21 public K-12 schools in Downey from NCES Common Core of Data: enrollment, grade span, demographics, and Civil Rights Data Collection statistics for every active campus.
21 public schools ranked by quality score. NCES CCD 2024-25 data.
The highest-ranked of Downey's 21 public schools is Downey High, scoring 32/100, against a city average of 19.3/100. Computed live across every Downey campus reporting to NCES.
How the Downey Public-School Landscape Breaks Down
Downey, CA enrolls 22,405 students across 21 public schools reporting to the National Center for Education Statistics. The average student-teacher ratio across the city is 25.1:1, and the composite quality score, derived from student-teacher ratio, counselor access, gifted-program availability, and CRDC attendance data, averages 19.3/100. 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 Downey on this index is Downey High, at 32/100 on the Resource Investment Index with 4,051 enrolled students. What the index does and doesn't measure; click any school below for its full component breakdown.
Downey 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.
Downey High accounts for 18.1% of all Downey public-school enrollment
That concentration means Downey-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.
Downey school enrollment varies 289× across entities
Downey school enrollment ranges from 14 students (lowest) to 4,051 students (highest), a spread of 4,037 students. That ratio is an extreme outlier spread — among the widest gaps observed anywhere in this dataset. 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.
Downey has higher-than-average Title I eligibility — 58.5% 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). Areas above 75% eligibility receive concentration grants 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.
Downey operates only 1 school district — one of the single most consolidated governance structures in the country
Most Downey 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.
Downey student-teacher ratio is 25.1:1 — 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.
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.
