New York City runs 466 public high schools, according to allk12's analysis of federal data for the 2024-25 school year. They enroll 288,681 students, 268,420 of them in grades 9 through 12. Most of the schools are small: 305, or 65%, have fewer than 500 students.
That count comes from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Common Core of Data. It includes every operating school run by New York City Public Schools in the city's 32 geographic districts whose top grade is 12, among them 6-12 schools and 46 career and technical education (CTE) high schools. Charters are counted separately: 76 in the five boroughs reach grade 12, with 52,329 students. The count also leaves out 41 schools in District 75, the city's special schools district. The city itself says it offers "more than 700 programs at over 400 high schools."
NYC high schools by borough
| Borough | High schools | Students in grades 9-12 | Median school size | ELA Regents proficient |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brooklyn | 128 | 77,118 | 388 | 67.0% |
| Manhattan | 121 | 54,693 | 394 | 76.5% |
| Bronx | 120 | 45,105 | 371 | 62.2% |
| Queens | 85 | 74,039 | 605 | 71.5% |
| Staten Island | 12 | 17,465 | 1,424 | 80.4% |
| New York City | 466 | 268,420 | 410 | 69.8% |
Source: allk12's analysis of NCES Common Core of Data, 2024-25, and New York State Education Department School Report Card data, 2024-25. Covers schools in NYC's 32 geographic districts whose top grade is 12; charter and District 75 schools excluded. Median size is total enrollment, rounded. ELA Regents proficient is the share of tested students scoring Level 3 or above.
Queens and Staten Island run much bigger schools. Queens has 85 high schools and 74,039 students in grades 9 to 12, close to Brooklyn's 77,118 spread across 128 schools. The median Staten Island high school has 1,424 students; the median Bronx one has 371.
Brooklyn Technical High School, in Geographic District 13, is the largest, with 5,848 students in 2024-25. Next come Francis Lewis High School in Queens (4,573), Fort Hamilton High School in Brooklyn (4,044), James Madison High School in Brooklyn (3,983), and Tottenville High School on Staten Island (3,750). The 25 schools with at least 2,000 students hold 78,076 students, or 27% of the total (78,076 divided by 288,681).
The smallest regular high school is Harvey Milk High School in Manhattan, with 78 students. The most common size band is 250 to 499 students, which covers 218 schools, or 47%.
On the English Language Arts (ELA) Regents exam, 69.8% of tested students at these schools scored proficient, meaning Level 3 or above, in 2024-25, according to allk12's analysis of New York State Education Department (NYSED) report card data. That is down from 72.7% in 2023-24 and below the 81.6% at non-charter high schools elsewhere in New York. NYSED said in September that "beginning with students graduating in 2028" students will no longer have to pass a prescribed set of Regents exams to graduate, though the tests will continue (more on that decision).
How NYC high school admissions work
Any New York City resident in eighth grade, or in ninth grade for the first time, can apply, including students now at charter, private, or parochial schools. NYC Public Schools lists three paths, and students can take all three: the main high school application, the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for eight exam schools, and a separate application and audition for LaGuardia High School. All three run through MySchools. Charter schools run their own admissions.
The dates for students starting ninth grade in fall 2027:
- Tuesday, October 6, 2026: the high school application, LaGuardia application, and SHSAT registration opened.
- Friday, October 30, 2026: SHSAT registration closes.
- Saturday, November 14, to Saturday, November 21, 2026: SHSAT test dates.
- Friday, December 4, 2026: the high school and LaGuardia applications close.
- Wednesday, March 3, 2027: offers are released after 3 p.m.
The city says the dates are subject to change.
On the main application, students rank programs in their true order of preference. The city recommends listing 12 or more and says high schools do not see where a student ranked them. Open programs make offers by priority group and a random number given to every applicant. Screened programs group students by the average of their final seventh-grade grades in English, math, science, and social studies, then admit in group order. For fall 2027, a student needs an average of at least 94.67 to land in the top 15% citywide (Group 1). Ranking in the top 15% at one's own school also counts, with a floor of 90. Priority groups decide who is considered first, such as students who live or attend school in a borough, or who live in a school's zone.
The eight Specialized High Schools that admit by test are Stuyvesant High School, The Bronx High School of Science, Brooklyn Technical, The Brooklyn Latin School, the High School for Mathematics, Science and Engineering at City College, the High School of American Studies at Lehman College, Queens High School for the Sciences at York College, and Staten Island Technical. The SHSAT score is the only factor. Offers go out in score order, each student getting the highest choice that still has seats, and there are no waitlists. For fall 2026 admission, the lowest qualifying score for ninth grade ranged from 495 at Brooklyn Latin to 561 at Stuyvesant.
The test itself is new this cycle. "Beginning in fall 2026, the SHSAT will move to a computer-adaptive test," according to NYC Public Schools, so questions get harder or easier based on a student's answers. It keeps two 50-question sections, ELA and math, over 180 minutes. Eighth graders at public middle schools that end in eighth grade test at their own school on Wednesday, November 18. Other eighth graders test at a central site on November 14 or 15, and ninth graders on November 21.
The exam remains contested. In July, Spectrum News NY1 reported that only three Black students received offers to Stuyvesant's incoming class of 777, down from eight the year before. Citing city data, NY1 reported that Black students received about 3% of offers to the eight schools, Latino students about 6%, and Asian students about 57%. Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a Bronx Science graduate, said "a single test does not reflect the aptitude of students across the city," and that his administration is looking at how to improve results in the years before students take it.
Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts is the ninth Specialized High School and does not use the SHSAT. Students audition for up to six studios: dance, drama, fine and visual art, instrumental music, technical theater, and vocal music. Offers go by audition score, so one student can win several. Applicants also need a final grade of at least 65 in each core subject from the prior year. Auditions are uploaded to MySchools during the application period, which ends December 4.
Sources
NYC Public Schools: High School
NYC Public Schools: Screened Admissions
NYC Public Schools: Specialized High Schools
NYC Public Schools: Specialized High Schools Admissions Test
NYC Public Schools: High School Auditions
NYSED: Board of Regents Charges Department to Move Forward with One State Diploma and a More Focused Role for Regents Exams
NYSED: 2024-25 School Report Card Glossary
Spectrum News NY1: Mamdani pushes specialized school admissions reform
School counts and enrollment from allk12's analysis of National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Common Core of Data, 2024-25. Regents results from allk12's analysis of NYSED School Report Card data, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
