Monterey Highlands Elementary

As a substantial primary school in Monterey Park, California, Monterey Highlands Elementary teaches 917 students from grades K through 8, one of the schools within Alhambra Unified. Enrollment runs roughly 97% bigger than the state mean of about 465.

Across the 16 schools in Alhambra Unified (14,548 students total), Monterey Highlands Elementary accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

Looking at the student body, Monterey Highlands Elementary shows that the largest single group is Asian, at 58% of enrollment. Beyond that, the school lists 34% Hispanic, 6% multiracial, 2% White. By comparison, Los Angeles County as a whole is about 15% Asian, so the school skews visibly more Asian than its surroundings.

Looking at the economic backdrop, Monterey Highlands Elementary logs 39 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 23.8:1. That figure is higher than the state norm's 22.3:1 average. An estimated 35% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. That share is lower than Los Angeles County's rate of about 70%.

With demographic context factored in, Monterey Highlands Elementary is in the OUTPERFORMING tier of the BeatsExpectations model, which fits a per-state line through proficiency and FRL share. Schools with this campus's poverty mix typically land near 58.6%; this one delivers 73.8%, a residual of +15.2 points.

Across the wider county, community-level numbers for Los Angeles County indicate the typical household earns roughly $90,112 per year, about 36% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 10%. Across Los Angeles County's 2244 public schools (combined enrollment of about 1,265,907 students), Monterey Highlands Elementary is one campus in the mix.

Nearest neighbor: Brightwood Elementary, around 0.8 miles off. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Monterey Highlands Elementary. Among the 5 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Monterey Highlands Elementary ranks 1st on composite proficiency, higher than the local average of 56.8%.

The school occupies a commuter-belt site.

Trend over the last 7 years. Monterey Highlands Elementary's enrollment has fell 7% since 2018, when it stood at 986 (now 917). Class-load math has pulled in: from 27.2:1 in 2018 to 23.8:1 in 2025.

Within the allk12 community for this school, posts here usually surface around open house dates, ride-share offers, and field-trip permission slips. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.