National Directory / FL
Best Catholic high schools in Florida
Browse 47 Roman Catholic schools serving high-school grades in 33 cities across Florida.
Families applying in Florida can take the free HSPT practice test first, then use the city lists below to compare schools that actually require the exam.
Florida families researching Catholic high schools make a metro-first decision: the state's 47 NCES-listed Catholic schools serving high-school grades sit across 33 cities, from the Archdiocese of Miami's dense South Florida cluster (Belen Jesuit, Christopher Columbus, Carrollton, Our Lady of Lourdes, St. Brendan, Immaculata-La Salle, and neighbors) to Bishop Moore anchoring the Diocese of Orlando, Jesuit and Tampa Catholic and the Academy of the Holy Names in Tampa Bay, and Bishop Kenny anchoring Jacksonville. There is no statewide Catholic school system in Florida — seven dioceses (Miami, St. Petersburg, Orlando, Palm Beach, Venice, Pensacola-Tallahassee, and St. Augustine) each run their own schools and admissions calendars — so the realistic choice set is almost always the two or three schools within commuting distance.
What separates one Florida Catholic high school from another is rarely the basics. It is school identity and charism (Jesuit, Marianist, Sacred Heart, Salesian), single-gender versus coed — South Florida has a notable all-boys and all-girls set — a PK-12 system versus a standalone 9-12 high school, enrollment size, entrance-exam policy, and how tuition and aid actually work. There is also no official ranking: lists from Niche and Private School Review reshuffle every year and often mix elementary and high school. The best-of section below names the schools Florida families most often shortlist, region by region, and the region-by-region directory keeps every school visible so you can build a short list on fit, then compare admissions details.
Best Catholic high schools in Florida
There is no official ranking of Florida's Catholic high schools — Niche and Private School Review publish their own lists that reshuffle yearly and often mix elementary and high school, and no single school or diocese owns a statewide 'best.' What families actually compare is fit: where the school is, whether it is single-gender or coed, how big it is, what it offers academically and athletically, and what tuition and aid look like. These are the schools our directory data and live search results show Florida families shortlisting most, grouped by region.
How we ranked these schools
- Location and commute — Florida families choose within their metro first; the groups below follow the state's real regions (South Florida, Central Florida, Tampa Bay, Northeast Florida, and the Panhandle).
- Single-gender versus coed — Florida has a notable single-gender set: Belen Jesuit and Christopher Columbus (all-boys) and Our Lady of Lourdes Academy, Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart, and the Academy of the Holy Names (all-girls).
- School size and grade structure — standalone 9-12 high schools versus PK-12 systems, with enrollments from about 150 students to St. Thomas Aquinas at roughly 2,100.
- Academics, programs, and outcomes — AP and dual-credit offerings, arts, athletics, and college placement; ask each school for its own profile rather than relying on a single ranking.
- Faith environment — diocese, religious order, service programs, and campus ministry shape daily life.
- Tuition and financial aid — tuition varies by school, most run aid, and entrance-exam scores sometimes factor into merit scholarship consideration.
South Florida's most shortlisted
The Archdiocese of Miami footprint — Miami-Dade and Broward — holds the state's largest concentration of Catholic high schools, and its most-shortlisted names are Belen Jesuit, Christopher Columbus, St. Thomas Aquinas, Archbishop McCarthy, Cardinal Gibbons, and Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart.
Central Florida and Tampa Bay standouts
Across the Diocese of Orlando and the Diocese of St. Petersburg, the most-shortlisted names are Bishop Moore in Orlando, Jesuit and Tampa Catholic and the Academy of the Holy Names in Tampa, and Trinity Catholic in Ocala.
North Florida and the Panhandle
In the Diocese of St. Augustine and the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee, the anchor schools are Bishop Kenny in Jacksonville, St. Joseph Academy in St. Augustine, Pensacola Catholic, and St. John Paul II in Tallahassee.
The metro pages below go school by school — see the best Catholic high schools in Miami, Orlando, and Tampa for local shortlists with admissions context.
