How did Ohio high schools fare in the latest ranking from U.S. News & World Report?
The publication released its 2026-2027 Best High Schools ranking today, Tuesday, Aug. 18, evaluating around 27,000 eligible schools in the nation and ranking nearly 18,000 of them.
“The 2026-2027 Best High Schools rankings empower families with the valuable data and transparency they need to help make the best educational choices for them” LaMont Jones, Ed.D., managing editor for education at U.S. News, said in a statement. “We are proud to offer this essential resource to help shape the next generation of college-ready students.”
So where does Ohio rank? Here’s what to know.
Ohio ranks around the middle of the pack in U.S. News’ breakdown by state, based solely on which states have the largest proportion of their high schools in the top 25% of the 2026-2027 Best High Schools rankings.
The Buckeye State comes in at No. 22, with 26.5% of its high schools in the top 25% nationally. Ohio ranks behind Kentucky (No. 21) with 26.8% of its high schools in the top 25%, and ahead of Illinois (No. 23), at 26.2%.
The top 10 states in U.S. News’ ranking are:
For the third year in a row, Walnut Hills High School in Cincinnati Public Schools is the best high school in Ohio, per U.S. News.
The school came in at No. 76 nationally, up from 91 last year. Three other Cincinnati-area districts had their high schools rank in the top 10:
In coordination with North Carolina-based RTI International, a global nonprofit social science research firm, U.S. News created its ranking by scoring schools across six indicators of quality, then computing a single zero to 100 score reflective of a school’s performance across those metrics.
For transparency, each public school’s directory page includes indicator ranks that explain how it performed nationally and within its state.
The six school quality indicators are: