Research · High schools - Michigan · October 2026

How Many High Schools Are in Michigan? 1,163 Public and 140 Private

Name: How Many High Schools Are in Michigan? 1,163 Public and 140 Private
Creator: Test Prep Gurus (High School Reach)
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

As of October 2026: Michigan has 1,303 high schools: 1,163 public and 140 private. The largest is Cass Technical High School in Detroit, with 2,493 students in grades 9 through 12.

The table lists the 15 largest public high schools in Michigan 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

Michigan has 1,303 high schools. 1,163 are public and 140 are private. The 982 public high schools that report enrollment hold 404,030 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.

Cass Technical High School is the largest public high school in Michigan. It enrolls 2,493 students in grades 9 through 12 in Detroit. The 15th largest school on the table, Canton High School in Canton, enrolls 1,888. None of the 15 largest are charter schools.

The largest private high school in Michigan is Catholic Central High School. It enrolls 977 students in Novi. 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 Michigan

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

High school	City	Students in grades 9-12	Charter
Cass Technical High School	Detroit	2,493	No
Dakota High School	Macomb	2,476	No
Northville High School	Northville	2,441	No
Grand Blanc Community High School	Grand Blanc	2,377	No
West Ottawa High School Campus	Holland	2,187	No
Chippewa Valley High School	Clinton Twp	2,162	No
Novi High School	Novi	2,137	No
East Kentwood High School	Grand Rapids	2,068	No
Lake Orion Community High School	Lake Orion	2,035	No
Troy High School	Troy	2,032	No
Hudsonville High School	Hudsonville	1,995	No
Fordson High School	Dearborn	1,966	No
Howell High School	Howell	1,964	No
Western International High School	Detroit	1,959	No
Canton High School	Canton	1,888	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 Michigan

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

High school	City	Students
Catholic Central High School	Novi	977
Divine Child High School	Dearborn	802
Grand Rapids Christian High School	Grand Rapids	786
South Christian High School	Byron Center	644
Unity Christian High School	Hudsonville	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 Michigan

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 Michigan 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 Michigan?

Michigan has 1,303 high schools: 1,163 public and 140 private. The largest is Cass Technical High School in Detroit, with 2,493 students in grades 9 through 12.

What is the largest high school in Michigan?

It enrolls 2,493 students in grades 9 through 12 in Detroit.

Are private high schools included in the Michigan count?

1,163 are public and 140 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-michigan.json. Free for editorial use with attribution to Test Prep Gurus (High School Reach).