California has the highest number of charter schools of any state in the country with 1,063+ schools serving over 470,600 students as of fall 2012.

In 2012-13, 110 new charter schools opened in California.

For the 2011-12 school year, there were over 70,000 students on charter school waiting lists in CA. This includes more than 10,000 students on waitlists in Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) alone.

Number of Charter Schools Located in Major Districts*

• Los Angeles Unified School District: 241
• San Diego Unified: 48
• City of San Jose (Multiple districts): 36
• Oakland Unified: 40
• San Francisco Unified: 14
• Sacramento City Unified: 15
• Fresno Unified: 14
• San Bernardino Unified: 13

Find more details, including charter school performance by region, on our Fact Sheets page.
You can also learn more about charter school performance in our statewide report, Portrait of the Movement.

^{* Number of Schools: Beginning in 2010-11 number of schools is counted by physical location of the school rather than by authorizer, Source = CDE data, California Charter School Association analysis conducted in fall 2012.}