Catholic high schools in Pennsylvania

Best Catholic high schools in Pennsylvania

There is no official ranking of Pennsylvania's Catholic high schools, and "best" lists from Niche, Yelp, and similar sites mix different methodologies and reshuffle every year. This list is a curated, sourced starting point: it organizes the schools families most often shortlist along the axes that actually matter — gender structure, school identity, size, and admissions reality — using NCES enrollment figures and HSPT information reviewed from each school's own site. Use it to build a compare list, then dig into the HSPT and admissions sections below.

How we ranked these schools

• Gender structure — Philadelphia is unusual for offering strong all-boys and all-girls options side by side with coed schools; the list is split accordingly.
• School identity and charism — Jesuit (St. Joseph’s Prep, Scranton Prep), Lasallian (La Salle, Central Catholic Pittsburgh), Augustinian (Malvern, Devon), Oblate (Father Judge), Mercy (Gwynedd Mercy, Villa Maria, Mercyhurst), and archdiocesan schools all form students differently.
• Size and scale — enrollment from NCES 2023–24 data, a signal for campus and class size, not a quality measure.
• HSPT and admissions coverage — schools with source-reviewed HSPT records in our directory link straight to their HSPT pages; for the rest, confirm the entrance-exam policy directly with the school.
• College outcomes where published — the strongest schools publish matriculation lists; ask each school for its own profile rather than relying on a single ranking.

All-boys Catholic high schools in Philadelphia

Philadelphia's all-boys schools anchor every "best" conversation about the city's Catholic high schools: two order-run preps that rank among the most selective in the region and two archdiocesan schools, plus the all-boys preps in the surrounding counties.

All-girls Catholic high schools in Philadelphia

The all-girls options range from archdiocesan neighborhood schools in Northeast Philadelphia to Main Line academies run by religious orders; most are HSPT schools, and several accept one HSPT sitting from another girls' school to complete an application.

Co-ed Catholic high schools in Philadelphia

The coed options span archdiocesan neighborhood schools, Cristo Rey's corporate work-study model, and the regional schools of Bucks, Chester, and Montgomery counties that draw from a wide commuter radius.

Best Catholic high schools in Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh's Catholic high school set is compact but includes the same single-gender mix as Philadelphia, anchored by the city's two single-sex schools and rounded out by coed options in the city and the North Hills.

Catholic high schools worth knowing across Pennsylvania

Outside the two metros, the strongest Catholic high schools are usually regional anchors: Jesuit and diocesan preps in Scranton and Erie, and the flagship diocesan schools of Harrisburg, Lancaster, Reading, Allentown, and Bethlehem.

A school's absence from the lists above is not a judgment — the directory below includes all 68 Catholic high schools in Pennsylvania, and the smallest schools are often the right fit for the right family. Use the region lists to see everything, then compare on the factors in the next section.

Catholic high schools in Pennsylvania at a glance

Schools

68 serving high-school grades

Cities

49 across Pennsylvania

Students listed

28,768 across 67 schools reporting enrollment

Average enrollment

429 students among schools with published NCES enrollment

Grade span

48 schools serve grades 9–12 only; 20 also span lower grades

Verified HSPT guides

18

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 Pennsylvania 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 Philadelphia & southeastern Pennsylvania

The Philadelphia metro holds the state's largest concentration of Catholic high schools — 11 in the city itself plus the Bucks, Montgomery, Delaware, and Chester county schools that Philadelphia families actually commute to. This is also Delaware County's coverage: Monsignor Bonner & Archbishop Prendergast in Drexel Hill, Archbishop Carroll in Radnor, Academy of Notre Dame de Namur in Villanova, and Sacred Heart Academy in Bryn Mawr sit in Delaware County, with the Main Line and Chester County schools (Malvern Prep, Villa Maria, Devon Prep, Bishop Shanahan) a short drive away.

Catholic high schools in the Lehigh Valley & northeastern Pennsylvania

Allentown, Bethlehem, and Easton form the Lehigh Valley's Catholic school corridor — Allentown Central Catholic, Bethlehem Catholic, and Notre Dame (Easton) are the region's diocesan high schools — while Scranton Preparatory School (Jesuit, coed) anchors the northeast, with Marian Catholic in Tamaqua, Nativity BVM in Pottsville, Our Lady of Lourdes in Coal Township, and Notre Dame Jr/Sr in East Stroudsburg serving the coal region and the Poconos.

Catholic high schools in central Pennsylvania

Central Pennsylvania's Catholic high schools are diocesan anchors serving a broad commuter radius rather than a dense city grid: Bishop McDevitt in Harrisburg, Lancaster Catholic, Delone Catholic in McSherrystown (Adams County), Berks Catholic in Reading, and St. John Neumann Regional Academy in Williamsport, plus smaller academies in Boalsburg and Lebanon.

Catholic high schools in Pittsburgh & western Pennsylvania

The Pittsburgh metro offers the state's other big single-gender set — Central Catholic (all-boys) and Oakland Catholic (all-girls) — alongside coed options like Seton LaSalle, Bishop Canevin, and North Catholic in Cranberry Township, with Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in Coraopolis and Serra Catholic in McKeesport completing the city's ring. Farther out, Bishop Guilfoyle in Altoona, Bishop McCort in Johnstown, Geibel in Connellsville, and Kennedy Catholic in Hermitage serve their communities, and DuBois Area Catholic covers the central-west.

