Enrollment
911
California · 2024-25 NCES data
2024-25 NCES data High school (grades 9-12) NCES 060678000599
Half Moon Bay High — Half Moon Bay, CA
Federal NCES profile for Half Moon Bay High, including enrollment, faculty, free-lunch eligibility, demographics, and resource indicators — Resource Investment Index 45/100.
👥 Class size 15
📚 AP courses 100
🌟 Gifted program 30
🎓 Counselors 39
📋 Attendance 43
How this works: Each indicator above is scored 0–100 from federal NCES and CRDC data, then averaged into the Resource Investment Index. This measures resource allocation — staffing, programs, and support services — not standardized test scores or academic outcomes. Full methodology →
School address
District: Cabrillo Unified · California
Public location data per NCES (National Center for Education Statistics) Common Core of Data. Verify the school's current address on the NCES CCD record.
Teachers (FTE)
48.0
Federal CCD staff survey
Students per teacher
21.3:1
vs 21.6:1 California avg
-1% vs state
Free-lunch eligible
29.8%
vs 55.5% California avg
-46% vs state
Student-teacher ratio in context
How Half Moon Bay High compares with California and U.S. medians
The federal record — no proprietary index, no editorial formula.
PlainSchools publishes the actual federal measurements — enrollment, staffing, demographics, discipline, and finance — straight from the NCES Common Core of Data, CRDC, and F-33 surveys. No composite rating, no opinion-based score on top. You get the same raw numbers researchers and policymakers use, with benchmarks, spending context, and equity indicators computed from the same federal datasets. Full methodology linked below.
What this school's NCES data tells you
Half Moon Bay High reports 911 enrolled students to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) alongside 48.0 full-time-equivalent teachers, producing a 21.3:1 student-teacher ratio. That figure sits 1% below the California state mean of 21.6:1, signalling more teacher attention per pupil than the state benchmark. Against the national 2024-25 average of 15.9:1, it is 34% higher, a useful calibration for families comparing districts across state lines.
Title I and federal lunch eligibility offer another window into the student body: 29.8% of pupils qualify for free meals, a proxy for household income that federal programs use to direct funding. The free-lunch share is 46% below the California average and 42% below the national baseline. The school offers 25 Advanced Placement courses, a stronger academic pipeline indicator than enrollment alone. Counselor coverage works out to roughly 304 students per counselor, above the ASCA-recommended ceiling of 250:1. Chronic absenteeism — missing 10% or more of school days — stands at 22.8% according to the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection.
On the finance side, the surrounding Cabrillo Unified spends $22,114 per pupil district-wide, above the California average of $18,039 and above the national average of $19,490. Revenue comes 78.4% from local sources (property taxes), 15.8% from the state, and 5.8% from federal programs per the NCES F-33 finance survey. Taken together, these measurements produce a Resource Investment Index of 45/100 (D), calculated from 5 distinct NCES and CRDC indicators measuring resource allocation rather than academic outcomes.
Source: National Center for Education Statistics Common Core of Data + CRDC + F-33 · 2024-25
How Half Moon Bay High compares
Cross-validating school-level NCES values against California state and U.S. national means lets readers see whether this school is an outlier or in line with peers.
| Metric | This school | vs California | California avg | U.S. avg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Students per teacher | 21.3:1 | ▼ 1% | 21.6:1 | 15.9:1 |
| Free-lunch eligible | 29.8% | ▼ 46% | 55.5% | 51.8% |
| Enrollment | 911 | top 87% | — | — |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data School-level CCD + state/national means from Public School Universe · 2024-25
What the federal data reveals about equity at this school
Federal measurements — not ratings — surface the resource and opportunity picture. Below are the indicators that researchers, civil-rights monitors, and funding formulas use to assess equity.
Economic need
29.8%
free-lunch eligible
— 46% below the California average of 55.5%
Below the 40% Title I threshold — federal aid targets individual qualifying students rather than schoolwide programs.
