U.S. High School Rankings by State: The Most Challenging Schools in America

Across the United States, a relatively small but highly focused group of public high schools is quietly reshaping what “hard” school really means. Instead of chasing traditional rankings built mostly on test scores, graduation rates or name-brand prestige, these campuses are judged by how extensively they immerse students in advanced, college-level coursework. Their central question is simple: How many teenagers are truly being pushed to take on challenging classes like Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate – and who gets that chance?

Drawing on The Washington Post’s latest state-by-state high school rankings, this analysis looks at where students are most actively enrolled in AP, IB and other college-credit programs. The findings expose sharp differences among states, regions and districts, showcasing communities that have widened the doors to rigorous learning and others where access remains narrow.

What follows is a closer look at how these “most challenging” high schools are distributed, what the Washington Post’s index actually measures, how equity gaps shape who benefits, and what policymakers, districts and families can do to expand high-quality rigor across the country.

State-by-state rigor: How America’s most challenging high schools compare

From coast to coast, the competitive academic landscape is anything but uniform. In some states, selective magnet and exam schools dominate, with students often stacking two or three AP or IB classes each semester. In others, small-town and rural high schools rely heavily on dual-enrollment agreements with nearby community colleges to deliver college-level content.

Strikingly, many of the most demanding schools are not in the largest metropolitan centers. Instead, they tend to cluster in fast-growing suburban corridors and modest mid-sized towns where school boards and superintendents have consciously made advanced coursework central to their college-readiness strategies. In these communities, AP and IB classes are not treated as boutique offerings for a handful of top students; they are woven into the fabric of the school.

Recent national data from the U.S. Department of Education show that about 34% of public high school graduates took at least one AP exam in 2023, but participation levels differ widely by state. The Washington Post’s breakdown reveals that in some regions, a few standout campuses provide an outsized share of that rigor, creating islands of intensity within otherwise average-performing systems.

Patterns begin to emerge when comparing how states spread-or concentrate-their most challenging workloads:

• Legacy accountability systems: States that have long emphasized college readiness and performance-based accountability tend to have more students enrolled in AP, IB or Cambridge courses.
• Demographic and economic shifts: Fast-growing states responding to changing labor markets and workforce demands are rapidly adding dual-credit options and advanced pathways.
• Suburban innovation: Suburban districts, especially those near major universities or tech hubs, often invest heavily in STEM-focused AP offerings and early college models.
• Rural ingenuity: Smaller districts leverage online platforms and community college partnerships to turn limited staff and resources into surprisingly rigorous programs.

Key features that set top-performing states and districts apart include:

• Broad participation: High percentages of the entire student body-not just honors students-taking AP, IB, Cambridge or dual-enrollment courses.
• Strategic college partnerships: Deep collaborations with community and four-year colleges that expand course catalogs and allow students to graduate with significant college credit.
• Intentional equity design: Policies aimed at including first-generation, multilingual and low-income students in advanced coursework rather than tracking them away from it.
• Sustained outcomes over time: Several years of consistent exam participation, graduation rates and college-going patterns, not just a single strong cohort.

Inside the metrics: How The Washington Post defines “challenge”

Beneath the headline rankings is a methodology that places sustained academic pressure at the center. Rather than rewarding only high test scores or elite reputations, The Washington Post’s index looks closely at how deeply schools embed college-level work into students’ day-to-day experience.

The rankings emphasize:

• How many students enroll in advanced courses such as Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate.
• How many of those students actually sit for the corresponding exams.
• How broadly those opportunities are shared across the campus, not just within a small honors track.

In practice, schools earn higher placement when rigorous coursework is considered the norm rather than the exception. The index rewards campuses where students are likely to take multiple AP, IB or dual-enrollment classes over four years, even if not every test score is perfect. This shifts attention away from a few storied, highly selective schools and toward places where everyday expectations are demanding.

Core components that influence a school’s standing include:

• Participation intensity: The number of advanced exams taken relative to the size of the graduating class-often referred to as “exams per graduate.”
• Depth and variety of courses: The range of AP, IB and advanced STEM and humanities courses available, from calculus and physics to world languages and arts.
• Equitable access: The extent to which students from low-income backgrounds, students of color, English learners and first-generation college-goers appear in advanced classes.
• Program completion: Evidence that students stay in challenging sequences (such as multi-year IB programs or AP pathways) through senior year.

Who gets in? The equity story behind America’s toughest high schools

Every list of the “most challenging” high schools also hints at a more complicated question: Who actually gets to attend, and who remains on the outside?

