33 public K-12 schools in Chico from NCES Common Core of Data: enrollment, grade span, demographics, and Civil Rights Data Collection statistics for every active campus.
National city placement
According to NCES CCD 2024-25, Chico has more public-school enrollment than 89% of the 4,487 US cities in this directory. Chico's average Resource Investment Index falls in the lower portion of the 4,487-city comparison set. The index is a resource snapshot, not an academic grade: it reflects the federal staffing, counselor, gifted-program, and attendance fields available for local campuses. The most useful next step is to open the individual schools below and identify which component is pulling each score down, because the same city average can hide very different campus-level constraints.
19 of Chico's 33 listed schools are elementary campuses. That composition means citywide enrollment and staffing averages are influenced more by early-grade operating patterns than by the city's 3 middle and 4 high-school records. Families comparing later grades should rely on those individual rows rather than the all-school mean.
10 of 33 listed Chico campuses are reported as charters, so district-run and charter records occupy substantial shares of the same city view. They may follow different governance, enrollment, and program structures even when their mailing city matches. The 61-point gap between Fair View High (Continuation) and Emma Wilson Elementary should be read within that context, not as a single-system league table. Check charter status and district affiliation before comparing two nearby schools, and verify current admissions rules with the operator.
Chico school enrollment ranges from 20 students (lowest) to 1,978 students (highest), a spread of 1,958 students. That ratio is an extreme outlier spread — among the widest gaps observed anywhere in this dataset. Per-school staffing and program breadth can differ sharply at opposite ends of that enrollment range, so the city average should not be treated as a typical campus.
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
Each school district has independent budgeting, hiring, and service delivery authority, and the sheer count here puts it in the extreme tail of fragmentation nationally. The fragmentation reflects historical patterns of inter-municipal boundary lines that pre-date modern city growth, students in different parts of the same city can attend different districts with different per-pupil spending, calendars, and graduation requirements. Per-region variation is largest in fragmented systems because each school district sets its own budget, contracts, and priorities without higher-level coordination above the regulatory floor.
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
student-teacher ratio is the simplest comparative metric but it does not capture the full picture: the ratio counts FTE classroom teachers against total enrollment, push-in specialists, English-language aides, special-education co-teachers, and counselors are not included in most reporting Higher values may reflect larger urban scale or recent resource constraints that have widened the gap.
30% of the city's listed public-school campuses are reported as charter schools in NCES CCD. Charter status identifies a different governance arrangement; it does not establish admissions availability, academic quality, or the share of city students enrolled in those campuses. Open each school record to compare enrollment and staffing directly.
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
| # | School | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Fair View High (Continuation) | 74 |
| 2. | Center for Alternative Learning | 57 |
| 3. | Butte County Community | 52 |
| 4. | Marsh (Harry M.) Junior High | 46 |
| 5. | Core Butte Charter | 45 |
| 6. | Academy for Change | 41 |
| 7. | Achieve Charter School of Chico | 38 |
| 8. | Nord Country | 38 |
| 9. | Wildflower Open Classroom | 38 |
| 10. | Pleasant Valley High | 37 |
| 11. | Parkview Elementary | 37 |
| 12. | Achieve Charter School of Paradise Inc. | 37 |
| 13. | Chico Country Day | 36 |
| 14. | Chico High | 35 |
| 15. | Sherwood Montessori | 35 |
| 16. | Chico Junior High | 34 |
| 17. | Pivot Charter School North Valley Ii | 34 |
| 18. | Shasta Elementary | 33 |
| 19. | Inspire School of Arts and Sciences | 33 |
| 20. | Oak Bridge Academy | 33 |
| 21. | Rosedale Elementary | 32 |
| 22. | Sierra View Elementary | 32 |
| 23. | Oakdale | 32 |
| 24. | Neal Dow Elementary | 28 |
| 25. | Hooker Oak Elementary | 28 |
| 26. | Little Chico Creek Elementary | 25 |
| 27. | Chapman Elementary | 24 |
| 28. | Bidwell Junior High | 22 |
| 29. | Blue Oak Charter | 21 |
| 30. | Citrus Avenue Elementary | 19 |
| 31. | Marigold Elementary | 18 |
| 32. | Mcmanus (John a.) Elementary | 17 |
| 33. | Emma Wilson Elementary | 13 |
Ranked by the Simpson student-body diversity index (0-100) from NCES race and ethnicity data, where higher means a more evenly mixed student body. It measures mix, not quality.
Fair View High (Continuation) has the highest Resource Investment Index among the Chico schools in this federal-data comparison at 74/100. The index summarizes reported staffing, counseling, gifted-program, and attendance inputs; it is not an academic rating.
Chico has 33 public schools with a total enrollment of 15,340 students. 10 are charter schools. Average student-teacher ratio: 21.8:1.
Side-by-side: Compare any two schools or districts in California →
Data from NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) 2024-25 and Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) 2021-22. The Resource Investment Index uses reported student-teacher ratio, counselor access, gifted programs, and attendance; it is not an academic rating. Cities must include at least five schools to be listed. This public-data comparison is for informational purposes: verify current enrollment, attendance boundaries, and programs with the school district before acting. See the guide to understanding NCES data.