Catholic high schools in Florida at a glance
- Schools
- 47 serving high-school grades
- Cities
- 33 across Florida
- Students listed
- 29,809 across 46 schools reporting enrollment
- Average enrollment
- 648 students among schools with published NCES enrollment
- Grade span
- 32 schools serve grades 9–12 only; 15 also span lower grades
- Verified HSPT guides
- 11
Find schools by city
Applying to a Catholic high school in Florida?
Use the free diagnostic to establish an HSPT baseline before deciding how much preparation is necessary.
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Looking for Catholic schools near you?
If your search was for catholic schools near me, start with our Catholic schools near me guide — it turns the search into a local shortlist: find your state, narrow to your metro, then compare the real schools in your commute on HSPT requirements, scholarships, cost, and fit. For Florida specifically, pick a city above for the local list, then open each school page to confirm HSPT dates and admissions deadlines.
Catholic high schools in South Florida (Miami, Fort Lauderdale & the Palm Beaches)
South Florida holds the state's biggest concentration of Catholic high schools — 18 in this directory across the Archdiocese of Miami footprint — and the region's most-shortlisted names are Belen Jesuit and Christopher Columbus (all-boys), Our Lady of Lourdes Academy and Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart (all-girls), and coed options like St. Brendan, Immaculata-La Salle, Chaminade-Madonna, St. Thomas Aquinas, Cardinal Gibbons, and Archbishop McCarthy. Miami-Dade families should start with the Miami city page, which covers all seven Miami schools plus Monsignor Edward Pace in Miami Gardens and Cristo Rey in North Miami.
Catholic high schools in Orlando & Central Florida
Bishop Moore Catholic in Orlando anchors the Diocese of Orlando's high-school set, with Morning Star in Orlando and Chesterton Academy of Orlando in nearby Winter Park. The region also covers Trinity Catholic in Ocala, Melbourne Central Catholic, Santa Fe Catholic in Lakeland, Father Lopez in Daytona Beach, and Bishop McLaughlin in Spring Hill. See the Orlando city page for the metro shortlist.
Catholic high schools in Tampa Bay & Southwest Florida
Tampa Bay's Catholic high schools sit in the Diocese of St. Petersburg: Jesuit High School (all-boys), Tampa Catholic, the Academy of the Holy Names (all-girls, PK-12), and Cristo Rey Tampa in the city itself, plus Clearwater Central Catholic, St. Petersburg Catholic, and Bishop McLaughlin in nearby Spring Hill. Farther south in the Diocese of Venice, Cardinal Mooney serves Sarasota, St. John Neumann serves Naples, Bishop Verot serves Fort Myers, and Rhodora J. Donahue Academy serves Ave Maria. See the Tampa city page for the metro shortlist.
Catholic high schools in Jacksonville & Northeast Florida
The Diocese of St. Augustine covers northeast Florida, anchored by Bishop Kenny High School in Jacksonville — the region's largest Catholic high school at about 1,394 students — alongside Bishop Snyder in Jacksonville, St. Joseph Academy in St. Augustine, and St. Francis Catholic Academy in Gainesville. See the Jacksonville city page for the local list.
Catholic high schools in Tallahassee & the Panhandle
The Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee's high-school options are Pensacola Catholic High School, Mother Clelia Morning Star in Pensacola, and St. John Paul II Catholic High School in Tallahassee. Families in the Panhandle typically compare across the two cities, with most demand concentrated around Pensacola.
This directory mirrors NCES records, so a few Florida schools appear twice: Belen Jesuit carries two records (the school and its legal system entity, "Belen Jesuit Preparatory School, Inc.") with the same enrollment on both. Some other entries are PK-12 systems whose NCES totals include elementary grades. The 47 records resolve to roughly 46 unique Catholic schools across 33 cities.
Largest Catholic high schools in Florida
Enrollment is a useful scale signal, but it is not a quality measure. St. Thomas Aquinas in Fort Lauderdale is the largest Catholic high school in Florida at about 2,094 students (NCES 2023-24), followed by Archbishop McCarthy (~1,785) and Christopher Columbus (~1,740). One data note: Belen Jesuit appears twice in the list below because NCES carries two records for the same school — the school itself and its legal system entity ("Belen Jesuit Preparatory School, Inc.") — with the same enrollment figure (~1,375) on both.
