Walnut Creek Schools, District by District

A Walnut Creek address tells you almost nothing about your schools.

The city is split across three districts. Two more pick up homes at the edges. And in California, elementary and high school districts are often separate things. So plenty of us belong to two districts at once.

One thing worth knowing up front. A large part of Walnut Creek is in Mt. Diablo, not Walnut Creek School District. More of the city's attendance areas belong to Mt. Diablo than to Walnut Creek School District, so the Las Lomas route is not the default it is often assumed to be.

Bancroft Elementary feeds two completely different sets of schools. Which one you get depends on your house number.

Same elementary school. Same street. Same zip code. About six rating points apart once your kid leaves fifth grade.

So “we're at Bancroft” isn't the whole answer. It depends which end of the road you're on.

Central and southern Walnut Creek. The boundary does not follow the city line. If your address isn't on the district's street list, you're probably in Mt. Diablo instead.

About 3,603 kids across seven schools. District wide, 70.8% met the state English standard and 68.73% met the math one in 2024-25. Every address here goes to Walnut Creek Intermediate for middle school. Only the elementary school changes.

Northern and eastern Walnut Creek. That's Northgate, Countrywood, and Contra Costa Centre. It's a big K-12 district that also covers Concord, Pleasant Hill, Clayton and Bay Point. The schools vary a lot.

This is where the details matter most. Inside Walnut Creek alone, the schools run from 10 out of 10 down to 1 out of 10. Math scores go from 80% down to under 9%. Same district.

The six routes

The high school district for Walnut Creek School District addresses. It goes by street address, not by your K-8 district. In practice that means Las Lomas. It still isn't a guarantee.

All four of these high schools show 10 out of 10. On that number they look identical. The state test scores say something different.

Miramonte is at 89.83% in English. Las Lomas is at 71.17%. Las Lomas is where almost every Walnut Creek School District address goes, 61 of its 62 attendance areas.

That gap needs context though. Las Lomas has roughly three times as many low income families as Miramonte. That explains a lot of it. English scores there have also slipped three years running, from 77.08% to 73.4% to 71.17%. Money is part of the story. A parcel tax measure fell short of the two thirds it needed in 2025, and the district cut staff after that.

These two catch a small number of homes. If you're nowhere near Alamo or Saranap, you can skip this part.

Mt. Diablo runs three schools of choice. These are not a Walnut Creek thing. Any address in Mount Diablo Unified can apply, whichever town it is in — Concord, Pleasant Hill, Clayton, Bay Point, and the parts of Walnut Creek and Martinez the district covers. If your address is in Mt. Diablo, you can apply, and most families reading this page are only in the district for part of the town.

The district doesn't publish how many applicants get in, so anyone quoting you odds is guessing. Ask the district directly. None of the three takes children from outside Mt. Diablo. Walnut Creek School District has a lottery school of its own too. Tice Creek, and it has no attendance zone either.

A transfer between districts needs both districts to agree. Your district has to release your kid. The new one has to accept them. Either can say no.

There is one real door. California lets you enroll where a parent works at least ten hours a week. The district you live in mostly can't block that one. The district where you work can still turn you down.

No district in California has to publish how many transfers it approves or denies. A bill that would have required it died in early 2026. So if you see a specific percentage quoted anywhere, be skeptical. That's why there isn't one on this page.

The 1 to 10 score you see everywhere is a blend of several things. Two schools with the same number can be far apart.

Walnut Acres and Bancroft both show 8 out of 10. There are about nineteen points of English proficiency between them. All four Acalanes high schools show 10 out of 10, and their test scores span eighteen points.

That's why the state scores sit next to the rating in every table here. Neither number tells you whether a school suits your particular kid. Both track pretty closely with the income of families already in the neighborhood, which says as much about the neighborhood as the school.

Your assigned school is not the only option. There are charter schools, which are public and free but sit outside the district boundaries, so you apply instead of being assigned. And there are private schools, which cost anywhere from about $9,600 a year to over $60,000.

Alternatives to your public school district lists what exists near here, what it costs where that is published, and which listings you will find that are out of date.

Boundaries don't follow city lines or zip codes, and they get redrawn. Third party sites are often out of date. Check your address with the district itself.

Every district says the same thing about their locator. It's a guide, not a promise. If it matters, call the district office.