Catholic high schools in Connecticut

Best Catholic high schools in Connecticut

There is no official ranking of Connecticut's Catholic high schools, and "best Catholic high schools in CT" lists from Niche and similar sites reshuffle every year. These are the schools Connecticut families most often shortlist, grouped the way families actually choose: Fairfield County, Greater Hartford, and the New Haven corridor. Use the list to compare — not as a quality ranking.

How we ranked these schools

• Commute — most CT families choose among two or three campuses; the New Haven–Naugatuck Valley towns without a Catholic high school (Orange, Woodbridge, Seymour, Derby, Ansonia, Shelton) typically look to West Haven, Fairfield, Milford, or Hamden.
• Single-gender versus coed — Connecticut has a real all-girls set (Sacred Heart Academy, Mercy, Lauralton Hall, Academy of the Holy Family) alongside mostly coed diocesan schools.
• School size — NCES 2023-24 enrollments run from St. Catherine Academy (about 18) to St. Joseph in Trumbull (about 741).
• HSPT coverage — Immaculate (Danbury) and East Catholic (Manchester) have source-reviewed HSPT pages; confirm every other school directly.
• Boarding versus day — Canterbury, Marianapolis, and Academy of the Holy Family enroll boarding students; most CT Catholic high schools are day schools.

Fairfield County

The Fairfield and Danbury city pages are the usual starting points. St. Joseph in Trumbull is the largest Catholic high school in the state by NCES enrollment.

Greater Hartford

The Archdiocese of Hartford's high-school footprint is the usual shortlist for Hartford, West Hartford, Manchester, Bristol, and Waterbury families. East Catholic has a source-reviewed HSPT page.

New Haven corridor and all-girls options

Families searching Catholic high schools near New Haven, West Haven, Orange, or Woodbridge usually land on Notre Dame in West Haven and Sacred Heart Academy in Hamden. Connecticut's all-girls set is a common follow-up question.

No list can tell you which school fits your child. Compare on commute, size, single-gender versus coed, and aid, then confirm each school's current entrance-exam policy. The guide to choosing a Catholic school turns a shortlist into a real comparison.

Catholic high schools in Connecticut at a glance

Schools

19 serving high-school grades

Cities

18 across Connecticut

Students listed

6,404 across 19 schools reporting enrollment

Average enrollment

337 students among schools with published NCES enrollment

Grade span

14 schools serve grades 9–12 only; 5 also span lower grades

Verified HSPT guides

2

Looking for Catholic schools near you in Connecticut?

Many Connecticut searches are "near me" queries for towns that do not have their own Catholic high school — Milford, Orange, Woodbridge, Seymour, Derby, Oxford, Ansonia, Shelton, and New Haven appear often. If you are comparing high schools, use the city pages below. If you are looking for K-8 options, the diocese finders are the authoritative local source.

Catholic high schools in Fairfield County

Fairfield County is the densest Catholic high-school set in Connecticut: Notre Dame Catholic in Fairfield, Immaculate in Danbury, St. Joseph in Trumbull, Kolbe Cathedral in Bridgeport, Lauralton Hall in Milford, Cardinal Kung Academy in Stamford, and Canterbury School in New Milford. Families in Orange, Shelton, Derby, Seymour, and Ansonia typically commute into this set or to West Haven.

Catholic high schools in Greater Hartford

The Archdiocese of Hartford's high schools include Northwest Catholic in West Hartford, East Catholic in Manchester, St. Paul in Bristol, Holy Cross in Waterbury, Mercy in Middletown, and Imago Dei Classical Academy in New Britain. East Catholic is the Hartford-area school with a source-reviewed HSPT page.

Catholic high schools near New Haven and West Haven

There is no NCES-listed Catholic high school inside New Haven itself. Families searching Catholic high schools near New Haven, West Haven, Orange, or Woodbridge usually compare Notre Dame High School in West Haven and Sacred Heart Academy in Hamden, then look west to Fairfield or Milford if the commute works.

Catholic high schools in eastern Connecticut

Eastern Connecticut is a smaller set: St. Bernard School in Uncasville, Academy of the Holy Family in Baltic, and Marianapolis Prep in Thompson. Marianapolis and Academy of the Holy Family are also the boarding options families ask about when they search Catholic boarding schools in Connecticut.