Catholic school resources for Florida families
How to compare Catholic high schools in Florida
There is no official ranking of Florida's Catholic high schools — and "best" lists from Niche and Private School Review reshuffle every year and often mix elementary and high school. What families can do is compare schools on the factors that actually decide whether a school works for their child:
- Commute and metro — Florida families choose within their metro first; a school 30 minutes across Miami-Dade is a different decision than one five minutes away.
- Single-gender versus coed — Florida has a notable single-gender set: Belen Jesuit and Christopher Columbus (all-boys) and Our Lady of Lourdes Academy, Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart, and the Academy of the Holy Names (all-girls).
- School size and grade structure — some Florida Catholic high schools are standalone 9-12 campuses (St. Thomas Aquinas, Columbus, Bishop Kenny), others are PK-12 systems where the high school is one part of a single application.
- Academics and programs — AP and dual-credit offerings, arts, athletics, and learning support differ a lot between schools of similar size.
- Faith environment — diocese and religious order, service programs, and campus ministry shape daily life.
- Tuition and financial aid — tuition varies across the state, most schools run aid, and entrance-exam scores sometimes factor into merit scholarship consideration.
- College outcomes — college-going rates and published matriculation lists, where available.
Admissions deadlines and HSPT dates are worth collecting early, but treat them as planning inputs, not reasons to pick one school over another. Choose on fit: where your child will be comfortable, challenged, and known.
Best Catholic schools: how to choose — Our choosing-a-school guide turns rankings into a real comparison, and the verified scholarship-deadline calendar tracks the 2026-2027 financial-aid cycle.
How Catholic high school admissions work in Florida
Florida's Catholic high schools operate within seven dioceses — the Archdiocese of Miami and the Dioceses of St. Petersburg, Orlando, Palm Beach, Venice, Pensacola-Tallahassee, and St. Augustine. Each school runs its own admissions office, but the shape of the process is similar across the state: research in 7th grade, apply and test in the fall of 8th grade, 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. Some dioceses let a single entrance-test sitting count for multiple schools — ask each admissions office whether one test can be shared across your list.
A typical Florida Catholic high school admissions timeline
- Spring-summer of 7th grade: shortlist schools by commute and fit, and note each one's entrance-test policy and tuition/aid dates.
- Fall of 8th grade: applications open, campuses hold open houses, and families register for entrance exams.
- November-January: entrance testing (HSPT or a school-specific exam) and most application deadlines.
- Winter-spring: financial-aid and scholarship applications are due; admission decisions arrive.
- Spring: enroll, complete placement paperwork, and confirm testing or waiting-list status at any remaining schools.
Which Florida Catholic high schools use the HSPT?
The HSPT (High School Placement Test) is the entrance exam most Catholic high schools across the country use, and Florida schools often give it during the fall admission cycle — but the policy differs by school and by application year. Catholic affiliation alone does not establish which test a school requires.
Our honest status for Florida
As of this update, none of the Florida schools in our directory has a source-reviewed HSPT record, so we can't yet say from our data which Florida schools require the HSPT. The reliable move is to ask each school's admissions office directly — "which entrance test does your school use this cycle, and what date?" — before building a prep plan.
Florida schools with verified HSPT information
How to prepare for the HSPT in Florida
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 test date on your list. These guides cover the practical questions Florida families ask:
What is the HSPT?
The sections, timing, and scoring of the exam most Catholic high schools use for admissions.
HSPT vs ISEE vs SSAT
Which entrance exam your target schools use, how they differ, and why it matters for prep.
When to start HSPT prep
How far ahead to start, based on your test date, school list, and how much prep your child can sustain.
How Catholic high schools use HSPT scores
Admissions, placement, scholarships, and why the same percentile can carry different weight at different schools.
Average HSPT scores and scholarships
What the average score means for admissions and how schools use scores for merit aid.
4-week HSPT study plan
A realistic one-month plan for families starting late but still wanting to move the score.
HSPT scholarships for Florida families
Some Florida 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. The HSPT scholarships by city guide explains how to research it, and the verified scholarship-deadline calendar tracks 2026-2027 dates.
Planning a Catholic high school application in Florida
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:
- Confirm whether each school requires the HSPT or another entrance test for the current cycle.