Selective magnet programs, exam-based admissions, lotteries and specialized academies can unintentionally tilt access toward students whose families have the time, resources and know-how to navigate complex admissions systems. These families are more likely to pay for test prep, secure private tutoring, move into favored feeder zones or track application deadlines. Meanwhile, students in high-poverty neighborhoods often attend nearby schools that offer far fewer AP, IB or dual-enrollment seats-even when a challenging campus exists a short commute away.

In recent years, some districts have started releasing enrollment data by race, income, language status and disability, allowing researchers and advocates to see how closely advanced programs mirror the communities they serve. The results are mixed. While a number of schools have broadened recruitment efforts, provided bridge courses and redesigned admissions, others remain significantly more affluent and less diverse than their surrounding districts.

This creates a de facto two-tier system:

• Tier one: Buildings with dense concentrations of advanced coursework, more experienced teachers and expansive college-credit options.
• Tier two: Neighborhood schools, often serving higher proportions of low-income students, English learners and students with disabilities, where rigorous options may be limited or inconsistently available.

Common barriers that fuel these gaps include:

• Admissions filters: Entry tests, prior coursework requirements and teacher recommendations that favor students who already had access to enrichment and tutoring.
• Transportation challenges: Lack of buses or long commutes that discourage students from rural areas and low-transit neighborhoods from applying or enrolling.
• Uneven support services: Limited academic counseling, tutoring and language support for first-generation college-bound students and multilingual learners.
• Invisible exclusion in accountability: State and district scorecards that highlight test results but rarely measure who is missing from advanced pipelines.

The disparities are evident in comparative enrollment and course availability:

Nationally, the College Board has reported that while participation in AP has climbed steadily over the last decade, students from low-income families and underrepresented racial and ethnic groups are still less likely to enroll in the most advanced sequences, particularly in STEM fields. This underscores the role of policy and local decision-making in determining who benefits from America’s toughest high schools.

Expanding high-quality challenge: Steps for policymakers, parents and districts

Ensuring that rigorous coursework is not confined to a few ZIP codes requires coordinated action. State officials, local district leaders and families each hold part of the solution.

Policymakers can use legislation and funding to support access to Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate and dual-enrollment programs. Strategies include:

• Revising funding formulas to incentivize districts that expand advanced course offerings and reduce participation gaps.
• Covering test and course fees for low-income students so that cost does not become a barrier.
• Investing in targeted teacher training, stipends and certification programs that allow more schools-especially in rural and under-resourced areas-to offer AP and IB courses.
• Requiring public reporting on advanced-course participation and performance by subgroup.

Districts can redesign systems to make challenging coursework a realistic path for a much larger share of students:

• Developing clear course sequences starting in middle school so students understand prerequisites and options early.
• Adopting open-enrollment policies for advanced classes and replacing gatekeeping recommendations with “opt-out” models.
• Providing academic supports-such as tutoring, extended-day programs, bridge classes and summer institutes-to help students succeed once enrolled.
• Creating transparent data dashboards that highlight enrollment and success in AP, IB and dual-enrollment by race, income, gender, disability and language status.

Parents and families play a crucial advocacy role:

• Asking counselors and principals about available AP, IB, Cambridge and dual-enrollment courses and how students can qualify.
• Pressing school boards to expand advanced offerings at neighborhood schools, not only in specialty programs.
• Participating in PTA meetings, community forums and state hearings to push for policies that broaden access to high-level coursework.
• Encouraging students-especially those who might not see themselves as “advanced”-to try at least one rigorous class with appropriate support.

Concrete actions and their potential impact include:

When these levers are pulled together-policy, practice and family engagement-districts can move from a small set of “most challenging schools” to a broader ecosystem where high expectations are widespread.

The way forward

As debates over standardized testing, equity and opportunity continue to reshape American education, The Washington Post’s rankings offer just one view of how rigor is distributed across high schools. They spotlight campuses where advanced coursework is central to the student experience and where educators have made intentional choices to raise expectations, often in the face of limited resources.

At the same time, the rankings expose real disparities between and within states: districts only a few miles apart can offer dramatically different levels of access to AP, IB and dual-enrollment programs. These gaps raise difficult but necessary questions about which students are being urged to stretch academically-and which are quietly steered toward less demanding paths.

For policymakers, parents and school leaders, the data can serve as both validation and provocation. They affirm that it is possible for public schools to normalize high-level challenge for large numbers of students. But they also challenge communities to reconsider how “excellence” is defined, who is invited into advanced spaces and what it truly means to prepare teenagers for college, careers and democratic life in a competitive, rapidly changing world.

For now, the list of the nation’s most challenging high schools stands as both a marker of achievement and a prompt: to look beyond rankings, to confront inequities in access, and to build a future in which rigorous learning is a standard expectation rather than a scarce opportunity.