Rio Hondo Elementary

Rio Hondo Elementary is one of the substantial elementary schools in Downey, California, one of the schools within Downey Unified, with 838 students on its rolls from grades K through 5. That puts it 80% bigger than the typical public school in California, which averages around 465 students.

Within Downey Unified, which oversees 21 schools and 22,405 students, Rio Hondo Elementary is one campus in the system.

Demographically, Rio Hondo Elementary reports that the student body is overwhelmingly Hispanic (91%); the rest breaks down as 6% White. The wider county runs roughly 48% Hispanic, putting the school's mix meaningfully more Hispanic than the area baseline.

On the income-and-resources front, On paper, Rio Hondo Elementary has 36 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 23.3:1. That figure is higher than the state norm's 22.3:1 average. An estimated 83% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. That share is noticeably above Los Angeles County's rate of about 70%.

With demographic context factored in, Rio Hondo Elementary ranks in the top 10% of California public schools. The BeatsExpectations model, a per-state regression of composite proficiency on FRL share, predicts schools with this student profile to land around 30.3%; Rio Hondo Elementary posts 46.7%, +16.4 points above that line.

In the broader community, ACS estimates for Los Angeles County put median household earnings sit near $90,112, roughly 36% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, 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 Rio Hondo Elementary is one.

Nearest neighbor: Griffiths (Gordon) Middle, around 0.7 miles off. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. Among the 9 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Rio Hondo Elementary ranks 6th on composite proficiency, above the local average of 44.0%.

Geographically, the school is in a residential area.

Five-year trend. Rio Hondo Elementary's enrollment has climbed 5% since 2018, when it stood at 801 (now 838). Class-load math has narrowed: from 24.8:1 in 2018 to 23.3:1 in 2025.

Within the allk12 community for this school, posts here usually surface around science fair prep, picture-day reminders, and bus-route questions. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.