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Half Moon Bay, California - 7 schools
An equity score of 43/100 ranks Cabrillo Unified #935 of 1517 districts in California (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $16,643 per pupil, Cabrillo Unified ranks #603 of 1862 California districts by per-pupil spending (California districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
2,748
Total Enrollment
7
Schools
$16,643
Per-Pupil Spending
Elementary, High
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Cabrillo Unified operates 7 public schools serving 2,748 students, placing it among the smallest districts in California. The school portfolio breaks down into 4 elementary, 2 high, 1 middle schools, a small enough portfolio that most families will interact with nearly every campus in the district at some point. These enrollment and school figures come from the NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) 2024-25 release, and the district is based in San Mateo County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $16,643 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the upper half of 1862 California districts by per-pupil spending. See how California compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 78.4% local, 15.8% state, and 5.8% federal, a local-revenue-heavy mix that leaves the district more exposed to property-tax swings and local ballot measures than state-funded peers. The district's equity score is 43/100, ranked #935 of 1517 in California against a state average of 50, in line with the typical spread seen across the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
Academic infrastructure includes 1 of 7 schools offering Advanced Placement (25 AP courses district-wide), a 196.4:1 student-counselor ratio, that meets the ASCA-recommended benchmark, and 23.4% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 47.4% Hispanic or Latino, 44.2% White, 1.7% Asian across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is El Granada Elementary, with a diversity index of 59.8/100.
Half Moon Bay High accounts for 33.2% of all Cabrillo Unified student enrollment
That dominant concentration means Cabrillo Unified-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the dominant entity. Grade band: high. A single dominant campus often anchors a district's program offerings and staffing patterns; the share helps explain why district-wide averages may not reflect the typical neighbourhood-school experience. When one entity dominates a region's footprint, its programmatic and budget decisions effectively set policy for a majority of the affected population.
Cabrillo Unified school enrollment varies 36× across entities
Cabrillo Unified 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 enrollment heterogeneity, the district operates both small specialty programs and large comprehensive campuses inside a single budgeting unit. Per-school staffing ratios, programme availability, and capital-renovation cycles often diverge inside the same district based on enrollment shape.
Cabrillo Unified student-counselor ratio is 196:1 — low (typically associated with meeting or exceeding the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) recommended 250:1 benchmark, which correlates with stronger college and career counseling capacity)
student-counselor ratio is the simplest comparative metric but it does not capture the full picture: the ratio counts FTE counselors against total enrollment, districts that contract intervention or social-emotional staff outside the counselor classification may be under-counted Lower values often correlate with smaller scale and population characteristics rather than higher resource budgets per se.
Cabrillo Unified chronic absenteeism rate is 23.4% — near the typical range (US average ~28) — aligned with the national post-pandemic baseline of roughly 28% chronic absenteeism
chronic absenteeism rate is the simplest comparative metric but it does not capture the full picture: a student is chronically absent if they miss ≥10% of enrolled days for any reason, illness, family obligations, or disengagement Variation between sub-units within Cabrillo Unified is typically wider than the Cabrillo Unified-aggregate figure suggests.