Total enrollment
35,993
-7,397 (-17%) vs SY 2020-21
53 schools in Santa Ana Unified
California · 35,993 students · 1 city
Santa Ana Unified's 53 public K-12 schools collectively enroll about 35,993 students across 36 elementary, 6 middle, and 10 high.
4-year change in Santa Ana Unified
SY 2020-21 vs SY 2024-25School count
51
+1 (+2%) vs SY 2020-21
Source: NCES Common Core of Data, enrollment-weighted demographic averages
How Santa Ana Unified ranks
Among districts| Measure | This district | In California | In the US |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 28.6% | #419 of 534 | N/A |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 35,993 | #17 of 587 | #166 of 9,234 |
| Number of schools ranked most first | 51 | #17 of 587 | N/A |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 20.0:1 | #149 of 587 | #8,368 of 9,044 |
| Free or reduced-price lunch share ranked highest first | 90.1% | #43 of 587 | #719 of 8,164 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 7.6% | #514 of 530 | #6,678 of 6,853 |
Districts need at least 2 schools and 500 students to be ranked. Test proficiency is ranked within the state only, since each state gives a different test. Each rank links to the full list.
Inside Santa Ana Unified
State test results across the district's 47 scored schools run from John Muir Fundamental Elementary at 56.7% proficient to Willard Intermediate at 10.4%, a gap of 46.3 points. That is the 96th widest gap among 458 California districts with four or more scored schools.
Since 2017-18, the 51 district schools that reported both years went from 46,561 to 35,993 students (down 23%) and from 1,813 to 1,802 full-time teachers (down 1%), as of 2024-25.
Proficient is the average share of students meeting the state standard across each school's state tests in 2023-24 and 2024-25; schools with fewer than 100 students and schools serving specialized populations are left out. Staffing figures come from the NCES Common Core of Data and count only schools that reported students and teachers in both years.
About Santa Ana Unified
Santa Ana Unified is a rural-scale California school district running 53 schools with combined enrollment near 35,993.
For a sense of the school types, Santa Ana Unified covers 36 elementary, 6 middle, 10 high schools, and 1 combined or other.
On a per-school basis, Santa Ana Unified runs about 679 students per school, 17% above the state mean of roughly 578.
Over the past 4-year window. Across the same 4-year window, public-school enrollment contracted 17%: 43,390 students in SY 2020-21 versus 35,993 in SY 2024-25. Santa Ana Unified now counts 51 public schools, up from 50 in SY 2020-21.
On allk12, the community for Santa Ana Unified discusses open enrollment windows, redistricting talk, and busing logistics. Parents, students, and educators in the area can post or comment.