Rainier Beach High School

Rainier Beach High School is a high school of reasonably sized scale in SEATTLE, Washington, operated by Seattle School District No. 1, teacheing 854 students in grades 9 through 12. Enrollment runs roughly 49% above the state mean of about 573.

Within Seattle School District No. 1, which oversees 107 schools and 50,773 students, Rainier Beach High School is one campus in the system.

On demographics, Rainier Beach High School reports that 41% of students identify as Black, with the remaining enrollment distributed across several groups. The remainder looks like 23% Asian, 20% Hispanic, 8% multiracial, 4% White. By comparison, King County as a whole is about 7% Black, so the school skews meaningfully more Black than its surroundings.

In terms of school funding signals, The school lists 43 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 19.9:1. The state averages around 21.6:1, so this campus is tighter than the state norm typical. An estimated 67% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. By comparison, King County runs at roughly 38%, so the school's eligibility rate is higher than the surrounding baseline.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, Rainier Beach High School falls in the UNDERPERFORMING tier of the BeatsExpectations residual. Given its student profile, a typical campus would land near 35.3%; this one comes in at 19.4%, -15.9 points off the demographic line.

Around the school, census data for King County shows median household income runs about $124,746, roughly 57% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 5% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Across King County's 544 public schools (combined enrollment of about 278,492 students), Rainier Beach High School is one campus in the mix.

The closest other public school is Alan T. Sugiyama High School, roughly 0.2 miles away. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. On composite proficiency, Rainier Beach High School comes 8th of 8 in the immediate cluster, beneath the nearby-schools average of 39.2%.

The school occupies an urban site.

Trend over the last 7 years. Over the past 7-year window, the student count climbed 14%: 746 students in 2018 compared to 854 in 2025. Black enrollment moved from 49% to 41% across the same window. Class-load math has loosened: from 17.5:1 in 2018 to 19.9:1 in 2025.

On the community side, recent activity here tends to focus on enrollment questions, classroom assignments, and PTA news. Members of the school community can share what they know.