Research · High schools - Alabama · October 2026

How Many High Schools Are in Alabama? 505 Public and 149 Private

Name: How Many High Schools Are in Alabama? 505 Public and 149 Private
Creator: Test Prep Gurus (High School Reach)
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

As of October 2026: Alabama has 654 high schools: 505 public and 149 private. The largest is Hoover High School in Hoover, with 2,919 students in grades 9 through 12.

The table lists the 15 largest public high schools in Alabama by the number of students in grades 9 through 12.

Analysis: Test Prep Gurus (High School Reach, highschoolreach.com), October 2026. Figures and the table may be quoted with attribution to Test Prep Gurus.

The findings, in plain English

Alabama has 654 high schools. 505 are public and 149 are private. The 372 public high schools that report enrollment hold 209,960 students in grades 9 through 12 between them. The private count is a floor, because the federal private school survey is voluntary and a school can skip it.

Hoover High School is the largest public high school in Alabama. It enrolls 2,919 students in grades 9 through 12 in Hoover. The 15th largest school on the table, Vestavia Hills High School in Vestavia Hills, enrolls 1,625. None of the 15 largest are charter schools.

The largest private high school in Alabama is Mcgill-Toolen Catholic High School. It enrolls 856 students in Mobile. That is smaller than every public school on the table above. Private schools report total enrollment to the federal survey, so a school that also teaches younger grades counts those students too. Only schools whose lowest grade is 9 are listed here, so each one is a high school.

The 15 largest public high schools in Alabama

Ranked by the number of students in grades 9 through 12.

High school	City	Students in grades 9-12	Charter
Hoover High School	Hoover	2,919	No
Baker High School	Mobile	2,271	No
Auburn High School	Auburn	2,227	No
Enterprise High School	Enterprise	2,177	No
James Clemens High School	Madison	2,159	No
Thompson High School	Alabaster	2,060	No
Bob Jones High School	Madison	2,048	No
Mary G Montgomery High School	Semmes	1,852	No
Virgil Grissom High School	Huntsville	1,847	No
Prattville High School	Prattville	1,844	No
Huntsville High School	Huntsville	1,807	No
Sparkman High School	Harvest	1,770	No
Oak Mountain High School	Birmingham	1,648	No
Daphne High School	Daphne	1,639	No
Vestavia Hills High School	Vestavia Hills	1,625	No

NCES Common Core of Data, grade 9-12 enrollment. Virtual schools are excluded. Absence from this list means a school is not among the largest, nothing more.

The largest private high schools in Alabama

Private schools whose lowest grade is 9, by total enrollment.

High school	City	Students
Mcgill-Toolen Catholic High School	Mobile	856
John Carroll Catholic High School	Birmingham	488
St Michael Catholic High School	Fairhope	351
St John Paul Ii Catholic High School	Huntsville	344
Holy Family Cristo Rey Catholic High School	Birmingham	197

NCES Private School Universe Survey 2021-22, respondents only. Total enrollment, not a grades 9-12 count.

What these counts cover

A high school here is a school that serves grade 12. Virtual schools are left out, because a school with no building is not comparable to one with a campus. Public counts come from the federal Common Core of Data, which every public district reports to. Private counts come from the federal Private School Universe Survey.

Enrollment for public schools is the number of students in grades 9 through 12, so a school that also teaches middle school grades is not inflated by them. A school that reports no enrollment figure is counted in the state total but cannot be ranked, which is why the number of schools with an enrollment figure is smaller than the public count.

Private high schools in Alabama

The private table below shows the largest private high schools whose lowest grade is 9. The survey is voluntary, so treat these as the largest among the schools that answered, not a complete ranking. A private school that declines the survey does not appear at all.

Private enrollment is a total, not a grades 9 through 12 count, because the survey does not break it out the same way. Limiting the list to schools that start at grade 9 keeps the figures comparable to each other.

What a family should do with this

Size is a starting point, not a verdict. A large school usually offers more courses, more sports and more clubs, and a small school usually gives a student more contact with the adults who write recommendation letters. Both shapes send students to good colleges.

The more useful question is where a school's own graduates actually go. Our page for each Alabama high school carries that school's figures and, where the school publishes one, its own numbered list of the colleges its graduates chose. Start from the school page rather than from the size of the building.

Questions parents ask

How many high schools are in Alabama?

Alabama has 654 high schools: 505 public and 149 private. The largest is Hoover High School in Hoover, with 2,919 students in grades 9 through 12.

What is the largest high school in Alabama?

It enrolls 2,919 students in grades 9 through 12 in Hoover.

Are private high schools included in the Alabama count?

505 are public and 149 are private. The private count is a floor, because the federal private school survey is voluntary and a school can skip it.

Method & sources: Public school counts and grade 9-12 enrollment come from the NCES Common Core of Data; private counts and enrollment come from the NCES Private School Universe Survey, whose respondents are a floor. A high school is a school serving grade 12; virtual schools are excluded. The public table is ranked by grade 9-12 enrollment, and schools without an enrollment figure are counted in the state total but not ranked.

This brief as data: /research/high-schools-in-alabama.json. Free for editorial use with attribution to Test Prep Gurus (High School Reach).