Smoky Hill High School

Smoky Hill High School is a four-year high school of sizable scale in AURORA, Colorado, overseen by Cherry Creek School District No. 5 in the county of Arapah, teacheing 2,297 students in grades 9 through 12. That puts it 266% above the typical public school in Colorado, which averages around 627 students.

Smoky Hill High School is one of 70 schools operated by Cherry Creek School District No. 5 in the county of Arapah, a district that educates 52,099 students overall.

On demographics, Smoky Hill High School shows that the largest single group is White at 34%, but no single group is in the majority. The remainder looks like 33% Hispanic, 16% Black, 10% multiracial, 6% Asian. By comparison, Arapahoe County as a whole is about 59% White, so the school skews meaningfully less White than its surroundings.

Looking at the economic backdrop, On paper, Smoky Hill High School has 115 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 20.0:1. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 16.9:1, putting Smoky Hill High School higher than the state norm the norm. About 49% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal.

With demographic context factored in, Smoky Hill High School is in the bottom 10% of Colorado public schools. The BeatsExpectations model predicts schools with this FRL share to land around 37.2%; Smoky Hill High School posts 15.6%, -21.6 points below that line.

Zooming out to the county, ACS estimates for Arapahoe County put median household income runs about $101,087, 47% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 6%. In all, Arapahoe County runs 176 public schools (combined enrollment of about 115,502 students), of which Smoky Hill High School is one.

Nearest neighbor: Laredo Middle School, around 0.3 miles off. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. On composite proficiency, Smoky Hill High School comes 8th of 8 in the immediate cluster, below the nearby-schools average of 35.7%.

The school occupies a downtown site.

Five-year trend. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Smoky Hill High School has rose 11%, going from 2,071 students in 2018 to 2,297 in 2025. Over the same period, the White share declined from 45% to 34%.

On this page, recent activity here tends to focus on school events, parent volunteer needs, and clubs. The community welcomes input from current and former families.