2024 Best High Schools in Maine

What High School Paths Does Maine Provide?

Maine has 204 high schools, 60% of which are public, leaving 78 private schools in the state. Although the average state has about 486 high schools (Maine has 58% fewer), per capita Maine actually has 33% more than the typical state, ranking it #10 in the nation. This can mean that there are diverse education paths in many parts of the state, particularly in and around larger cities. As a whole, the state's average school rating is a B–, but public schools on average rate a C+, which is slightly below the national average.

In total, 115 of the 123 public schools are traditional public schools. Approximately 43% of those traditional public schools sit above the national average, so you can still find 49 such schools that are considered better than normal.

Diving deeper into public high school alternatives, there are also 6 charter schools (ranking Maine in the 30th spot for most charter schools per capita vs the average state). In total, 33% of those charter schools exceed the national average in quality. Also, of the 2 magnet high schools, both earned above average marks.

Shifting now to private high schools, there are 78 in total to choose from (roughly 38% of all schools). Again, although the figure may seem relatively small, Maine actually has 113% more private school options than the average state per capita, so despite a smaller state population there are still numerous private school options. With a median rating of A–, approximately half (50%) of Maine's private schools are rated above the national average. About 40% of private high schools in Maine are religiously affiliated, led primarily by Christian schools which total 29. The state ranks 11th for most religious schools per capita, so it is slightly above the average. There is also just a single all-boys option in the state, which is 56% less than the typical state (again, after normalizing for population size). There are no all-girls schools in Maine.

Finally, there are only 2 schools offering online options (just 1% of all schools). This actually ranks Maine in the 27th position in terms of online schools per capita vs. the typical state (it's below the average by 6%).