Phineas Banning Senior High

Phineas Banning Senior High, a substantial 9-12 campus in Wilmington, California, operated by Los Angeles Unified, serves 2,422 students, covering grades 9 through 12. Enrollment runs roughly 189% bigger than the state mean of about 838.

Phineas Banning Senior High is one of 784 schools operated by Los Angeles Unified, a district that works with 406,887 students overall.

On the student-mix side, Phineas Banning Senior High lists that the student body is overwhelmingly Hispanic (94%). That is considerably more Hispanic than the county at large, where the share is closer to 48%.

Looking at the economic backdrop, On paper, Phineas Banning Senior High has 139 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 17.5:1. The state averages around 18.2:1, so this campus is tighter than the state norm typical. An estimated 91% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy. Set against Los Angeles County (around 70%), the school's rate is north of typical.

With demographic context factored in, Phineas Banning Senior High sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 25.0%; this one delivers 33.0%.

In the broader community, census data for Los Angeles County shows median household earnings sit near $90,112, about 36% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and roughly 10% of residents live below the federal poverty line. In all, Los Angeles County runs 2244 public schools (combined enrollment of about 1,265,907 students), of which Phineas Banning Senior High is one.

Dan M. Issacs Avalon 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 Phineas Banning Senior High. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Phineas Banning Senior High at 5th of 6; the average score across the group is 34.2%.

Geographically, the school is in a high-density area.

Trend over the last 7 years. Phineas Banning Senior High's enrollment has changed only slightly since 2018, when it stood at 2,441 (now 2,422). Class-load math has tightened: from 22.8:1 in 2018 to 17.5:1 in 2025.

In the discussion threads here, the feed for Phineas Banning Senior High typically covers enrollment questions, classroom assignments, and PTA news. Members of the school community can share what they know.