Top Public High Schools in Tacoma / Pierce County by Graduation Rate
Pierce County's public secondary system stretches from urban Tacoma — eight high schools across the Tacoma Public Schools, including five comprehensive and three option/choice — through the military-adjacent Clover Park district, the second-ring Bethel and Puyallup districts, and out to the Gig Harbor peninsula and the rural eastern fringe. Ranked by graduation rate, the leaderboard is anchored by Tacoma Public Schools and presents some of the most interesting public-private contrasts in the state: the top two finishers are Tacoma district schools that diverge sharply on every other metric.
Dr. Dolores Silas High School, formerly known as Mount Tahoma High School and renamed in 2023 to honor the longtime Tacoma educator and civil rights leader, leads at 98.0 percent. Tacoma School of the Arts (SOTA), the downtown Stadium District choice school established in 2001 with seed support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, follows at 96.9 percent. SOTA houses its grades 9-12 program across multiple downtown buildings including the historic Music Box and offers a curriculum organized around majors in visual, performing, and media arts, with University of Washington in the High School and Tacoma Community College dual-credit pathways layered on top of the academic core.
Stadium High School, the chateauesque Tacoma Public Schools comprehensive on the bluff above Commencement Bay, comes in third at 96.8 percent and is the highest-ranked traditional comprehensive on the list. Lakes High School in Lakewood and Curtis Senior High in University Place follow; Curtis brings the strongest combined academic profile in this top ten — a 1229 SAT mean (best on the list) and a 76 percent AP pass rate. Clover Park High School in Lakewood, with a 14 percent AP pass rate and a 95 percent grad rate, illustrates the Clover Park district's disproportionately military-connected enrollment and its emphasis on completion regardless of advanced-placement participation.
The lower half of the top ten reaches into the second ring: Orting in eastern Pierce County; Bethel and Graham Kapowsin (both in the large, fast-growing Bethel district south of Puyallup); and Sumner High School in the Sumner-Bonney Lake district. Graham Kapowsin's 2,110-student enrollment makes it the largest school on this list.
Gig Harbor HS and Peninsula HS lead the Peninsula / Gig Harbor cohort with high-90s completion rates. Curtis Senior in University Place posts similar outcomes. Bethel SD's schools (Spanaway Lake, Bethel, Graham-Kapowsin) cluster in the lower-mid 80s, reflecting the wider income spread south of Tacoma proper. Tacoma SPS's Stadium HS and Lincoln HS contribute the strongest TPS campus rates.
Ranked schools
- 001DR. DOLORES SILAS HIGH SCHOOLTACOMA SCHOOL DISTRICT · PIERCE98%
- 002TACOMA SCHOOL OF THE ARTSTACOMA SCHOOL DISTRICT · PIERCE97%
- 003STADIUM HIGH SCHOOLTACOMA SCHOOL DISTRICT · PIERCE97%
- 004LAKES HIGH SCHOOLCLOVER PARK SCHOOL DISTRICT · PIERCE96%
- 005CURTIS SENIOR HIGHUNIVERSITY PLACE SCHOOL DISTRICT · PIERCE96%
- 006CLOVER PARK HIGH SCHOOLCLOVER PARK SCHOOL DISTRICT · PIERCE95%
- 007ORTING HIGH SCHOOLORTING SCHOOL DISTRICT · PIERCE94%
- 008BETHEL HIGH SCHOOLBETHEL SCHOOL DISTRICT · PIERCE93%
- 009GRAHAM KAPOWSIN HIGH SCHOOLBETHEL SCHOOL DISTRICT · PIERCE93%
- 010SUMNER HIGH SCHOOLSUMNER-BONNEY LAKE SCHOOL DISTRICT · PIERCE93%
- 011WASHINGTON HIGH SCHOOLFRANKLIN PIERCE SCHOOL DISTRICT · PIERCE93%
- 012AUBURN RIVERSIDE HIGH SCHOOLAUBURN SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING92%
- 013SPANAWAY LAKE HIGH SCHOOLBETHEL SCHOOL DISTRICT · PIERCE92%
- 014LINCOLN HIGH SCHOOLTACOMA SCHOOL DISTRICT · PIERCE92%
- 015STEILACOOM HIGHSTEILACOOM HIST. SCHOOL DISTRICT · PIERCE91%
- 016GIG HARBOR HIGHPENINSULA SCHOOL DISTRICT · PIERCE91%
- 017PUYALLUP HIGH SCHOOLPUYALLUP SCHOOL DISTRICT · PIERCE91%
- 018DECATUR HIGH SCHOOLFEDERAL WAY SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING90%
- 019BETHEL VIRTUAL ACADEMYBETHEL SCHOOL DISTRICT · PIERCE90%
- 020GOV JOHN ROGERS HIGH SCHOOLPUYALLUP SCHOOL DISTRICT · PIERCE90%
- 021EMERALD RIDGE HIGH SCHOOLPUYALLUP SCHOOL DISTRICT · PIERCE89%
- 022FOSS HIGH SCHOOLTACOMA SCHOOL DISTRICT · PIERCE89%
- 023PENINSULA HIGH SCHOOLPENINSULA SCHOOL DISTRICT · PIERCE88%
- 024CHIEF LESCHI SCHOOLSCHIEF LESCHI SCHOOLS · PIERCE88%
- 025FEDERAL WAY HIGH SCHOOLFEDERAL WAY SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING88%
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