High School, or Metro High for short, is the only school in St. Louis City on this list. It is a selective magnet school, and that is a real distinction worth understanding before you start house hunting around it.

Most public high schools are what people call catchment schools. Your home address sits inside a boundary drawn by the district, and that boundary decides which school your child attends. Buy a house in the boundary and your child has a place. It is the reason families shop for a house and a school at the same time.

Metro does not work that way. It is non-catchment, meaning there is no boundary and no address that entitles you to a place. Students apply and are selected, from anywhere in the city.

So a house near Metro is just a house near Metro. It buys you a short drive and nothing else.

It’s located in the Central West End, a beautiful and historic neighborhood. With Euclid Avenue nearby, you’ll have access to shopping, restaurants, and nightlife in the Central West End.

Forest Park is also around the corner, making it a great place to take the kids or the dog for a walk.

#4: Lafayette

2026 rankings: #4 on Niche, graded A+, down one place from 3rd in both 2023 and 2025. U.S. News ranks it 5th in the metro, with a 97% graduation rate and a 53.6 college-readiness score.

Lafayette High School is part of the Rockwood School System and serves a big part of Wildwood and the western side of Chesterfield.

Lafayette is a top-rated school, and local residents of West County speak very highly of the entire Rockwood school district.

#5: Gateway Science Academy Fyler

2026 rankings: #5 on Niche, graded A+, up from 8th in 2025. It was not on our original list, and it is the one school here with no U.S. News metro ranking, because it is a charter school and U.S. News ranks charters on a separate list. Absent from that list is not the same as rated poorly.

Gateway Science Academy is a public charter in south St. Louis City with roughly 490 high-school students, and like Metro High it is non-catchment: there is no attendance boundary, and students apply from across the city rather than qualifying by address.

That is the practical point for anyone house hunting. Neither of the two City schools in this year’s top five comes with a house, so no purchase anywhere can secure a place at either one.

Its rise is the quietest story in this year’s table. It has moved from outside our original ten to fifth in the metro in two editions.

#6: Marquette

2026 rankings: #6 on Niche, graded A, after sitting 4th in 2025 and 5th in 2023. U.S. News is markedly cooler, ranking it 16th in the metro with a 95% graduation rate and a 43.1 college-readiness score. At 2,095 students it is the largest school on this page.

Marquette is another school in the Rockwood School System. It serves parts of Chesterfield, Ballwin, and all of Clarkson Valley.

Clarkson Valley is often overlooked, but it’s pretty much the same as Chesterfield, just much smaller. Home prices in this area are more reasonable than in Town and Country and Westwood.

#7: Parkway Central

2026 rankings: #7 on Niche, graded A, holding the same position it took in 2025. U.S. News ranks it 14th in the metro, with a 97% graduation rate and a 40.7 college-readiness score.

Parkway Central serves different areas, including Westwood, Creve Coeur, and Chesterfield. There are over a dozen elementary schools in Creve Coeur and Chesterfield that are part of Parkway Central’s feeder system.

Town and Country and Westwood are the most expensive options in this school district.

#8: Kirkwood High

2026 rankings: #8 on Niche, graded A, down three places from 5th in 2025. U.S. News ranks it 17th in the metro, with a 97% graduation rate and a 45.5 college-readiness score.

The Kirkwood school system serves Kirkwood, Oakland, Des Peres, Huntleigh, and Frontenac. Kirkwood High School is a phenomenal school and the archrival of Webster Groves in sports.

Kirkwood High completed construction on the Walker Natatorium, a 25,000 square-foot aquatic facility with a 115-foot pool and diving boards.

#9: Parkway West

2026 rankings: #9 on Niche, graded A, down from 4th when we first published. U.S. News disagrees more here than anywhere else on this list, ranking it 4th in the metro on a 98% graduation rate and a 48.8 college-readiness score.

Parkway West is one high school within the Parkway School System. It serves a big portion of Town and Country and parts of Chesterfield.

There are also parts of Ballwin and Manchester that are part of Parkway West, which are usually more affordable than Town and Country and Chesterfield.

#10: Fort Zumwalt West

2026 rankings: #10 on Niche, graded A, up four places from 14th in 2025 and the biggest climb on this page. U.S. News agrees almost exactly, ranking it 10th in the metro, with a 94% graduation rate and a 29.0 college-readiness score.

Fort Zumwalt West is in O’Fallon, Missouri, and is the first St. Charles County school to reach this list. It is also the top-ranked high school in that county on Niche, which we cover in more detail in our guide to the best high schools in St. Charles County.

Its arrival says something about where the metro is growing. St. Charles County has been the fastest-growing part of the region for years, and the school rankings are starting to reflect that rather than lag it.

Rockwood Summit

2026 rankings: #11 on Niche, graded A, just outside the ten after placing 10th in 2023 and 12th in 2025. It has no U.S. News metro placing, ranking 38th in Missouri, though its 97% graduation rate and 45.4 college-readiness score are both stronger than several schools above it.

Rockwood Summit has hovered on the edge of this list in all three editions, and one place either way is not a meaningful change in a metro with nearly 190 ranked high schools.

Rockwood Summit High is part of the Rockwood School District, which serves the entire western portion of St. Louis County.

This includes Chesterfield, Wildwood, Ellisville, Ballwin, Eureka, and parts of Jefferson County. Rockwood Summit is located in Fenton.

O’Fallon Township

2026 rankings: #19 on Niche, down from 9th on our original list and 20th in 2025. It is the one school here with no U.S. News metro number, because that list covers Missouri only. On the Illinois state ranking it places 165th.

Worth clearing up first, because it confuses people constantly: this is O’Fallon, Illinois, not O’Fallon, Missouri. They are two different towns about forty miles apart, in different states, with entirely different school districts. The Missouri one is served by Fort Zumwalt, which is tenth on this list.

With a student body of around 2,500, O’Fallon Township is one of the largest high schools in the area and features a state-of-the-art campus. It’s the only school on this list on the Illinois side of St. Louis.

O’Fallon Township offers a wide range of academic programs, including Advanced Placement courses and dual-credit courses in partnership with local colleges.

The school is also well-known for its strong athletics program, with many of its sports teams regularly competing at the state level.

Choosing a School and a Neighborhood

Two rankings, twelve schools, and they disagree about nearly every one. That is worth sitting with rather than resolving. Niche leans harder on reviews and overall experience; U.S. News leans harder on college readiness and Advanced Placement results. Neither is measuring your kid.

The practical caution for a homebuyer is the one that catches people out. Two of this year’s top five are non-catchment schools, which simply means they have no attendance boundary: Metro High and Gateway Science Academy both admit students by application from across the city, so buying a particular house cannot secure a place at either.

Every other school on this list is the ordinary kind, where your address decides your school. Just remember that those boundaries do move, especially in the fast-growing parts of St. Charles County.

So confirm the boundary for a specific address rather than assuming it from the neighborhood, and tour the schools that make your shortlist.

If you’re moving to St. Louis and want some support with the home search, don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We love helping our clients on the journey.

At Gateway Realty Group, all of us are here to share our local real estate expertise to make your life easy during the buying or selling process.