Monkey Business Images // Shutterstock
1 / 25#25. Cornerstone School
- School type: Private School
- Location: Sioux Falls, SD
- Enrollment: 37 (8:1 student to teacher ratio)
- Niche grade: unavailable
Best high schools in the Sioux Falls metro area
According to the latest data from the National Center for Education Statistics, 15.5 million students attend public high school every year, and more than 3.76 million are expected to graduate in 2025. However, those students have a wide variety of experiences over the course of their high school careers.
To start, issues surrounding equal educational access persist throughout the United States. A January 2025 report published in Frontiers found that disparities across socioeconomic status, race, gender, and geography can lead to negative outcomes and the perpetuation of systemic barriers.
Outside of these issues, students also pursue many different paths within high school. Roughly 8.3 million high schoolers attend educational programs to prepare for careers in fields like transportation, landscaping, and culinary arts. Meanwhile, nearly 2.5 million are in dual enrollment programs that offer high school and college credit for the same course, allowing students to get a jump on higher education degrees.
Dual enrollment programs are particularly useful considering that more than 3 in 5 (61%) high school graduates head to college, per a 2024 Bureau of Labor Statistics report. Unfortunately, high school doesn't always guarantee college success. In 2024, the average SAT score declined for the third straight year, and nearly 2 in 5 (39%) test-takers met or exceeded the test's college readiness benchmarks. ACT scores are also on the decline year over year, down to 19.4 out of 36, and just 3 in 10 students met at least three of the ACT's college readiness benchmarks.
With that said, attending a quality high school will typically help prepare students for their next steps in life, whether that's college, technical school, or going straight into the workforce. Stacker compiled a list of the best high schools in the Sioux Falls metro area using data from Niche, which uses seven weighted factors for its rankings. Most of the score is based on academics, but other factors include culture and diversity; sports; clubs and activities; resources; and surveys of parents, teachers, and students.
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SEALANDSKYPHOTO // Shutterstock
2 / 25#24. Teachwell Academy High School - 01
- School type: Public School
- Location: Sioux Falls, SD
- Enrollment: 51 (9:1 student to teacher ratio)
- Niche grade: unavailable
panitanphoto // Shutterstock
3 / 25#23. Community Campus
- School type: Public School
- Location: Sioux Falls School District, SD
- Enrollment: 56 (14:1 student to teacher ratio)
- Niche grade: unavailable
sirtravelalot // Shutterstock
4 / 25#22. O'Gorman High School
- School type: Private School
- Location: Sioux Falls, SD
- Enrollment: 665 (13:1 student to teacher ratio)
- Niche grade: C+
DenisProduction.com // Shutterstock
5 / 25#21. Parker High School
- School type: Public School
- Location: Parker School District, SD
- Enrollment: 157 (14:1 student to teacher ratio)
- Niche grade: B minus
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6 / 25#20. West Central High School
- School type: Public School
- Location: West Central School District, SD
- Enrollment: 403 (18:1 student to teacher ratio)
- Niche grade: B minus
Anna Jurkovska // Shutterstock
7 / 25#19. Canton High School
- School type: Public School
- Location: Canton School District, SD
- Enrollment: 283 (15:1 student to teacher ratio)
- Niche grade: B minus
GagliardiPhotography // Shutterstock
8 / 25#18. Lennox High School
- School type: Public School
- Location: Lennox School District, SD
- Enrollment: 359 (16:1 student to teacher ratio)
- Niche grade: B minus
Mircea Moira // Shutterstock
9 / 25#17. Saint Mary Catholic Schools
- School type: Private School
- Location: Dell Rapids, SD
- Enrollment: 213 (12:1 student to teacher ratio)
- Niche grade: B minus
LStockStudio // Shutterstock
10 / 25#16. Tea Area High School
- School type: Public School
- Location: Tea Area School District, SD
- Enrollment: 610 (17:1 student to teacher ratio)
- Niche grade: B minus
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11 / 25#15. Garretson High School
- School type: Public School
- Location: Garretson School District, SD
- Enrollment: 128 (12:1 student to teacher ratio)
- Niche grade: B
maroke // Shutterstock
12 / 25#14. Tri-Valley High School
- School type: Public School
- Location: Tri-Valley School District, SD
- Enrollment: 276 (15:1 student to teacher ratio)
- Niche grade: B
Studio KIWI // Shutterstock
13 / 25#13. Baltic High School
- School type: Public School
- Location: Baltic School District, SD
- Enrollment: 162 (14:1 student to teacher ratio)
- Niche grade: B
Achira22 // Shutterstock
14 / 25#12. Sioux Falls Lutheran School
- School type: Private School
- Location: Sioux Falls, SD
- Enrollment: 454 (8:1 student to teacher ratio)
- Niche grade: B
LightField Studios // Shutterstock
15 / 25#11. Sioux Falls Christian School
- School type: Private School
- Location: Sioux Falls, SD
- Enrollment: 1,627 (18:1 student to teacher ratio)
- Niche grade: B
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16 / 25#10. Jefferson High School - 67
- School type: Public School
- Location: Sioux Falls School District, SD
- Enrollment: 1,749 (16:1 student to teacher ratio)
- Niche grade: B
ImageFlow // Shutterstock
17 / 25#9. Hills-Beaver Creek Secondary School
- School type: Public School
- Location: Hills-Beaver Creek School District, MN
- Enrollment: 196 (12:1 student to teacher ratio)
- Niche grade: B+
panitanphoto // Shutterstock
18 / 25#8. Harrisburg High School
- School type: Public School
- Location: Harrisburg School District, SD
- Enrollment: 1,613 (15:1 student to teacher ratio)
- Niche grade: B+
Jacob Lund // Shutterstock
19 / 25#7. Luverne Senior High School
- School type: Public School
- Location: Luverne Public School District, MN
- Enrollment: 378 (16:1 student to teacher ratio)
- Niche grade: B+
Roman Kosolapov // Shutterstock
20 / 25#6. Dell Rapids High School
- School type: Public School
- Location: Dell Rapids School District, SD
- Enrollment: 290 (15:1 student to teacher ratio)
- Niche grade: B+
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Monkey Business Images // Shutterstock
21 / 25#5. Roosevelt High School
- School type: Public School
- Location: Sioux Falls School District, SD
- Enrollment: 1,713 (16:1 student to teacher ratio)
- Niche grade: B+
Ground Picture // Shutterstock
22 / 25#4. West Lyon High School
- School type: Public School
- Location: West Lyon Community School District, IA
- Enrollment: 307 (15:1 student to teacher ratio)
- Niche grade: A minus
Tyler Olson // Shutterstock
23 / 25#3. Brandon Valley High School
- School type: Public School
- Location: Brandon Valley School District, SD
- Enrollment: 1,345 (21:1 student to teacher ratio)
- Niche grade: A minus
Monkey Business Images // Shutterstock
24 / 25#2. Washington High School
- School type: Public School
- Location: Sioux Falls School District, SD
- Enrollment: 1,910 (16:1 student to teacher ratio)
- Niche grade: A minus
Ground Picture // Shutterstock
25 / 25#1. Lincoln High School
- School type: Public School
- Location: Sioux Falls School District, SD
- Enrollment: 1,883 (16:1 student to teacher ratio)
- Niche grade: A minus
This story features data reporting by Rob Powell, writing by Jill Jaracz, and is part of a series utilizing data automation across 97 metros.
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