Research · High schools - Louisiana · October 2026

How Many High Schools Are in Louisiana? 352 Public and 117 Private

Name: How Many High Schools Are in Louisiana? 352 Public and 117 Private
Creator: Test Prep Gurus (High School Reach)
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

As of October 2026: Louisiana has 469 high schools: 352 public and 117 private. The largest is Denham Springs High School in Denham Springs, with 2,385 students in grades 9 through 12.

The table lists the 15 largest public high schools in Louisiana 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

Louisiana has 469 high schools. 352 are public and 117 are private. The 337 public high schools that report enrollment hold 180,406 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.

Denham Springs High School is the largest public high school in Louisiana. It enrolls 2,385 students in grades 9 through 12 in Denham Springs. The 15th largest school on the table, Southside High School in Youngsville, enrolls 1,833. None of the 15 largest are charter schools.

The largest private high school in Louisiana is St Joseph'S Academy. It enrolls 1,121 students in Baton Rouge. 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 Louisiana

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

High school	City	Students in grades 9-12	Charter
Denham Springs High School	Denham Springs	2,385	No
Bonnabel Magnet Academy High School	Kenner	2,376	No
Chalmette High School	Chalmette	2,193	No
Ponchatoula High School	Ponchatoula	2,067	No
West Monroe High School	West Monroe	2,041	No
Dutchtown High School	Geismar	2,029	No
Walker High School	Walker	2,006	No
Mandeville High School	Mandeville	2,006	No
Sulphur High School	Sulphur	1,911	No
Alfred M. Barbe High School	Lake Charles	1,908	No
East Ascension High School	Gonzales	1,894	No
Airline High School	Bossier City	1,855	No
John Ehret High School	Marrero	1,850	No
St. Amant High School	St. Amant	1,847	No
Southside High School	Youngsville	1,833	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 Louisiana

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

High school	City	Students
St Joseph'S Academy	Baton Rouge	1,121
St Thomas More Catholic High School	Lafayette	928
Teurlings Catholic High School	Lafayette	781
St Michael the Archangel High School	Baton Rouge	599
St Louis Catholic High School	Lake Charles	553

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 Louisiana

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 Louisiana 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 Louisiana?

Louisiana has 469 high schools: 352 public and 117 private. The largest is Denham Springs High School in Denham Springs, with 2,385 students in grades 9 through 12.

What is the largest high school in Louisiana?

It enrolls 2,385 students in grades 9 through 12 in Denham Springs.

Are private high schools included in the Louisiana count?

352 are public and 117 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-louisiana.json. Free for editorial use with attribution to Test Prep Gurus (High School Reach).