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Student ambassadors Darlene Garcia, left, and Jasury Mejia, both 17-years-old and seniors, talk about the themed hallway decorations in the senior area at YES Prep North Central, 13703\u00a0Aldine Westfield Rd., Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025, in Houston. The school was named one of\u00a0the best in the Houston metropolitan area and one of the top 500 high\u00a0schools in the U.S., according to 2026 rankings from U.S. News and World Report.<\/p>\n
Melissa Phillip\/Staff Photographer<\/p>\n
The Houston metro area<\/a> is home to 17 of the top 500 high schools in the U.S., according to new rankings published by the U.S. News and World Report<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n That is six more schools than in last year’s rankings<\/a>, when only 11 Houston-area high schools made the top 500, showing growth across the region.\u00a0<\/p>\n Among the area’s top-ranked high schools<\/a>, most are in traditional school districts, such as Houston and Katy ISDs, which have the most high schools on the list.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n But 15 charter schools also made the area’s top 50 schools, most of which were in the YES Prep and Harmony Public Schools networks.\u00a0<\/p>\n NEWS: Houston region’s best and worst performing school districts in 2026, per TEA A-F ratings<\/a><\/p>\n U.S. News and World Report publishes annual rankings of the\u00a0best high schools across the U.S.<\/a> This year, researchers evaluated about 27,000 eligible high schools to create the rankings, which include almost 18,000 schools. To be eligible for the rankings, high schools had to be public schools and enroll at least 15 students in the 12th grade. The report use the most recently available data for all 50 states, which was the 2023-24 school year. (The rankings could change when newer data is released.)<\/p>\n Houston\u00a0ISD had nine of the top 500 high schools<\/a> in the U.S. The first two Houston-area high schools in the rankings were Carnegie Vanguard and DeBakey High School \u2014 both HISD campuses \u2014 which ranked at No. 25 and No. 91, respectively. The third-highest ranked school in the metro area was Kerr High School in Alief ISD<\/a>, which was listed at No. 132 in the U.S. The school moved up almost 100 places on the list from last year, when it ranked No. 225 nationally.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n STAAR: These Houston-area school districts have the best high school STAAR scores<\/a><\/p>\n Only three charter schools<\/a> in the Houston area made the list of the nation’s top 500: Harmony School of Innovation-Katy, Harmony School of Discovery-Houston and YES Prep North Central.<\/p>\n Diving into the data<\/p>\n There were 15 Houston-area school districts with high schools among the top 50. Most had only one or two high schools represented, except Houston and Katy ISDs and YES Prep and Harmony Public Schools.\u00a0Houston ISD has the most high schools on this list, with 14.\u00a0Next was YES Prep, a charter school network with nine campuses on the list. Katy ISD and Harmony Public Schools each had five campuses.<\/p>\n