Los Cerritos Elementary

Los Cerritos Elementary is one of the small elementary-level communitys in South San Francisco, California, overseen by South San Francisco Unified, with 304 students on its rolls from grades K through 5. By comparison, California's public schools average about 465 students each, so Los Cerritos Elementary sits 35% smaller than that benchmark.

Los Cerritos Elementary is one of 15 schools operated by South San Francisco Unified, a district that works with 7,644 students overall.

In terms of who attends, Los Cerritos Elementary reports that the largest single group is Hispanic, at 67% of enrollment. Beyond that, the school logs 12% Asian, 7% multiracial, 5% White, 4% Pacific Islander. That is visibly more Hispanic than the county at large, where the share is closer to 25%.

In terms of school funding signals, On paper, Los Cerritos Elementary has 17 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 18.4:1. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 22.3:1, putting Los Cerritos Elementary tighter than the state norm the norm. An estimated 62% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. Set against San Mateo County (around 34%), the school's rate is meaningfully above typical.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, Los Cerritos Elementary falls in the UNDERPERFORMING tier of the BeatsExpectations residual. Given its student profile, a typical campus would land near 42.5%; this one comes in at 23.3%, -19.1 points off the demographic line.

Zooming out to the county, the surrounding county (San Mateo County) shows that median household income runs about $158,855, roughly 54% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 4%. Across San Mateo County's 176 public schools (combined enrollment of about 82,403 students), Los Cerritos Elementary is one campus in the mix.

South San Francisco High is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.2 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Los Cerritos Elementary. Among the 8 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Los Cerritos Elementary ranks 7th on composite proficiency, below the local average of 37.2%.

The campus sits in an inner-city setting.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count remained close to its prior level: 309 students in 2018 compared to 304 in 2025. Over the same period, the Asian share contracted from 21% to 12%. The student-to-teacher ratio fell from 20.6:1 in 2018 to 18.4:1 today.

Within the allk12 community for this school, the feed for Los Cerritos Elementary typically covers sports schedules, lunch menu changes, and school spirit week. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.