McKay High School

McKay High School is a four-year high school of high-enrollment scale in Salem, Oregon, one of the schools within Salem-Keizer SD 24J, teacheing 2,380 students in grades 9 through 12. By comparison, Oregon's public schools average about 630 students each, so McKay High School sits 278% larger than that benchmark.

McKay High School is one of 65 schools operated by Salem-Keizer SD 24J, a district that serves 37,776 students overall.

For racial and ethnic makeup, McKay High School records that the largest single group is Hispanic, at 74% of enrollment. Beyond that, the school records 15% White, 5% Pacific Islander, 3% Asian, 3% multiracial. By comparison, Marion County as a whole is about 29% Hispanic, so the school skews noticeably more Hispanic than its surroundings.

Looking at school resources, The school lists 96 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 24.7:1. The state averages around 19.8:1, so this campus is higher than the state norm typical. Roughly 90% of students at McKay High School qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, McKay High School falls in the UNDERPERFORMING tier of the BeatsExpectations residual. Given its student profile, a typical campus would land near 27.6%; this one comes in at 12.4%, -15.2 points off the demographic line.

In the broader community, the surrounding county (Marion County) logs that the typical household earns roughly $77,351 per year, roughly 26% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 9% of residents live below the federal poverty line. McKay High School is one of 111 public schools in Marion County (combined enrollment of about 53,799 students).

The closest other public school is Swegle Elementary School, roughly 0.5 miles away. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around McKay High School. Among the 8 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), McKay High School ranks 5th on composite proficiency, below the local average of 13.5%.

McKay High School operates from a metropolitan location.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count changed only slightly: 2,415 students in 2018 compared to 2,380 in 2025. Hispanic enrollment moved from 65% to 74% across the same window.

On the community side, posts here usually surface around science fair prep, picture-day reminders, and bus-route questions. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.