Ralph Bunche Elementary

Set in Carson, California, Ralph Bunche Elementary is a compact elementary school, overseen by Compton Unified. It serves 217 students across grades K through 8. That puts it 53% below the typical public school in California, which averages around 465 students.

Compton Unified comprises 36 schools with combined enrollment of 16,304 students; Ralph Bunche Elementary is among them.

On demographics, Ralph Bunche Elementary records that 59% of the student body identifies as Hispanic; the rest comes out to 39% Black. That is meaningfully more Hispanic than the county at large, where the share is closer to 48%.

In terms of school funding signals, Ralph Bunche Elementary records 9 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 24.3:1. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 22.3:1, putting Ralph Bunche Elementary higher than the state norm the norm. Around 82% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. By comparison, Los Angeles County runs at roughly 70%, so the school's eligibility rate is somewhat above the surrounding baseline.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), Ralph Bunche Elementary performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 30.6%, the actual is 35.8%, a residual of +5.2 points.

In the area at large, Los Angeles County reports that median household earnings sit near $90,112, 36% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and roughly 10% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Ralph Bunche Elementary is one of 2244 public schools in Los Angeles County (combined enrollment of about 1,265,907 students).

Bursch Elementary is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.6 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Ralph Bunche Elementary. On composite proficiency, Ralph Bunche Elementary comes 3rd of 7 in the immediate cluster, ahead of the nearby-schools average of 35.4%.

The school occupies a downtown site.

Five-year trend. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Ralph Bunche Elementary has shrank 48%, going from 420 students in 2018 to 217 in 2025. The student-to-teacher ratio pulled in from 29.0:1 in 2018 to 24.3:1 today.

On this page, members of the Ralph Bunche Elementary community share and discuss school events, parent volunteer needs, and clubs. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to weigh in.