Monterey Hills Elementary

Monterey Hills Elementary is a reasonably sized elementary school in South Pasadena, California, overseen by South Pasadena Unified. The school enrolls 570 students in grades K through 5. Compared to the state average of about 465 students per school, that is 23% bigger than typical.

South Pasadena Unified comprises 5 schools with combined enrollment of 4,652 students; Monterey Hills Elementary is among them.

On demographics, Monterey Hills Elementary shows that the largest single group is Hispanic at 35%, but no single group is in the majority. Beyond that, the school reports 30% Asian, 17% White, 17% multiracial. By comparison, Los Angeles County as a whole is about 48% Hispanic, so the school skews visibly less Hispanic than its surroundings.

Looking at school resources, On paper, Monterey Hills Elementary has 26 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 21.9:1. That tracks the state average closely. Roughly 14% of students at Monterey Hills Elementary qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. That share is south of Los Angeles County's rate of about 70%.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, Monterey Hills Elementary performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 70.9%, the actual is 79.2%, a residual of +8.3 points.

In the broader community, Los Angeles County reports that median household income runs about $90,112, 36% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, 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 Hills Elementary is one campus in the mix.

Nearest neighbor: Sierra Vista Elementary, around 0.6 miles off. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. On composite proficiency, Monterey Hills Elementary comes 4th of 8 in the immediate cluster, higher than the nearby-schools average of 65.1%.

The school occupies a suburban site.

Trend over the last 7 years. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Monterey Hills Elementary has decreased 17%, going from 683 students in 2018 to 570 in 2025. Hispanic enrollment moved from 26% to 35% across the same window.

On this page, recent activity here tends to focus on school events, parent volunteer needs, and clubs. The community welcomes input from current and former families.