Research · High schools - Florida · October 2026

How Many High Schools Are in Florida? 1,113 Public and 815 Private

Name: How Many High Schools Are in Florida? 1,113 Public and 815 Private
Creator: Test Prep Gurus (High School Reach)
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

As of October 2026: Florida has 1,928 high schools: 1,113 public and 815 private. The largest is Cypress Bay High School in Weston, with 4,579 students in grades 9 through 12.

The table lists the 15 largest public high schools in Florida 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

Florida has 1,928 high schools. 1,113 are public and 815 are private. The 1,016 public high schools that report enrollment hold 887,001 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.

Cypress Bay High School is the largest public high school in Florida. It enrolls 4,579 students in grades 9 through 12 in Weston. The 15th largest school on the table, Newsome High School in Lithia, enrolls 3,157. None of the 15 largest are charter schools.

The largest private high school in Florida is St Thomas Aquinas High School. It enrolls 2,045 students in Fort Lauderdale. 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 Florida

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

High school	City	Students in grades 9-12	Charter
Cypress Bay High School	Weston	4,579	No
John A. Ferguson Senior High	Miami	4,291	No
Seminole High School	Sanford	3,807	No
Jule F Sumner High School	Riverview	3,602	No
Western High School	Davie	3,510	No
Apopka High	Apopka	3,446	No
Coral Reef Senior High School	Miami	3,399	No
Timber Creek High	Orlando	3,383	No
South Dade Senior High School	Homestead	3,382	No
Winter Park High	Winter Park	3,277	No
John I. Leonard High School	Greenacres	3,262	No
Colonial High	Orlando	3,239	No
Windermere High	Windermere	3,217	No
Fort Pierce Central High School	Fort Pierce	3,178	No
Newsome High School	Lithia	3,157	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 Florida

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

High school	City	Students
St Thomas Aquinas High School	Fort Lauderdale	2,045
Archbishop Mccarthy High School	Southwest Ranches	1,743
Christopher Columbus High School	Miami	1,731
Bishop Moore Catholic High School	Orlando	1,391
Bishop Kenny High School	Jacksonville	1,296

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 Florida

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 Florida 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 Florida?

Florida has 1,928 high schools: 1,113 public and 815 private. The largest is Cypress Bay High School in Weston, with 4,579 students in grades 9 through 12.

What is the largest high school in Florida?

It enrolls 4,579 students in grades 9 through 12 in Weston.

Are private high schools included in the Florida count?

1,113 are public and 815 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-florida.json. Free for editorial use with attribution to Test Prep Gurus (High School Reach).