BASIS Tucson North Tops U.S. News High School Rankings as Arizona Dominates List

Arizona strengthened its reputation for high-performing charter education after BASIS Tucson North claimed the No. 1 spot in U.S. News & World Report’s 2025-26 Best High Schools rankings released on 19 Aug. The tuition-free charter school, part of the BASIS Charter Schools network, climbed from 33rd a year ago to first place, overtaking network counterpart BASIS Peoria, which slipped to 66th. In total, 11 Arizona schools made the Top 100, including nine other BASIS campuses—among them BASIS Phoenix (17th), BASIS Chandler (28th) and BASIS Flagstaff (37th)—alongside Tucson Unified’s University High School (92nd). The showing gives Arizona the highest concentration of Top 100 schools of any state in the latest league table. U.S. News evaluated data from roughly 24,000 public high schools and ranked nearly 18,000 based on college-readiness indicators, state test performance, graduation rates and outcomes for historically underserved students. BASIS Chandler, BASIS Peoria and BASIS Tucson North also ranked among the nation’s top 10 schools for STEM education, underscoring the charter network’s strength in advanced coursework.