{"answer":"Iowa has 391 high schools: 339 public and 52 private. The largest is Lincoln High School in Des Moines, with 2,364 students in grades 9 through 12.","as_of":"October 2026","date":"2026-10-15","dek":"The table lists the 15 largest public high schools in Iowa by the number of students in grades 9 through 12.","faq":[{"a":"Iowa has 391 high schools: 339 public and 52 private. The largest is Lincoln High School in Des Moines, with 2,364 students in grades 9 through 12.","q":"How many high schools are in Iowa?"},{"a":"It enrolls 2,364 students in grades 9 through 12 in Des Moines.","q":"What is the largest high school in Iowa?"},{"a":"339 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.","q":"Are private high schools included in the Iowa count?"}],"findings":[{"h":"Iowa has 391 high schools.","p":"339 are public and 52 are private. The 334 public high schools that report enrollment hold 146,416 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."},{"h":"Lincoln High School is the largest public high school in Iowa.","p":"It enrolls 2,364 students in grades 9 through 12 in Des Moines. The 15th largest school on the table, North High School in Sioux City, enrolls 1,529. None of the 15 largest are charter schools."},{"h":"The largest private high school in Iowa is Dowling Catholic High School.","p":"It enrolls 1,389 students in West Des Moines. 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."}],"license":"CC BY 4.0 \u2014 quote with attribution to Test Prep Gurus (High School Reach)","method":"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.","question":"How many high schools are in Iowa, and which are the largest?","related":[{"label":"How many high schools are there in each state?","url":"/research/how-many-high-schools-in-each-state"},{"label":"The 50 largest public high schools in America","url":"/research/largest-public-high-schools"},{"label":"Do Iowa public universities require the SAT or ACT?","url":"/test-policy/iowa"}],"sections":[{"h2":"What these counts cover","paragraphs":["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."]},{"h2":"Private high schools in Iowa","paragraphs":["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."]},{"h2":"What a family should do with this","paragraphs":["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 Iowa 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."]}],"slug":"high-schools-in-iowa","sources":[{"label":"NCES Common Core of Data","url":"https://nces.ed.gov/ccd/"},{"label":"NCES Private School Universe Survey","url":"https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/pss/"}],"tables":[{"columns":[{"fmt":"str","key":"school","label":"High school"},{"fmt":"str","key":"city","label":"City"},{"fmt":"int","key":"students_9_12","label":"Students in grades 9-12"},{"fmt":"bool","key":"charter","label":"Charter"}],"h2":"The 15 largest public high schools in Iowa","intro":"Ranked by the number of students in grades 9 through 12.","link_base":"/school/","note":"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.","rows":[{"charter":false,"city":"Des Moines","school":"Lincoln High School","slug":"lincoln-high-school-ia","students_9_12":2364,"url":"/school/lincoln-high-school-ia"},{"charter":false,"city":"Marion","school":"Linn-Mar High School","slug":"linn-mar-high-school","students_9_12":2229,"url":"/school/linn-mar-high-school"},{"charter":false,"city":"West Des Moines","school":"Valley High School","slug":"valley-high-school-ia","students_9_12":2178,"url":"/school/valley-high-school-ia"},{"charter":false,"city":"Des Moines","school":"Roosevelt High School","slug":"roosevelt-high-school-ia","students_9_12":2051,"url":"/school/roosevelt-high-school-ia"},{"charter":false,"city":"Des Moines","school":"East High School","slug":"east-high-school-ia","students_9_12":1952,"url":"/school/east-high-school-ia"},{"charter":false,"city":"Johnston","school":"Johnston Senior High School","slug":"johnston-senior-high-school","students_9_12":1820,"url":"/school/johnston-senior-high-school"},{"charter":false,"city":"Cedar Rapids","school":"Prairie High School","slug":"prairie-high-school-ia","students_9_12":1766,"url":"/school/prairie-high-school-ia"},{"charter":false,"city":"Bettendorf","school":"Pleasant Valley High School","slug":"pleasant-valley-high-school","students_9_12":1731,"url":"/school/pleasant-valley-high-school"},{"charter":false,"city":"Pleasant Hill","school":"Southeast Polk High School","slug":"southeast-polk-high-school","students_9_12":1722,"url":"/school/southeast-polk-high-school"},{"charter":false,"city":"Waterloo","school":"West High School","slug":"west-high-school-waterloo-ia","students_9_12":1696,"url":"/school/west-high-school-waterloo-ia"},{"charter":false,"city":"Iowa City","school":"Iowa City High School","slug":"iowa-city-high-school","students_9_12":1666,"url":"/school/iowa-city-high-school"},{"charter":false,"city":"Cedar Rapids","school":"John F Kennedy High School","slug":"john-f-kennedy-high-school-ia","students_9_12":1648,"url":"/school/john-f-kennedy-high-school-ia"},{"charter":false,"city":"Marshalltown","school":"Marshalltown High School","slug":"marshalltown-high-school","students_9_12":1629,"url":"/school/marshalltown-high-school"},{"charter":false,"city":"Waukee","school":"Northwest High School","slug":"northwest-high-school-ia","students_9_12":1574,"url":"/school/northwest-high-school-ia"},{"charter":false,"city":"Sioux City","school":"North High School","slug":"north-high-school-sioux-city-ia","students_9_12":1529,"url":"/school/north-high-school-sioux-city-ia"}]},{"columns":[{"fmt":"str","key":"school","label":"High school"},{"fmt":"str","key":"city","label":"City"},{"fmt":"int","key":"students","label":"Students"}],"h2":"The largest private high schools in Iowa","intro":"Private schools whose lowest grade is 9, by total enrollment.","link_base":"/school/","note":"NCES Private School Universe Survey 2021-22, respondents only. Total enrollment, not a grades 9-12 count.","rows":[{"city":"West Des Moines","school":"Dowling Catholic High School","slug":"dowling-catholic-high-school","students":1389,"url":"/school/dowling-catholic-high-school"},{"city":"Cedar Rapids","school":"Xavier High School","slug":"xavier-high-school-ia","students":600,"url":"/school/xavier-high-school-ia"},{"city":"Sioux City","school":"Bishop Heelan Catholic High School","slug":"bishop-heelan-catholic-high-school","students":499,"url":"/school/bishop-heelan-catholic-high-school"},{"city":"Orange City","school":"Unity Christian High School","slug":"unity-christian-high-school-ia","students":312,"url":"/school/unity-christian-high-school-ia"},{"city":"Hull","school":"Western Christian High School","slug":"western-christian-high-school","students":285,"url":"/school/western-christian-high-school"}]}],"title":"How Many High Schools Are in Iowa? 339 Public and 52 Private","updated":null,"url":"https://highschoolreach.com/research/high-schools-in-iowa"}