Staff photo.
Vestavia Hills High School
Vestavia Hills High School is one of the top high schools in the country, according to U.S. News and World Report.
Vestavia Hills High School has earned a spot among the top high schools in the country, according to the latest U.S. News & World Report rankings for the 2026-27 school year.
The school placed No. 533 nationally and No. 4 in Alabama, part of a national list that evaluates nearly 18,000 public high schools on state test performance, graduation rates and college preparation. Vestavia Hills also ranked No. 3 among high schools in the Birmingham metro area.
The rankings reflect strong performance across multiple measures. Vestavia Hills posted an overall score of 97.03 out of 100. The school’s Advanced Placement participation rate stands at 56%, with 46% of students passing at least one AP exam.
Students also performed well on state-required testing, with proficiency rates of 72% in mathematics, 56% in reading and 77% in science, each well above the statewide averages of 20%, 20% and 30%, respectively, in those subjects.
Vestavia Hills’ college readiness index, a measure U.S. News uses to gauge how well a school’s coursework and testing results translate into college preparedness, came in at 48.7 out of 100. Among Alabama’s 293 ranked schools, Vestavia Hills placed No. 2 in State Assessment Proficiency, No. 5 in both the College Readiness Index and College Curriculum Breadth Index, and No. 21 in State Assessment Performance. Nationally, out of 17,945 ranked schools, the school ranked No. 94 in State Assessment Proficiency, No. 1,181 in College Curriculum Breadth Index, No. 1,252 in State Assessment Performance and No. 1,408 in College Readiness Index.
The school serves grades 10-12, with a total enrollment of 1,625 students and a student-teacher ratio of 14:1. Enrollment includes 534 sophomores, 573 juniors and 518 seniors. Vestavia Hills is the only high school in Vestavia Hills City Schools, and the district’s 117 full-time equivalent teachers serve a student body that is 52% male and 48% female.
The school’s student population is 81.7% white, 6.9% Asian, 4.4% Black, 4.3% Hispanic, 2.4% two or more races, and 0.2% American Indian or Alaska Native. Ten percent of Vestavia Hills’ students are classified as economically disadvantaged, with 9% participating in the free lunch program and 1% in the reduced-price lunch program.
The rankings are calculated using data from the 2024-25, 2023-24 and 2022-23 academic years and are part of U.S. News’ broader Best High Schools project, which this year evaluated more than 17,900 nationally ranked schools. The methodology weighs factors including state assessment performance, college curriculum breadth and graduation outcomes.
Vestavia Hills’ ranking places it in strong company locally. Homewood High School ranked No. 1 among metro-area schools, followed by Mountain Brook at No. 2 and Vestavia Hills at No. 3, giving the Birmingham area three of the state’s top four high schools.
