Compiled from official source data by PlainSchools.
5 public K-12 schools in Half Moon Bay from NCES Common Core of Data: enrollment, grade span, demographics, and Civil Rights Data Collection statistics for every active campus.
According to NCES CCD 2024-25, Half Moon Bay has more public-school enrollment than 17% of the 4,487 US cities in this directory. Half Moon Bay High enrolls 39.2% of Half Moon Bay's public-school students. That is enough concentration for one institution to pull the citywide enrollment, staffing, and Resource Index averages toward its own profile. The smaller campuses below should therefore be compared directly rather than inferred from the headline mean; their grade configurations and program footprints can be materially different even inside the same district.
Secondary campuses occupy an unusually large share
2 of the 5 listed Half Moon Bay schools are classified as high schools, a substantial share of the local portfolio. Advanced-course access, counseling, and graduation-stage staffing therefore have more weight in the city Resource Index average than they do in an elementary-heavy system.
A small portfolio contains radically different campus scales
Half Moon Bay lists only 5 schools, yet reported enrollment runs from 25 to 911 students, a 36-fold range. In a portfolio this compact, the smallest record may be a specialized or nonstandard setting rather than a miniature version of the largest campus. That distinction affects how ratios and program fields should be read. Compare similarly configured grade levels first; combining the extremes into one city average conceals more than it explains.
City enrollment
Top 83%
School count
Top 99%
Resource Index average
19th percentile
Teacher staffing
12th percentile
Half Moon Bay High accounts for 39.2% of all Half Moon Bay public-school enrollment
That dominant concentration means Half Moon Bay-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the largest entity. Grade level: High. The share measures enrollment concentration only; it does not establish how districts allocate programs, capital, or staff. Enrollment-weighted aggregates give this entity more weight than any smaller peer, while an unweighted entity average treats every record equally.
Half Moon Bay school enrollment varies 36× across entities
Half Moon Bay school enrollment ranges from 25 students (lowest) to 911 students (highest), a spread of 886 students. That ratio is among the widest observed and reflects extreme heterogeneity inside a single city, with small specialty programs listed alongside large comprehensive campuses. 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.
Half Moon Bay operates one school district — a single-district system
Half Moon Bay's listed schools share one district boundary, budget authority, and reporting chain. That makes citywide and districtwide governance easier to compare, but it does not make individual campuses uniform: grade configuration, staffing, programs, and student need can still vary materially within the same school district.
Half Moon Bay student-teacher ratio is 20.9:1 — 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 Half Moon Bay
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 do families ask about schools in Half Moon Bay?
Which Half Moon Bay school has the highest Resource Investment Index? ▼
Pilarcitos Alternative High (Continuation) has the highest Resource Investment Index among the Half Moon Bay schools in this federal-data comparison at 42/100. The index summarizes reported staffing, counseling, gifted-program, and attendance inputs; it is not an academic rating.
How many schools are in Half Moon Bay, CA? ▼
Half Moon Bay has 5 public schools with a total enrollment of 2,325 students. Average student-teacher ratio: 20.9:1.
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.