Largest Catholic high schools in Connecticut

Enrollment is a useful scale signal — it tells you how big the campus is and, roughly, how big the classes are — but it is not a quality measure. These are the largest Catholic high schools in Connecticut by NCES 2023-24 enrollment:

How to compare Catholic high schools in Connecticut

There is no official ranking of Connecticut's Catholic high schools. Start with the campuses you can actually reach — then compare on the factors that decide whether a school works for your child:

• Commute — families in Orange, Woodbridge, Seymour, Derby, Ansonia, Shelton, and New Haven are usually choosing among West Haven, Hamden, Fairfield, and Milford, not a school in their own town.
• Single-gender versus coed — Sacred Heart Academy (Hamden), Mercy (Middletown), Lauralton Hall (Milford), and Academy of the Holy Family (Baltic) are all-girls; most other CT Catholic high schools are coed.
• School size and grade structure — enrollments range from very small academies to St. Joseph in Trumbull at about 741 students.
• Day versus boarding — Canterbury, Marianapolis, and Academy of the Holy Family enroll boarding students; most schools are day only.
• Entrance-exam policy — two schools have source-reviewed HSPT pages (Immaculate and East Catholic); confirm every other school directly and do not assume Catholic affiliation means HSPT.
• Tuition and aid — tuition varies by school; most run aid, and HSPT scores sometimes factor into merit consideration. See scores and scholarships.
• Academics and programs — AP offerings, arts, athletics, and college placement differ by school; ask each school for its own profile.

Admissions deadlines and HSPT dates are worth collecting early, but treat them as planning inputs, not reasons to pick one school over another. We do not invent test dates on this page — confirm the current date with each admissions office, then build a study plan around the earliest confirmed date.

Best Catholic schools: how to choose — Our choosing-a-school guide turns rankings into a real comparison, and the FAQ below covers the CT-specific questions families ask — including Notre Dame Fairfield versus Notre Dame West Haven.

How Catholic high school admissions work in Connecticut

Connecticut's Catholic high schools sit in three dioceses — the Archdiocese of Hartford, the Diocese of Bridgeport, and the Diocese of Norwich — and each school runs its own admissions office. The shape of the process is similar across the state: research in 7th grade, apply in 8th grade, test in the fall or winter, and receive decisions in the spring.

Most schools require an application, prior school records or transcripts, and some form of entrance assessment; some add family interviews or placement testing. Tuition and financial-aid applications run on separate deadlines from the admissions application, so collect every deadline in one place early. Ask each admissions office whether one HSPT sitting can be shared across the schools on your list — policies differ even within the same diocese.

A typical Connecticut Catholic high school admissions timeline

1. Spring-summer of 7th grade: shortlist schools by commute and fit, and note each one's entrance-test policy and tuition/aid dates.
2. Fall of 8th grade: applications open, campuses hold open houses, and families register for entrance exams.
3. Fall-winter: entrance testing (HSPT or a school-specific exam) and most application deadlines. Confirm the current date with each school — we do not publish invented HSPT dates.
4. Winter-spring: financial-aid and scholarship applications are due; admission decisions arrive.
5. Spring: enroll, complete placement paperwork, and confirm testing or waiting-list status at any remaining schools.

Which Connecticut Catholic high schools use the HSPT?

The HSPT is the entrance exam most Catholic high schools use nationwide, but Connecticut is not uniform: some schools give the HSPT, some use a school-specific exam, and Catholic affiliation alone does not establish which test a school requires.

Our honest status for Connecticut

Two Connecticut schools in our directory have source-reviewed HSPT information — Immaculate High School in Danbury and East Catholic High School in Manchester. For every other school, ask the admissions office directly which entrance test it uses this cycle and on what date. We do not invent HSPT dates.

Connecticut schools with verified HSPT information

How to prepare for the HSPT in Connecticut

If your target schools do use the HSPT, start with the free diagnostic to establish a baseline, then build a study plan around the earliest confirmed test date on your list. These guides cover the practical questions Connecticut families ask:

HSPT scholarships for Connecticut families

Some Connecticut Catholic high schools factor HSPT scores into merit scholarship consideration, but the policy differs by school and year — ask each school's admissions and financial-aid offices directly. Start with HSPT scores and scholarships, then the scholarships by city guide.

Planning a Catholic high school application in Connecticut

Entrance-test rules are set by the school or diocese and can differ even within the same city, so check each school's admissions site before registering. Work this checklist regardless of which schools end up on your list:

1. Confirm whether each school requires the HSPT or another entrance test for the current cycle.
2. Record application, transcript, recommendation, financial-aid, and scholarship deadlines separately for every school.
3. Ask whether one HSPT sitting can be shared across the schools you are applying to, especially within the same diocese.
4. Compare the daily commute, school size, single-gender versus coed, and tuition and aid — not just the name.
5. Build HSPT prep around the earliest confirmed test date on your list, starting with a free diagnostic to set a baseline.

Questions about Catholic high schools in Connecticut