Staffing depth
21.3:1
students per teacher
— 1% below state mean
Top 42% in California — lower ratio than 58% of state schools
Above 20:1 — larger class loads than the typical U.S. public school; staffing is stretched relative to enrollment.
Engagement
22.8%
chronically absent (missed 10%+ of school days)
Chronic absenteeism at or above 20% — the CDC threshold for "high" — signals significant barriers to regular attendance.
Funding equity
$22,114
per pupil, district-wide
— above California avg of $18,039
Above the U.S. public-school average, reflecting higher local or state investment per enrolled student.
Support staff
Counselors3.0 FTE
Per 304 students — the combined health-and-guidance staffing load for this school.
Discipline context
2
in-school suspensions + 29 out-of-school
Suspension rate: 0.2 per 100 students. Combined in-school and out-of-school rate: 3.4 per 100 students. Reported via the Civil Rights Data Collection.
Overview
Enrollment 911 Top 87% in California — larger than 13% of 10,006 state schools
Teachers (FTE) 48.0
Students per teacher 21.3:1 -1% vs state
Free-lunch eligible 29.8% -46% vs state
NCES ID 060678000599
Student demographics
Hispanic or Latino 50.9%
White 41.5%
Two or More 4.7%
Asian 2.6%
African American 0.2%
Largest group: Hispanic or Latino at 50.9% of enrollment.
Programs & staff
AP courses offered 25
Counselors (FTE) 3.0
Students per counselor 304:1
Discipline & special education
Chronically absent 22.8%
In-school suspensions 2
Out-of-school suspensions 29
Funding & spending
District-wide per-pupil expenditure for Cabrillo Unified, which includes Half Moon Bay High.
$22,114
Per student
+23%
vs California
Avg $18,039
+13%
vs U.S.
Avg $19,490
Revenue mix
Local 78.4%
State 15.8%
Federal 5.8%
Source: NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey District-level finance · FY 2021-22 Per-pupil expenditure reflects the district-wide average. Individual school budgets are not reported at the federal level.
Other Schools in This District
- Enrollment
- 544
- Students per teacher
- 22.6:1
- Enrollment
- 521
- Students per teacher
- 20.9:1
- Enrollment
- 324
- Students per teacher
- 18.7:1
- Enrollment
- 177
- Students per teacher
- 27.3:1
- Enrollment
- 46
- Students per teacher
- 17.7:1
Similar high schools in Half Moon Bay
1 comparable high schools (grades 9-12) serving the same city.
Educator & family resources
In-depth guides on understanding NCES data, school choice, and education funding.
Understanding NCES data
How CCD, CRDC and EDFacts feed every public-school number you see.
Choose a school district
Eight signals that matter more than the overall ranking number.
How schools are funded
Title I, F-33, state aid formulas and what per-pupil spending really means.
Chronic absenteeism
Why missing 10% of school matters and how it varies by district.
Magnet vs charter vs traditional
Three school types, three funding models, three sets of trade-offs.
School discipline data
What CRDC suspension and expulsion records do and don't reveal.
Frequently asked questions about Half Moon Bay High
How many students attend Half Moon Bay High?
Half Moon Bay High has 911 students enrolled. It is a high school in Half Moon Bay, CA.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Half Moon Bay High?
The student-teacher ratio at Half Moon Bay High is 21.3:1, which is 1% lower than the California average of 21.6:1 and 34% higher than the national average of 15.9:1. Lower ratios generally mean more individual attention per student.
What percentage of students receive free lunch at Half Moon Bay High?
29.8% of students at Half Moon Bay High are eligible for free lunch, compared to the California average of 55.5%.
What is the racial and ethnic makeup of Half Moon Bay High?
The largest demographic group at Half Moon Bay High is Hispanic or Latino at 50.9%. The school serves a diverse student body in Half Moon Bay, CA.
What is the Resource Investment Index for Half Moon Bay High?
Half Moon Bay High has a Resource Investment Index of 45/100 (D) based on 5 factors: student-teacher ratio, AP course offerings, counselor availability, attendance rates. This index measures federal resource allocation — staffing levels, program availability, and support services — not standardized test scores or academic outcomes.