Back when I was in high school, I was exhausted from spending time in just one single high school. I can't imagine how tired the number-crunchers at US News & World Report must have been after evaluating nearly 24,000 high schools nationally, and then ranking almost 18,000 (17,901) of them for their new piece 2025-26 Best High School Rankings .

In addition to traditional high schools, the US News & World Report rankings encompass charter as well as science, technology, engineering and math-focused schools.

Although Illinois schools have a really good showing on the list, none of the high schools in Illinois made it into the top ten in the nation:

BASIS Tucson North (Arizona)

Signature School (Indiana)

Central Magnet School (Tennessee)

Davidson Academy (Nevada)

Thomas Jefferson H

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