Research · High schools - Pennsylvania · October 2026

How Many High Schools Are in Pennsylvania? 754 Public and 415 Private

Name: How Many High Schools Are in Pennsylvania? 754 Public and 415 Private
Creator: Test Prep Gurus (High School Reach)
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

As of October 2026: Pennsylvania has 1,169 high schools: 754 public and 415 private. The largest is Reading SHS in Reading, with 4,879 students in grades 9 through 12.

The table lists the 15 largest public high schools in Pennsylvania 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

Pennsylvania has 1,169 high schools. 754 are public and 415 are private. The 747 public high schools that report enrollment hold 503,551 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.

Reading SHS is the largest public high school in Pennsylvania. It enrolls 4,879 students in grades 9 through 12 in Reading. The 15th largest school on the table, Spring-Ford SHS 9-12 Ctr in Royersford, enrolls 2,629. None of the 15 largest are charter schools.

The largest private high school in Pennsylvania is La Salle College High School. It enrolls 1,141 students in Wyndmoor. 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 Pennsylvania

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

High school	City	Students in grades 9-12	Charter
Reading SHS	Reading	4,879	No
Upper Darby SHS	Drexel Hill	4,187	No
Hazleton Area HS	Hazle Township	4,071	No
Northeast HS	Philadelphia	3,463	No
Parkland HS	Allentown	3,279	No
North Penn SHS	Lansdale	3,165	No
Cumberland Valley HS	Mechanicsburg	3,163	No
William Allen HS	Allentown	3,074	No
Neshaminy HS	Langhorne	2,916	No
Pennsbury HS	Fairless Hills	2,847	No
Emmaus HS	Emmaus	2,842	No
Easton Area HS	Easton	2,778	No
North Allegheny HS	Wexford	2,711	No
Abington SHS	Abington	2,692	No
Spring-Ford SHS 9-12 Ctr	Royersford	2,629	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 Pennsylvania

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

High school	City	Students
La Salle College High School	Wyndmoor	1,141
Bishop Shanahan High School	Downingtown	908
St Joseph'S Preparatory School	Philadelphia	902
St Joseph'S Preparatory School	Philadelphia	898
Monsignor Bonner & Archbishop Prendergast Hs	Drexel Hill	843

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 Pennsylvania

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 Pennsylvania 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 Pennsylvania?

Pennsylvania has 1,169 high schools: 754 public and 415 private. The largest is Reading SHS in Reading, with 4,879 students in grades 9 through 12.

What is the largest high school in Pennsylvania?

It enrolls 4,879 students in grades 9 through 12 in Reading.

Are private high schools included in the Pennsylvania count?

754 are public and 415 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-pennsylvania.json. Free for editorial use with attribution to Test Prep Gurus (High School Reach).