Top Public High Schools on the Eastside by SAT Mean
The Eastside is the highest-scoring band of public schools in Washington on the SAT, and the top of this list compresses what is by national standards an extraordinary cluster: nine of the top ten schools clear 1250, eight clear 1270, and the leader posts a 1402 mean that rivals the most selective magnet programs on the East Coast. The Lake Washington and Issaquah school districts dominate, with Bellevue's IB-anchored Interlake providing the third district presence in the top ten.
Nikola Tesla STEM High School in Redmond leads at 1402 — the highest SAT mean of any public high school in Washington. Tesla is a Lake Washington School District lottery-admitted choice school enrolling about 600 students across grades 9-12, with no academic prerequisites for admission and a 100 percent AP participation rate. Mercer Island High School, the sole high school on its single-school-district island, follows at 1323 with a 5-Polaris track record of admissions to Harvard, Princeton, and MIT and a 97 percent four-year college matriculation rate.
Issaquah School District's two flagships — Issaquah High and Skyline High — sit at 1310 and 1285 respectively. Issaquah High posts the strongest AP profile of any school on this list at 92.4 percent pass rate and runs a comprehensive AP program; Skyline runs an International Baccalaureate Diploma and Career-related Programme alongside its AP offerings. Lake Washington School District's three flagships — Tesla, Redmond (1308), and Eastlake (1293) — give the district four top-six entries, an unusual concentration. Eastlake's robotics team Pack of Parts (FRC team 1294) is one of the longest-running in the district.
Interlake Senior High School in Bellevue is a notable case: 1280 SAT, an 88 percent AP pass rate, but a 79.6 percent graduation rate that is the lowest in this top ten. Interlake's Advanced Learning track admits students who complete the IB Diploma in tenth and eleventh grade, which produces a bimodal cohort whose high end posts elite scores and whose lower end has historically struggled to complete. Newport Senior High in Bellevue and Lake Washington High in Kirkland — the original Lake Washington School District comprehensive — close out the top ten with the highest-ranked Northshore school, Inglemoor in Kenmore, completing the table.
Issaquah SD's Skyline and Issaquah High both clear 1280 SAT despite enrollments above 2,200; the Eastside still produces large comprehensives without sacrificing measured outcomes. Bellevue SD's split-flagship pattern — Newport feeds south Bellevue while Interlake hosts the highly-capable hub — means the district's SAT signal lives on two campuses rather than one.
Ranked schools
- 001NIKOLA TESLA STEM HIGH SCHOOLLAKE WASHINGTON SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING1402
- 002MERCER ISLAND HIGH SCHOOLMERCER ISLAND SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING1323
- 003ISSAQUAH HIGH SCHOOLISSAQUAH SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING1310
- 004REDMOND HIGH SCHOOLLAKE WASHINGTON SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING1308
- 005EASTLAKE HIGH SCHOOLLAKE WASHINGTON SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING1293
- 006SKYLINE HIGH SCHOOLISSAQUAH SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING1285
- 007INTERLAKE SENIOR HIGH SCHOOLBELLEVUE SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING1280
- 008NEWPORT SENIOR HIGH SCHOOLBELLEVUE SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING1274
- 009LAKE WASHINGTON HIGH SCHOOLLAKE WASHINGTON SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING1268
- 010INGLEMOOR HSNORTHSHORE SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING1256
- 011JUANITA HIGH SCHOOLLAKE WASHINGTON SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING1243
- 012BELLEVUE HIGH SCHOOLBELLEVUE SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING1233
- 013WOODINVILLE HSNORTHSHORE SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING1232
- 014BOTHELL HIGH SCHOOLNORTHSHORE SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING1198
- 015GIBSON EK HIGH SCHOOLISSAQUAH SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING1191
- 016CEDARCREST HIGH SCHOOLRIVERVIEW SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING1190
- 017SAMMAMISH SENIOR HIGHBELLEVUE SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING1094
- 018BELLEVUE BIG PICTURE SCHOOLBELLEVUE SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING1091
- 019HAZEN SENIOR HIGH SCHOOLRENTON SCHOOL DISTRICT · KING1018
All rankings · Live map