Research · High schools - Connecticut · October 2026

How Many High Schools Are in Connecticut? 217 Public and 123 Private

Name: How Many High Schools Are in Connecticut? 217 Public and 123 Private
Creator: Test Prep Gurus (High School Reach)
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

As of October 2026: Connecticut has 340 high schools: 217 public and 123 private. The largest is Danbury High School in Danbury, with 3,612 students in grades 9 through 12.

The table lists the 15 largest public high schools in Connecticut 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

Connecticut has 340 high schools. 217 are public and 123 are private. The 207 public high schools that report enrollment hold 155,833 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.

Danbury High School is the largest public high school in Connecticut. It enrolls 3,612 students in grades 9 through 12 in Danbury. The 15th largest school on the table, Manchester High School in Manchester, enrolls 1,703. None of the 15 largest are charter schools.

The largest private high school in Connecticut is Choate Rosemary Hall. It enrolls 868 students in Wallingford. 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 Connecticut

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

High school	City	Students in grades 9-12	Charter
Danbury High School	Danbury	3,612	No
Greenwich High School	Greenwich	2,620	No
New Britain High School	New Britain	2,521	No
Westhill High School	Stamford	2,224	No
Trumbull High School	Trumbull	2,152	No
Stamford High School	Stamford	2,102	No
Norwich Free Academy	Norwich	2,020	No
Southington High School	Southington	1,905	No
West Haven High School	West Haven	1,813	No
Central High School	Bridgeport	1,803	No
East Hartford High School	East Hartford	1,776	No
Wilbur Cross High School	New Haven	1,742	No
Brien McMahon High School	Norwalk	1,739	No
Glastonbury High School	Glastonbury	1,737	No
Manchester High School	Manchester	1,703	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 Connecticut

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

High school	City	Students
Choate Rosemary Hall	Wallingford	868
St Joseph High School	Trumbull	768
Fairfield College Preparatory	Fairfield	757
The Loomis Chaffee School	Windsor	703
Xavier High School	Middletown	644

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 Connecticut

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 Connecticut 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 Connecticut?

Connecticut has 340 high schools: 217 public and 123 private. The largest is Danbury High School in Danbury, with 3,612 students in grades 9 through 12.

What is the largest high school in Connecticut?

It enrolls 3,612 students in grades 9 through 12 in Danbury.

Are private high schools included in the Connecticut count?

217 are public and 123 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-connecticut.json. Free for editorial use with attribution to Test Prep Gurus (High School Reach).