Multnomah Street Elementary vs Vernon City Elementary

Multnomah Street Elementary and Vernon City Elementary sit just 5.0 miles apart in Los Angeles and both rank among the top schools in California, but the separation in state rank is more meaningful than the headline rating suggests. Multnomah Street Elementary holds an overall rating of 9.5/10 and ranks #20 of 9,533 schools in California, while Vernon City Elementary rates 9.4/10 and ranks #44 of 9,533 — placing both schools in California's top 0.5 percent statewide, a remarkable achievement for two neighborhood elementary schools in the same city.

On academics, Multnomah Street Elementary edges out Vernon City Elementary with a 9.3/10 academic score compared to 9.1/10 — a modest but real delta that reflects differences in tested proficiency rates. Growth scores, which measure how much students improve year over year regardless of starting point, are identical: both Multnomah Street Elementary and Vernon City Elementary score 9.8/10, signaling that teachers at both campuses are driving strong learning gains across their student populations.

The demographic picture separates these schools more sharply. Vernon City Elementary serves 96% of students on free or reduced lunch, compared to 71% at Multnomah Street Elementary — a 25-point gap indicating Vernon City's population faces significantly higher economic pressure. Vernon City Elementary also enrolls far fewer students, with 135 total versus 336 at Multnomah Street Elementary, making it a considerably smaller campus. Student-teacher ratios are close: 19.3:1 at Vernon City Elementary against 19.8:1 at Multnomah Street Elementary, a difference too small to drive a decision.

One structural distinction worth noting: Vernon City Elementary serves grades KG–06, extending one year beyond Multnomah Street Elementary's KG–05 range. For families with a child currently in kindergarten, that means Vernon City Elementary could cover the full elementary window through sixth grade without a school transition, while Multnomah Street Elementary families will need to plan a middle school move after fifth grade.