San Rafael Elementary

As a reasonably sized elementary-level community in Pasadena, California, San Rafael Elementary instructs 412 students from grades K through 5, overseen by Pasadena Unified.

Within Pasadena Unified, which oversees 23 schools and 13,639 students, San Rafael Elementary is one campus in the system.

Demographically, San Rafael Elementary shows that Hispanic students make up the majority at 72%; the rest looks like 15% White, 9% multiracial, 2% Black. That is visibly more Hispanic than the county at large, where the share is closer to 48%.

On the income-and-resources front, San Rafael Elementary records 16 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 25.8:1. The state averages around 22.3:1, so this campus is higher than the state norm typical. Roughly 34% of students at San Rafael Elementary qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy. By comparison, Los Angeles County runs at roughly 70%, so the school's eligibility rate is lower than the surrounding baseline.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), San Rafael Elementary tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 59.3% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 49.2%.

Around the school, ACS estimates for Los Angeles County put median household income runs about $90,112, 36% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 10%. San Rafael Elementary is one of 2244 public schools in Los Angeles County (combined enrollment of about 1,265,907 students).

Nearest neighbor: PUC CALS Middle School and Early College High, around 0.8 miles off. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around San Rafael Elementary. On composite proficiency, San Rafael Elementary comes 3rd of 7 in the immediate cluster, higher than the nearby-schools average of 46.2%.

The school occupies an inner-city site.

Five-year trend. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at San Rafael Elementary has shrank 8%, going from 449 students in 2018 to 412 in 2025. Over the same period, the White share decreased from 23% to 15%. The student-to-teacher ratio tightened from 29.9:1 in 2018 to 25.8:1 today.

In the discussion threads here, members of the San Rafael Elementary community share and discuss open house dates, ride-share offers, and field-trip permission slips. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.