Best Schools in Seattle + Eastside
Seattle and the Eastside combine to form the densest concentration of high-performing secondary schools in the Pacific Northwest. The top of the field splits across two structurally different cohorts. On the public side, Tesla STEM High School in Redmond opened in 2008 as the Lake Washington School District's selective STEM magnet; the Bellevue School District's International School (6-12 IB Continuum) and Interlake Senior High School (home of BSD's district-wide Gifted High School Program) admit by application out of large district-choice portfolios; and Mercer Island High School — the single 9-12 of a small, geographically-contained, high-income island district — joins them at the apex as the non-magnet exception, the school whose outcomes track with the selective publics through residence-driven selection rather than admissions testing.
On the private side, Lakeside School (founded 1919, ~875 students, ~$260 million endowment, 31 Harvard / Princeton / MIT acceptances 2022-2025) leads by a wide margin. Holy Names Academy on Capitol Hill (1880, the oldest school in Washington) is the secondary single-sex Catholic flagship. The Bush School, University Prep, and Seattle Academy of Arts and Sciences span middle and upper school as the secular co-ed indies on the Seattle side. Across the lake, Overlake (Redmond, 1967, the senior secular K-12 indie on the Eastside) and Eastside Preparatory School (Kirkland, NWAIS-accredited 2010) anchor the Eastside secular cohort.
Below the apex sit the strong neighborhood publics — Bellevue, Newport, Skyline, Eastlake, Issaquah, Redmond, plus Seattle's Roosevelt and Garfield — and the broader private cohort of Eastside Catholic (the Sammamish archdiocesan 9-12 anchor), The Northwest School (First Hill day-and-boarding 6-12), The Bear Creek School (Redmond classical-Christian K-12, National Blue Ribbon), King's School (Shoreline), Bellevue Christian (Clyde Hill), Bishop Blanchet, O'Dea, and Forest Ridge School of the Sacred Heart (Bellevue all-girls 5-12 Catholic). The Eastside public system operates an internal choice market — Tesla STEM, International, Interlake's gifted track, plus the Lake Washington and Bellevue district choice portfolios — that approaches the institutional complexity of the private-school market across the lake.
The decision metro families weigh is public vs. private rather than within either sector. Lakeside, Holy Names, Bush, University Prep, and the Eastside indies sit at the top of secondary tuition in the region (roughly $40,000-50,000 per year) and admit by SSAT-style application. The selective magnets cost nothing in tuition but require either an admissions application (Tesla STEM, International, Interlake) or a six-figure real-estate premium (Mercer Island). The neighborhood publics fill in for families who do neither.
S Tier · 11 schools
- 001LAKESIDE SCHOOL(PRIVATE SCHOOL — INDEPENDENT) · KING875 students
- 002INTERLAKE SENIOR HIGH SCHOOLBELLEVUE SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING1,636 students
- 003HOLY NAMES ACADEMY(PRIVATE SCHOOL — INDEPENDENT) · KING614 students
- 004MERCER ISLAND HIGH SCHOOLMERCER ISLAND SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING1,453 students
- 005NIKOLA TESLA STEM HIGH SCHOOLLAKE WASHINGTON SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING609 students
- 006EASTSIDE PREPARATORY SCHOOL(PRIVATE SCHOOL — INDEPENDENT) · KING516 students
- 007THE OVERLAKE SCHOOL(PRIVATE SCHOOL — INDEPENDENT) · KING557 students
- 008SEATTLE ACADEMY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES(PRIVATE SCHOOL — INDEPENDENT) · KING1,081 students
- 009THE BUSH SCHOOL(PRIVATE SCHOOL — INDEPENDENT) · KING703 students
- 010UNIVERSITY PREP(PRIVATE SCHOOL — INDEPENDENT) · KING613 students
- 011INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLBELLEVUE SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING600 students
A Tier · 19 schools
- 012REDMOND HIGH SCHOOLLAKE WASHINGTON SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING2,315 students
- 013BELLEVUE HIGH SCHOOLBELLEVUE SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING1,714 students
- 014NEWPORT SENIOR HIGH SCHOOLBELLEVUE SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING1,861 students
- 015ROOSEVELT HIGH SCHOOLSEATTLE SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 1 · KING1,561 students
- 016EASTSIDE CATHOLIC SCHOOL(PRIVATE SCHOOL — INDEPENDENT) · KING880 students
- 017SKYLINE HIGH SCHOOLISSAQUAH SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING2,265 students
- 018EASTLAKE HIGH SCHOOLLAKE WASHINGTON SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING2,493 students
- 019GARFIELD HIGH SCHOOLSEATTLE SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 1 · KING1,509 students
- 020THE BEAR CREEK SCHOOL(PRIVATE SCHOOL — INDEPENDENT) · KING676 students
- 021THE NORTHWEST SCHOOL(PRIVATE SCHOOL — INDEPENDENT) · KING453 students
- 022SEATTLE PREPARATORY SCHOOL(PRIVATE SCHOOL — INDEPENDENT) · KING750 students
- 023ISSAQUAH HIGH SCHOOLISSAQUAH SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING2,494 students
- 024KING'S SCHOOL(PRIVATE SCHOOL — INDEPENDENT) · KING1,097 students
- 025BELLEVUE CHRISTIAN SCHOOL(PRIVATE SCHOOL — INDEPENDENT) · KING918 students
- 026BISHOP BLANCHET HIGH SCHOOL(PRIVATE SCHOOL — INDEPENDENT) · KING750 students
- 027O'DEA HIGH SCHOOL(PRIVATE SCHOOL — INDEPENDENT) · KING500 students
- 028FOREST RIDGE SCHOOL OF THE SACRED HEART(PRIVATE SCHOOL — INDEPENDENT) · KING316 students
- 029SEATTLE WALDORF SCHOOL(PRIVATE SCHOOL — INDEPENDENT) · KING278 students
- 030BASIS INDEPENDENT BELLEVUE(PRIVATE SCHOOL — INDEPENDENT) · KING231 students
B Tier · 10 schools
- 031LAKE WASHINGTON HIGH SCHOOLLAKE WASHINGTON SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING2,087 students
- 032BALLARD HIGH SCHOOLSEATTLE SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 1 · KING1,706 students
- 033INGRAHAM HIGH SCHOOLSEATTLE SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 1 · KING1,398 students
- 034BOTHELL HIGH SCHOOLNORTHSHORE SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING1,800 students
- 035INGLEMOOR HSNORTHSHORE SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING1,463 students
- 036WOODINVILLE MONTESSORI SCHOOL(PRIVATE SCHOOL — INDEPENDENT) · KING317 students
- 037WOODINVILLE MONTESSORI SCHOOL(PRIVATE SCHOOL — INDEPENDENT) · KING312 students
- 038PROVIDENCE CLASSICAL CHRISTIAN SCHOOL(PRIVATE SCHOOL — INDEPENDENT) · KING288 students
- 039UNITED SEATTLE&BELLEVUE KOREAN SCH BELLEVUE CAMPUS(PRIVATE SCHOOL — INDEPENDENT) · KING345 students
- 040NORTHWEST YESHIVA HIGH SCHOOL(PRIVATE SCHOOL — INDEPENDENT) · KING52 students
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