Five prestigious Dallas-area high schools are living up to their reputations for top-tier education after being ranked among the best high schools in the country, according to U.S. News and World Report's just-released annual rankings.

Three high schools in Dallas Independent School District - The School for the Talented and Gifted, Irma Lerma Rangel Young Women's Leadership School, and the School of Science and Engineering - also clocked in as the top three best high schools in Texas.

U.S. News annually evaluates about 24,000 public high schools on six factors: college readiness, college curriculum breadth, state assessment proficiency, state assessment performance, underserved student performance, and graduation rates. New for this year's batch of rankings, U.S. News discontinued its list of top magnet schools, citing a lack of new data from source Common Core of Data. The national best STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) and charter schools rankings were unaffected.

Topping the 2025 list of best U.S. high schools is BASIS Tuscon North, a charter school in Tuscon, Arizona.

DISD's The School for the Talented and Gifted appeared as the 9th best high school in the U.S., and No. 1 in Texas. The school had been ranked No. 6 nationally since 2023. TAG also ranked 33rd nationally among the best STEM high schools, down from No. 21 in 2024.

Irma Lerma Rangel Young Women's Leadership School claimed the No. 2 spot statewide and ranked No. 15 nationally this year, up from No. 23 nationwide in 2024.

School of Science and Engineering rounded out the statewide top three and moved up into No. 23 in the national list of best high schools (up from No. 29 last year). In the national rankings of best STEM schools, SEM ranked 46 overall, down from No. 37 last year.

"Students and families need data to help them make one of the most important decisions of their academic journey. Our Best High Schools rankings provide the insights to help them identify schools that will prepare students for college success," said U.S. News managing editor for education LaMont Jones, Ed.D., in a press release. "Access to information isn't just helpful — it's essential for planning a student's future."

The two additional Dallas-area schools that earned spots in the nationwide top 100 were Grand Prairie Collegiate Institute (No. 54) and Judge Barefoot Sanders Law Magnet (No. 84). GPCI dropped from its former No. 30 spot in 2024, and the Law Magnet moved up one spot from last year's national ranking. In the ranking of best Texas high schools, GPCI ranked 6th while the Law Magnet ranked 9th.

High schools across Dallas-Fort Worth that earned top-100 spots in the Texas-wide list
Other Dallas-Fort Worth schools that rank among Texas' 100 best are:

• No. 13 – School of Health Professions, Dallas ISD
• No. 14 – Westlake Academy, Westlake
• No. 23 – Trinidad Garza Early College at Mt. View, Dallas ISD
• No. 24 – Imagine International Academy of North Texas, McKinney
• No. 25 – World Languages Institute, Fort Worth
• No. 26 – Uplift Education-North Hills Prep High School, Irving
• No. 34 – Young Women's Leadership Academy, Fort Worth ISD
• No. 35 – Grand Prairie Fine Arts Academy, Grand Prairie ISD
• No. 36 – Highland Park High School, Highland Park ISD
• No. 37 – Booker T. Washington SPVA, Dallas ISD
• No. 41 – Rosie Sorrells Education and Social Services High School, Dallas ISD
• No. 45 – James M. Steele Accelerated High School, Northwest ISD, Roanoke
• No. 46 – Marvin E. Robinson School of Business and Management, Dallas ISD
• No. 47 – Founders Classical Academy - Frisco
• No. 50 – Dr. Wright L. Lassiter Jr. Early College High School, Dallas ISD
• No. 58 – Cedar Hill Collegiate High School, Cedar Hill ISD
• No. 61 – Reedy High School, Frisco ISD
• No. 62 – Coppell High School, Coppell ISD
• No. 65 – Lovejoy High School, Lovejoy ISD, Lucas
• No. 69 – Liberty High School, Frisco ISD
• No. 70 – Independence High School, Frisco ISD
• No. 74 – Barack Obama Male Leadership Academy, Dallas ISD
• No. 78 – Centennial High School, Frisco ISD
• No. 81 – Founders Classical Academy, Lewisville
• No. 85 – Uplift Grand High School, Grand Prairie
• No. 98 – Uplift Infinity High School, Irving
• No. 100 – North Lake Early College High School, Dallas ISD

Other Texas high schools that rank among the best in the U.S.
These six additional Texas high schools made it into U.S. News' national list of the top 100 high schools for 2025-2026:

• Austin ISD’s Liberal Arts and Science Academy, No. 36 (up from No. 38 last year). LASA also ranked No. 74 nationally among the best STEM high schools.
• Houston ISD’s Carnegie Vanguard High School, No. 42 (down from No. 31 last year).
• BASIS San Antonio - Shavano Campus, No. 58 (up from No. 64 last year). The Shavano Campus also ranked No. 18 nationally among the best STEM high schools and No. 14 nationally among the best charter high schools.
• Houston ISD’s DeBakey High School for Health Professions, No. 75 (down from No. 70 last year).
• Lubbock ISD's Talkington School for Young Women Leaders, No. 95 (up from No. 105 last year).
• San Antonio ISD's Young Women's Leadership Academy, No. 98 (up from No. 106 last year).