Research · High schools - Tennessee · October 2026

How Many High Schools Are in Tennessee? 447 Public and 189 Private

Name: How Many High Schools Are in Tennessee? 447 Public and 189 Private
Creator: Test Prep Gurus (High School Reach)
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

As of October 2026: Tennessee has 636 high schools: 447 public and 189 private. The largest is Collierville High School in Collierville, with 2,946 students in grades 9 through 12.

The table lists the 15 largest public high schools in Tennessee 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

Tennessee has 636 high schools. 447 are public and 189 are private. The 401 public high schools that report enrollment hold 285,817 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.

Collierville High School is the largest public high school in Tennessee. It enrolls 2,946 students in grades 9 through 12 in Collierville. The 15th largest school on the table, Farragut High School in Knoxville, enrolls 2,073. None of the 15 largest are charter schools.

The largest private high school in Tennessee is Father Ryan High School. It enrolls 863 students in Nashville. 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 Tennessee

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

High school	City	Students in grades 9-12	Charter
Collierville High School	Collierville	2,946	No
Bartlett High School	Bartlett	2,782	No
Stewarts Creek High School	Smyrna	2,474	No
Science Hill High School	Johnson City	2,359	No
Dobyns - Bennett High School	Kingsport	2,315	No
Blackman High School	Murfreesboro	2,301	No
Riverdale High School	Murfreesboro	2,275	No
Smyrna High School	Smyrna	2,266	No
Cordova High School	Cordova	2,251	No
Cookeville High School	Cookeville	2,217	No
Antioch High School	Antioch	2,212	No
Rockvale High School	Rockvale	2,126	No
Lavergne High School	Lavergne	2,116	No
Independence High School	Thompson's Station	2,091	No
Farragut High School	Knoxville	2,073	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 Tennessee

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

High school	City	Students
Father Ryan High School	Nashville	863
Christian Brothers High School	Memphis	717
The Ensworth School-Hs Campus	Nashville	437
Notre Dame High School	Chattanooga	371
Collegedale Academy	Collegedale	355

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 Tennessee

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 Tennessee 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 Tennessee?

Tennessee has 636 high schools: 447 public and 189 private. The largest is Collierville High School in Collierville, with 2,946 students in grades 9 through 12.

What is the largest high school in Tennessee?

It enrolls 2,946 students in grades 9 through 12 in Collierville.

Are private high schools included in the Tennessee count?

447 are public and 189 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-tennessee.json. Free for editorial use with attribution to Test Prep Gurus (High School Reach).