Sam Brannan Middle

Located at 5301 Elmer Way, in Sacramento, California, Sam Brannan Middle is a tight-knit middle-grades school that enrolls 339 students (grades 7 through 8), operated by Sacramento City Unified. By comparison, California's public schools average about 659 students each, so Sam Brannan Middle sits 49% below that benchmark.

Across the 73 schools in Sacramento City Unified (37,657 students total), Sam Brannan Middle accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

For racial and ethnic makeup, Sam Brannan Middle records that the largest single group is Hispanic at 48%, but no single group is in the majority. Beyond that, the school shows 22% Black, 11% Asian, 9% multiracial, 6% White. That is visibly more Hispanic than the county at large, where the share is closer to 24%.

In terms of school funding signals, Staff filings list 19 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 17.9:1 students per teacher. The state averages around 20.7:1, so this campus is tighter than the state norm typical. Around 73% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator. By comparison, Sacramento County runs at roughly 63%, so the school's eligibility rate is above the surrounding baseline.

After controlling for student poverty, Sam Brannan Middle is in the bottom 10% of California public schools. The BeatsExpectations model predicts schools with this FRL share to land around 36.1%; Sam Brannan Middle posts 18.0%, -18.1 points below that line.

In the surrounding community, community-level numbers for Sacramento County indicate the typical household earns roughly $92,175 per year, 34% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 9%. Sam Brannan Middle is one of 387 public schools in Sacramento County (combined enrollment of about 259,342 students).

Nearest neighbor: John Cabrillo Elementary, around 0.1 miles off. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Sam Brannan Middle. On composite proficiency, Sam Brannan Middle comes 7th of 8 in the immediate cluster, behind the nearby-schools average of 34.7%.

Geographically, the school is in an urban area.

Five-year trend. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Sam Brannan Middle has ticked down 31%, going from 493 students in 2018 to 339 in 2025. Over the same period, the Hispanic share rose from 39% to 48%.

On the community side, the feed for Sam Brannan Middle typically covers science fair prep, picture-day reminders, and bus-route questions. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.