Catholic high schools in Michigan: compare 44 schools

Best Catholic high schools in Michigan

There is no official ranking of Michigan's Catholic high schools — Niche and similar lists mix public and private schools and reshuffle every year. These are the schools Michigan families most often shortlist, grouped the way families actually choose: Detroit-metro first, then West Michigan. Use it to build a compare list, not as a quality ranking.

How we ranked these schools

• Location and commute — most Michigan families choose among two or three commutable schools; the groups follow the Detroit metro and West Michigan.
• School identity — Jesuit (University of Detroit Jesuit), Lasallian (De La Salle, Detroit Catholic Central), Marianist, Dominican, and diocesan schools form students differently.
• Single-gender versus coed — Brother Rice, Marian, Mercy, Regina, and St. Mary's Prep are single-sex; most of the state is coed.
• Enrollment size — NCES 2023-24 figures are a scale signal, not a quality measure (Divine Child is the largest record at about 1,293).
• HSPT coverage — schools with source-reviewed HSPT records link to their /schools pages; for the rest, confirm the entrance exam with the admissions office.

Detroit metro schools families shortlist most

The Detroit, Bloomfield Hills, and Dearborn city pages are the usual starting points. These are the names that recur in family conversations — not an official ranking.

West Michigan and Ann Arbor

Grand Rapids and Ann Arbor are the next choice sets for families outside the Detroit metro.

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 Michigan at a glance

Schools

44 serving high-school grades

Cities

37 across Michigan

Students listed

16,321 across 43 schools reporting enrollment

Average enrollment

380 students among schools with published NCES enrollment

Grade span

28 schools serve grades 9–12 only; 16 also span lower grades

Verified HSPT guides

6

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 Michigan 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 the Detroit area

Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb counties together hold 23 of the state's 44 Catholic high schools. The city of Detroit itself has three — Detroit Cristo Rey, Loyola, and University of Detroit Jesuit — and the surrounding metro adds the schools families most often compare: Brother Rice and Marian in Bloomfield Hills, Mercy in Farmington Hills, Divine Child in Dearborn, Detroit Catholic Central in Novi, De La Salle Collegiate in Warren, Shrine in Royal Oak, and St. Mary's Prep in Orchard Lake, among others. Most of these schools belong to the Catholic High School League (CHSL), so a wide range of athletic and extracurricular competition is common across the metro.

Catholic high schools in Ann Arbor and southeastern Michigan

Ann Arbor's Fr. Gabriel Richard High School is the best-known Catholic high school in the region, with Veritas Christi Catholic High School as a small classical alternative. To the south, St. Mary Catholic Central in Monroe and Cardinal Mooney Catholic in Marine City round out the southeastern corner of the state.

Catholic high schools in West Michigan

Grand Rapids' Catholic Central and West Catholic anchor West Michigan, with Hackett Catholic Prep in Kalamazoo, Muskegon Catholic Central, St. Philip Catholic Central in Battle Creek, Our Lady of the Lake in St. Joseph, and Manistee Catholic Central serving the lakeshore. Families in this region are usually choosing among two or three commutable schools rather than a dense metro set.

Catholic high schools in central and northern Michigan

Powers Catholic in Flint, Lansing Catholic, Lumen Christi in Jackson, Nouvel Catholic Central in Saginaw, All Saints in Bay City, Sacred Heart in Mount Pleasant, and St. Francis in Traverse City cover the middle of the state, while St. Mary Cathedral in Gaylord, St. Michael Academy in Petoskey, and Holy Name in Escanaba serve northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula.

Largest Catholic high schools in Michigan

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

How to compare Catholic high schools in Michigan

There is no official ranking of Michigan's Catholic high schools - and "best" lists from Niche and similar sites mix public and private schools and reshuffle every year. What families can do is compare schools on the factors that actually decide whether a school works for their child:

• Location and commute — start with the Detroit, Bloomfield Hills, Grand Rapids, or Ann Arbor city list; most Michigan families end up choosing among two or three commutable schools.
• School size and grade structure - some Michigan campuses are PK-12 (Divine Child, Notre Dame Prep, Sacred Heart, Academy of the Sacred Heart), others are 9-12 only.
• Single-gender versus coed - Brother Rice, De La Salle Collegiate, St. Mary\u2019s Prep, and Regina are single-sex; most of the state\u2019s schools are coed.
• Academics and programs - AP/IB, STEM, classical curriculum, arts, and learning support differ a lot between schools of similar size.
• Tuition and aid - tuition varies across the state, most schools run financial aid, and HSPT scores sometimes factor into merit scholarship consideration.
• Faith environment - diocese or religious order (Jesuit, Marist, Dominican, Franciscan), service programs, and campus ministry.
• Athletics and extracurriculars - CHSL membership is common across the Detroit area; schools elsewhere compete in their local leagues.
• 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 Michigan

Michigan's Catholic high schools operate within seven dioceses - the Archdiocese of Detroit plus the dioceses of Grand Rapids, Lansing, Kalamazoo, Saginaw, Gaylord, and Marquette. Each school runs its own admissions office, but 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. Some dioceses let a single HSPT sitting count for multiple schools - ask each admissions office whether one test can be shared across your list.

A typical Michigan Catholic high school admissions timeline

1. Spring-summer of 7th grade: shortlist schools and note each one\u2019s 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. November-January: entrance testing (HSPT or a school-specific exam) and most application deadlines.
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 Michigan Catholic high schools use the HSPT?

The HSPT (High School Placement Test) is the entrance exam most Catholic high schools across the country use, but Michigan is not uniform: some schools give the HSPT, some use a school-specific exam, and some rely on records and interviews. Catholic affiliation alone does not establish which test a school requires.

Our honest status for Michigan

Six Michigan schools in our directory have source-reviewed HSPT information - Brother Rice, Divine Child, Detroit Cristo Rey, Bishop Foley, Muskegon Catholic Central, and De La Salle Collegiate - and we list them below. For the other schools in the directory we don't yet have a confirmed record. Catholic affiliation alone does not establish which test a school uses, so for any school not listed below, ask the admissions office directly which entrance test it uses this cycle and on what date.

Michigan schools with verified HSPT information

How to prepare for the HSPT in Michigan

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 Michigan families ask:

HSPT scholarships for Michigan families

Some Michigan 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 scores and scholarships page covers how merit aid typically works. Pair that with a study plan before you pick a test date.

Planning a Catholic high school application in Michigan

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, academic programs, and tuition and aid - not just the name.
5. 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 Michigan