- Record application, transcript, recommendation, financial-aid, and scholarship deadlines separately for every school.
- Ask whether one HSPT sitting can be shared across the schools you are applying to, especially within the same diocese.
- Compare the daily commute, school size, academic programs, and tuition and aid — not just the name.
- Build HSPT prep around the earliest test date on your list, starting with a free diagnostic to set a baseline.
Questions about Catholic high schools in Florida
How many Catholic high schools are in Florida?
NCES lists 47 records for Catholic schools serving high-school grades in Florida across 33 cities (2023-24 data); after removing duplicate school-system records (Belen Jesuit appears twice) that resolves to about 46 unique schools. Some are standalone 9-12 high schools; others are PK-12 systems.
What is the best Catholic high school in Florida?
There is no official ranking — sites like Niche and Private School Review publish their own lists that reshuffle yearly and often mix elementary and high school. The most-shortlisted names in our directory are Belen Jesuit, Christopher Columbus, St. Thomas Aquinas, Archbishop McCarthy, and Cardinal Gibbons in South Florida; Bishop Kenny in Jacksonville; and Jesuit, Tampa Catholic, and the Academy of the Holy Names in Tampa. Compare on fit, not a headline rank.
What is the largest Catholic high school in Florida?
St. Thomas Aquinas in Fort Lauderdale is the largest at about 2,094 students (NCES 2023-24), followed by Archbishop McCarthy (~1,785) and Christopher Columbus (~1,740). Among the PK-12 systems, note that some NCES totals include elementary grades.
Which Florida Catholic high schools require the HSPT?
We can't yet say from our data: as of August 2026, none of the Florida schools in our directory has a source-reviewed HSPT record. Catholic affiliation alone doesn't establish the test. Ask each admissions office directly — "which entrance test does your school use this cycle, and what date?" — before building a prep plan. See HSPT vs ISEE vs SSAT for how the exams differ.
When is the HSPT given in Florida?
Florida Catholic high schools that use the HSPT typically test in the fall of 8th grade, most often November-January, ahead of spring decisions — but dates vary by school and year, so confirm each school's posted date and build prep around the earliest one on your list. The when to start HSPT prep guide walks through the timing.
Are Florida Catholic high schools single-gender?
Some are — the Miami area has a notable single-gender set: Belen Jesuit and Christopher Columbus (all-boys), and Our Lady of Lourdes Academy, Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart, and the Academy of the Holy Names in Tampa (all-girls). Most other Florida Catholic high schools are coed. Confirm the current structure with each school, since policies and grades served change.
Do Florida Catholic high schools offer scholarships?
Most run financial aid, and some factor entrance-exam scores into merit scholarship consideration, but policy differs by school and year. Ask each school's admissions and financial-aid offices; the HSPT scholarships by city guide explains how to research it, and the scholarship-deadline calendar tracks 2026-2027 dates.
Are there Catholic high schools in Miami?
Yes — our directory lists 7 schools serving high-school grades in Miami (Belen Jesuit, Christopher Columbus, Carrollton, Immaculata-La Salle, Our Lady of Lourdes, St. Brendan), plus Monsignor Edward Pace in Miami Gardens, Cristo Rey in North Miami, and more across Miami-Dade. See the Miami city page for the full list.
Are there Catholic high schools in Orlando?
Yes — Bishop Moore Catholic and Morning Star in Orlando, plus Chesterton Academy of Orlando in nearby Winter Park. The Diocese of Orlando operates one of the state's largest Catholic school systems. See the Orlando city page.
Why does Belen Jesuit appear twice in the list?
NCES carries two records — the school and its legal/system entity ("Belen Jesuit Preparatory School, Inc."). They are one school; the directory shows both because it mirrors NCES records, and the enrollment figure (~1,375) is the same on both.
Applying to a Catholic high school in Florida?
Use the free diagnostic to establish an HSPT baseline before deciding how much preparation is necessary.
3 days free · cancel anytime
Source: NCES Private School Locator 2023-24, plus school-verified directory additions (August 2026). Enrollment figures come from NCES and may not reflect current-year numbers; confirm admissions, tuition, and testing details directly with each school. School websites and phone numbers above were verified against school pages in August 2026. Read the methodology.