Research · High schools - Minnesota · October 2026

How Many High Schools Are in Minnesota? 1,095 Public and 96 Private

Name: How Many High Schools Are in Minnesota? 1,095 Public and 96 Private
Creator: Test Prep Gurus (High School Reach)
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

As of October 2026: Minnesota has 1,191 high schools: 1,095 public and 96 private. The largest is Wayzata High in Plymouth, with 3,781 students in grades 9 through 12.

The table lists the 15 largest public high schools in Minnesota 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

Minnesota has 1,191 high schools. 1,095 are public and 96 are private. The 841 public high schools that report enrollment hold 269,590 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.

Wayzata High is the largest public high school in Minnesota. It enrolls 3,781 students in grades 9 through 12 in Plymouth. The 15th largest school on the table, Osseo Senior High in Osseo, enrolls 2,289. None of the 15 largest are charter schools.

The largest private high school in Minnesota is Delasalle High School. It enrolls 706 students in Minneapolis. 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 Minnesota

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

High school	City	Students in grades 9-12	Charter
Wayzata High	Plymouth	3,781	No
Minnetonka Senior High	Minnetonka	3,514	No
Blaine High School	Blaine	3,157	No
Champlin Park High School	Champlin	2,978	No
Prior Lake High School	Savage	2,856	No
Eden Prairie Senior High	Eden Prairie	2,844	No
Shakopee High School	Shakopee	2,823	No
Stillwater Area High School	Stillwater	2,658	No
Edina Senior High	Edina	2,641	No
White Bear Lake Area High School	White Bear Lake	2,572	No
Maple Grove Senior High	Maple Grove	2,453	No
Rosemount Senior High	Rosemount	2,364	No
Anoka High School	Anoka	2,348	No
Eastview Senior High	Apple Valley	2,328	No
Osseo Senior High	Osseo	2,289	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 Minnesota

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

High school	City	Students
Delasalle High School	Minneapolis	706
Totino-Grace High School	Fridley	674
Academy of Holy Angels	Richfield	640
Holy Family Catholic High School	Victoria	519
Cristo Rey Jesuit High School Twin Cities	Minneapolis	482

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 Minnesota

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 Minnesota 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 Minnesota?

Minnesota has 1,191 high schools: 1,095 public and 96 private. The largest is Wayzata High in Plymouth, with 3,781 students in grades 9 through 12.

What is the largest high school in Minnesota?

It enrolls 3,781 students in grades 9 through 12 in Plymouth.

Are private high schools included in the Minnesota count?

1,095 are public and 96 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-minnesota.json. Free for editorial use with attribution to Test Prep Gurus (High School Reach).