John Muir Elementary

John Muir Elementary, a modestly sized primary school in Berkeley, California, part of Berkeley Unified, caters to 293 students, covering grades K through 5. That puts it 37% below the typical public school in California, which averages around 465 students.

John Muir Elementary is one of 17 schools operated by Berkeley Unified, a district that enrolls 9,116 students overall.

On demographics, John Muir Elementary lists that the largest single group is White at 51%, but no single group is in the majority. The remainder breaks down as 17% multiracial, 12% Hispanic, 11% Asian, 9% Black. That is meaningfully more White than the county at large, where the share is closer to 30%.

Looking at school resources, Staff filings list 14 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 20.9:1 students per teacher. The state averages around 22.3:1, so this campus is tighter than the state norm typical. Roughly 31% of students at John Muir Elementary qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy. Set against Alameda County (around 49%), the school's rate is noticeably below typical.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, John Muir Elementary performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 61.2%, the actual is 71.1%, a residual of +9.9 points.

In the broader community, the surrounding county (Alameda County) records that the typical household earns roughly $129,367 per year, roughly 52% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 6% of residents live below the federal poverty line. In all, Alameda County runs 394 public schools (combined enrollment of about 210,511 students), of which John Muir Elementary is one.

The closest other public school is Emerson Elementary, roughly 0.4 miles away. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. Among the 8 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), John Muir Elementary ranks 3rd on composite proficiency, ahead of the local average of 62.6%.

Geographically, the school is in an inner-city area.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count showed little movement: 296 students in 2018 compared to 293 in 2025. The White share of enrollment increased from 38% to 51% over that span.

Within the allk12 community for this school, members of the John Muir Elementary community share and discuss science fair prep, picture-day reminders, and bus-route questions. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.