8 public K-12 schools in Desert Hot Springs from NCES Common Core of Data: enrollment, grade span, demographics, and Civil Rights Data Collection statistics for every active campus.
8 public schools ranked by quality score. NCES CCD 2024-25 data.
The highest-ranked of Desert Hot Springs's 8 public schools is Desert Hot Springs High, scoring 37/100, against a city average of 28.1/100. Computed live across every Desert Hot Springs campus reporting to NCES.
How the Desert Hot Springs Public-School Landscape Breaks Down
Desert Hot Springs, CA enrolls 6,296 students across 8 public schools reporting to the National Center for Education Statistics. The average student-teacher ratio across the city is 20.8:1, and the composite quality score, derived from student-teacher ratio, counselor access, gifted-program availability, and CRDC attendance data, averages 28.1/100. Schools must report at least five campuses in a city to appear in this listing, which is why very small towns may redirect to the broader county or state view.
The most-resourced campus in Desert Hot Springs on this index is Desert Hot Springs High, at 37/100 on the Resource Investment Index with 1,687 enrolled students. What the index does and doesn't measure; click any school below for its full component breakdown.
Desert Hot Springs spans 1 district, each filing its own NCES F-33 return, per-pupil spending can vary between neighbouring campuses. Sort the table below by enrollment, level, or district; click any school for its full profile.
Desert Hot Springs High accounts for 26.8% of all Desert Hot Springs public-school enrollment
That concentration means Desert Hot Springs-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the dominant entity. Grade level: High. A dominant campus often anchors a city's program landscape and absorbs a disproportionate share of district capital and staffing decisions. When one entity dominates a region's footprint, its programmatic and budget decisions effectively set policy for a majority of the affected population.
Desert Hot Springs school enrollment varies 4.2× across entities
Desert Hot Springs school enrollment ranges from 397 students (lowest) to 1,687 students (highest), a spread of 1,290 students. That relatively narrow ratio reflects an unusually homogeneous school portfolio for a city this size. Per-school staffing, programme depth, and capital-renovation cycles often diverge inside the same city based on enrollment shape, a 200-student magnet runs a different operational model than a 2,000-student comprehensive high school.
Desert Hot Springs has higher-than-average Title I eligibility — 95.2% of the population qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch
free or reduced-price lunch eligibility is the federal threshold for Title I funding allocations, established under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA, 2015). Eligibility here is a supermajority of the population — well past the 75% concentration-grant threshold that unlocks extra funding on top of the basic Title I formula. Regions with eligibility this high typically draw a substantially larger federal funding share relative to their local tax base, which can either offset or reinforce existing gaps depending on allocation policy.
Desert Hot Springs operates only 1 school district — one of the single most consolidated governance structures in the country
Most Desert Hot Springs school districts are a single unified district covering the whole city, a structural feature that simplifies inter-school comparison but concentrates policy authority, and the count here is near the floor observed nationally. Consolidation produces narrower variance because resources pool across a large population, but it can also mask intra-school district inequities — sub-school district differences within a single school district are not visible at this aggregation level. Consolidated systems typically rely more heavily on top-down funding formulas than on local revenue variability.
Desert Hot Springs student-teacher ratio is 20.8:1 — high (typically associated with larger urban scale or staffing constraints that have widened the headcount gap)
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.
Most racially and ethnically mixed schools in Desert Hot Springs
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.
What are the best schools in Desert Hot Springs, CA? ▼
The highest-ranked school in Desert Hot Springs is Desert Hot Springs High with a quality score of 37/100. There are 8 public schools in Desert Hot Springs with 6,296 total students.
How many schools are in Desert Hot Springs, CA? ▼
Desert Hot Springs has 8 public schools with a total enrollment of 6,296 students. Average student-teacher ratio: 20.8:1.
Data from NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) 2024-25 and Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) 2021-22. Quality scores based on student-teacher ratio,
counselor access, gifted programs, and attendance. Schools must have 5+ in the city to be listed.
Disclaimer: This information is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute professional advice. Data is sourced from the NCES Common Core of Data (CCD). Consult a qualified professional before making decisions based on this data.
Read our methodology, which explains how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
