Research · High schools - Arkansas · October 2026

How Many High Schools Are in Arkansas? 333 Public and 52 Private

Name: How Many High Schools Are in Arkansas? 333 Public and 52 Private
Creator: Test Prep Gurus (High School Reach)
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

As of October 2026: Arkansas has 385 high schools: 333 public and 52 private. The largest is Bentonville High School in Bentonville, with 3,572 students in grades 9 through 12.

The table lists the 15 largest public high schools in Arkansas 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

Arkansas has 385 high schools. 333 are public and 52 are private. The 299 public high schools that report enrollment hold 134,245 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.

Bentonville High School is the largest public high school in Arkansas. It enrolls 3,572 students in grades 9 through 12 in Bentonville. The 15th largest school on the table, North Little Rock High School in North Little Rock, enrolls 1,650. None of the 15 largest are charter schools.

The largest private high school in Arkansas is Catholic High School for Boys. It enrolls 714 students in Little Rock. 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 Arkansas

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

High school	City	Students in grades 9-12	Charter
Bentonville High School	Bentonville	3,572	No
Bentonville West High School	Bentonville	2,652	No
Fayetteville High School	Fayetteville	2,588	No
Rogers High School	Rogers	2,490	No
Central High School	Little Rock	2,371	No
Bryant High School	Bryant	2,365	No
Conway High School	Conway	2,350	No
Har-Ber High School	Springdale	2,268	No
Northside High School	Fort Smith	2,231	No
Springdale High School	Springdale	2,207	No
Cabot High School	Cabot	2,170	No
Southside High School	Fort Smith	2,045	No
Little Rock Southwest High School	Mabelvale	2,045	No
Rogers Heritage High School	Rogers	2,006	No
North Little Rock High School	North Little Rock	1,650	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 Arkansas

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

High school	City	Students
Catholic High School for Boys	Little Rock	714
Mt St Mary Academy	Little Rock	446
Ozark Adventist Academy	Gentry	124

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 Arkansas

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 Arkansas 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 Arkansas?

Arkansas has 385 high schools: 333 public and 52 private. The largest is Bentonville High School in Bentonville, with 3,572 students in grades 9 through 12.

What is the largest high school in Arkansas?

It enrolls 3,572 students in grades 9 through 12 in Bentonville.

Are private high schools included in the Arkansas count?

333 are public and 52 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-arkansas.json. Free for editorial use with attribution to Test Prep Gurus (High School Reach).