Storm Lake High School

Storm Lake High School is one of the heavily attended 9-12 campuss in Storm Lake, Iowa, run under Storm Lake Comm School District, with 851 students on its rolls from grades 9 through 12. That puts it 82% above the typical public school in Iowa, which averages around 468 students.

Within Storm Lake Comm School District, which oversees 6 schools and 2,933 students, Storm Lake High School is one campus in the system.

On the student-mix side, Storm Lake High School records that 56% of the student body identifies as Hispanic. Other groups include 15% White, 13% Asian, 9% Pacific Islander, 5% Black. That is visibly more Hispanic than the county at large, where the share is closer to 29%.

In terms of school funding signals, On paper, Storm Lake High School has 44 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 19.3:1. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 17.3:1, putting Storm Lake High School higher than the state norm the norm. An estimated 66% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, Storm Lake High School falls in the UNDERPERFORMING tier of the BeatsExpectations residual. Given its student profile, a typical campus would land near 59.1%; this one comes in at 47.1%, -12.0 points off the demographic line.

Across the wider county, census data for Buena Vista County shows median household earnings sit near $71,719, roughly 22% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and the poverty rate sits near 5%. Storm Lake High School is one of 15 public schools in Buena Vista County (combined enrollment of about 4,691 students).

Nearest neighbor: St Lake/IA Cntrl/Buena Vista Early College HS, around 0.0 miles off. Within five miles, there are 5 other public schools. On composite proficiency, Storm Lake High School comes 4th of 6 in the immediate cluster, beneath the nearby-schools average of 60.7%.

The campus sits in a town-center setting.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count grew 15%: 740 students in 2018 compared to 851 in 2025. Over the same period, the Asian share ticked down from 17% to 13%. The student-to-teacher ratio widened from 15.8:1 in 2018 to 19.3:1 today.

On this page, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around classroom updates, athletics, and weather closures. The community welcomes input from current and former families.