2024 Best High Schools in Missouri

What High School Paths Does Missouri Provide?

Missouri has 765 high schools, a whopping 57% more than the average state. This means that residents of the Show-Me State have a wide range of education paths available to them, and that there is likely a high school nearby no matter where you live. The average grade of all high schools in the state is a B–, which is right in line with the national average.

Of the 765 high schools in Missouri, 567 of them are public, which equates to 74% of all schools in the state. As for the traditional public schools, there are 543, which accounts for 96% of all public schools. Approximately 51% of those traditional public schools are rated above the national average, so you can expect to find 275 such schools that are better than normal.

In addition to the traditional public schools, there are 15 charter schools in the state. Relative to the average state, Missouri has 37% fewer charter schools, which ranks it lower than the national average. About 47% of those charter schools exceed expectations in terms of quality. As for magnet schools, there are 9 to choose from, which is 23% below the national average. Of these 9, 5 have grades that surpass the national average.

Moving on to private schools, there are 163 in total in Missouri (21% of all schools). Interestingly, the Show-Me State has the same number of private schools, per capita, as the average state. The median grade of these private schools is an A–, and of those 163, 53% are rated above the national average (87 in total). Similarly to the public schools, 71% of private schools are religiously affiliated, with 91 of those being Christian.

Finally, there are 20 all-boys schools and 14 all-girls schools in Missouri, which ranks it #9 and #11 respectively in terms of per capita offerings. This means that the state has 97% and 153% more all-boys and all-girls schools, respectively, than the average state (after normalizing for population size). As for online schools, there is just 1 in the state, which ranks it in the 43rd position per capita vs. the average state (it's below the average by 90%).