DES MOINES, Iowa [via KCCI] – For the second straight year, Iowa City is home to Iowa’s best public high school, according to U.S. News & World Report’s annual rankings. The list, released this spring, has Iowa City West ranked as the state’s top public high school — 626th nationally — followed by Gilbert and Pella. Decorah, which was second last year to West, and Liberty High School round out the top five.The nation’s No. 1 public high school is BASIS Peoria in Arizona, according to the magazine, which evaluated 17,660 high schools this year — including 317 in Iowa — in six factors including students’ college readiness, state assessment proficiency and performance and graduation rate from the 2021-22 school year.

Forty-two Iowa high schools are ranked in the nation’s top 5,000. In southwest Iowa, the Bedford High School placed 20th on the list of rankings; Treynor placed 26th; Shenandoah, 29th; Harland was 36th in the Iowa rankings; Audubon came in at 45th; Lewis Central placed 51st; Carroll placed 55th in the rankings; at #58 was Stanton; East Mills came in 60th; Underwood was 62nd; Glenwood, 69th; Logan-Magnolia was 77th followed by the Griswold Middle/High School in 78th place; Mount Ayr and Woodbine were ranked 86th & 87th respectively; Coon Rapids-Bayard ranked 89th; Fremont-Mills came in at 92nd place; IKM-Manning and Stuart placed 101st and 102nd, respectively; Creston ranked 106th; AHSTW was ranked 113th; Lenox came in at 116th place in the annual rankings report. Other area school district rankings:

Denison, 120th; Atlantic, 132nd in Iowa rankings. The total minority enrollment at AHS according to the report, is 12%, and 39% of students are economically disadvantaged.

U.S. News and World Report’s Top 10 best public high schools in Iowa:

1. Iowa City West

• National ranking: 626
• Graduation rate: 94%
• College readiness: 61.7
• Enrollment: 1,503

2. Gilbert

• National ranking: 996
• Graduation rate: 100%
• College readiness: 18.2
• Enrollment: 537

3. Pella

• National ranking: 1,073
• Graduation rate: 98%
• College readiness: 26.2
• Enrollment: 764

4. Decorah

• National ranking: 1,098
• Graduation rate: 97%
• College readiness: 20.4
• Enrollment: 576

5. Liberty

• National ranking: 1,556
• Graduation rate: 97%
• College readiness: 42.0
• Enrollment: 1,167

6. Ankeny

• National ranking: 1,560
• Graduation rate: 94%
• College readiness: 25.2
• Enrollment: 1,347

7. ADM (Adel)

• National ranking: 1,744
• Graduation rate: 97%
• College readiness: 33.1
• Enrollment: 651

8. Pleasant Valley

• National ranking: 1,946
• Graduation rate: 93%
• College readiness: 37.1
• Enrollment: 1,658

9. Williamsburg

• National ranking: 2,051
• Graduation rate: 96%
• College readiness: 29.9
• Enrollment: 409

10. Iowa City High

• National ranking: 2,183
• Graduation rate: 94%
• College readiness: 35.0
• Enrollment: 1,599