Catholic high schools in Erie & northwestern Pennsylvania

Erie's Catholic high school tradition runs deep: Cathedral Preparatory School (all-boys, founded 1921) and Mercyhurst Preparatory School sit in the city, with Elk County Catholic and St. Marys to the south in Saint Marys, and Venango Region Catholic in Oil City covering the northwest corner.

Largest Catholic high schools in Pennsylvania

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 Pennsylvania by NCES 2023–24 enrollment:

How to compare Catholic high schools in Pennsylvania

There is no official ranking of Pennsylvania'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 — the daily reality matters more than the brochure; Philadelphia families often choose between city schools and Bucks, Montgomery, Delaware, or Chester county schools, and SEPTA access matters.
• School identity — Jesuit (St. Joseph’s Prep, Scranton Prep), Lasallian (La Salle, Central Catholic Pittsburgh), Augustinian (Malvern, Devon), Oblate (Father Judge), Mercy (Gwynedd Mercy, Villa Maria, Mercyhurst), and archdiocesan schools all talk about formation, service, and academics differently.
• Single-gender versus coed — Philadelphia and Pittsburgh both offer all-boys, all-girls, and coed options; that choice shapes the school day more than almost anything else on this list.
• Enrollment size — the high schools in this directory range from small academies to La Salle’s ~1,160 students; smaller schools usually mean smaller classes and fewer course and athletic offerings.
• Entrance-exam policy — 18 Pennsylvania schools in this directory have source-reviewed HSPT records, with two more schools covered by HSPT guides outside the NCES list; confirm the policy, the date, and whether one sitting can be shared across the schools on your list.
• Tuition, aid, and scholarships — tuition varies widely across the state, most schools run financial aid, and HSPT scores sometimes factor into merit scholarship consideration.
• 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.

Admissions deadlines and HSPT dates are worth collecting early — most Philadelphia-area schools test between early October and mid-November of 8th grade, and schools elsewhere in the state typically test between November and January — 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 HSPT scholarships guide for Philadelphia covers the local aid cycle, and the choosing-a-school guide turns rankings into a real comparison.

How Catholic high school admissions work in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania's Catholic high schools operate within eight dioceses — the Archdiocese of Philadelphia plus the dioceses of Allentown, Altoona-Johnstown, Erie, Greensburg, Harrisburg, Pittsburgh, and Scranton — and each school runs its own admissions office. The shape of the process is similar statewide: research in 7th grade, apply and test in 8th grade, and receive decisions in the winter and spring.

In the Philadelphia archdiocese, most high schools use the HSPT as the common entrance exam, and families applying to several archdiocesan schools should ask whether one sitting can be shared across their list. The order-run preps (St. Joseph's Prep, La Salle, Holy Ghost, Malvern, Devon) set their own calendars with earlier test dates, often in October. Schools elsewhere in the state follow their own diocesan or school-specific calendars.

A typical Pennsylvania Catholic high school admissions timeline

1. Spring–summer of 7th grade: shortlist schools and note each one's entrance-test policy and tuition/aid dates.
2. Early fall of 8th grade: applications open and campuses hold open houses; the order-run preps in the Philadelphia area test as early as October.
3. October–December: HSPT testing for most schools, with application deadlines clustered in November and early December.
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 Pennsylvania 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 Pennsylvania is one of the strongest HSPT states: 20 Pennsylvania schools hold source-reviewed HSPT coverage — 18 of the 68 schools in this directory plus HSPT guides for Sts. John Neumann & Maria Goretti and Pope John Paul II — five of them in Philadelphia. The Archdiocese of Philadelphia's high schools use the HSPT as the common entrance exam, and the order-run preps — St. Joseph's Prep, La Salle, Holy Ghost, Malvern, Devon — use it too, usually with earlier fall test dates. Catholic affiliation alone, though, does not establish which test a school requires — confirm with each school's admissions office.

Our honest status for Pennsylvania

We hold source-reviewed HSPT records for 18 of the 68 Pennsylvania schools in this directory (linked below and on the city pages), plus HSPT guides for Sts. John Neumann & Maria Goretti and Pope John Paul II. For every other school, the test policy is unverified — ask the admissions office directly: "which entrance test does your school use this cycle, and what date?" before building a prep plan.

Pennsylvania schools with verified HSPT information

How to prepare for the HSPT in Pennsylvania

If your target schools 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 — for Philadelphia families that is often October or early November. These guides cover the practical questions Pennsylvania families ask:

HSPT scholarships for Pennsylvania families

Some Pennsylvania 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 guide for Philadelphia walks through the local aid landscape, and the scholarships-by-city guide explains how to research it anywhere in the state.

Planning a Catholic high school application in Pennsylvania

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 — start with the verified HSPT records in our directory.
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 Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
4. Compare the daily commute, school size, academic programs, single-gender or coed structure, 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.

Pennsylvania Catholic high school admissions FAQ