Admissions planning · Orange County private K-12

Orange County Private School Finder

Most families do not need a ranking; they need the schools that fit their constraints. Here are Orange County’s 116 private K-12 schools cut seven ways, each with who it suits and the full list.

116
Orange County private schools
7
ways to filter
98
within 15 miles of Irvine, 7 in the city
Choose a filter ↓
Harbor Day SchoolNewport BeachSage Hill SchoolNewport BeachTVT Community Day School (Tarbut V'Torah)IrvineCrean Lutheran High SchoolIrvine

Filter Orange County Private Schools Seven Ways

Orange County private school map

All 116 schools

Each dot is a school, placed by its address; yellow outlines mark schools in the selected city. Hover over a filter on the left to light up only those schools. Rings show straight-line distance from the center: central Irvine for Irvine, and the average location of the city’s schools for other cities.

  1. 8schoolsISEE / SSATSeven schools, six of them in the Newport Beach and coastal south county corridor, so choosing this path means choosing a commute and a tuition band along with the test.
  2. 5schoolsHSPTEach school sets its own HSPT dates in January and early February, most students test once at their first-choice school, and entry is at grade 9, which makes the fall of eighth grade the point where this path is either planned or missed.
  3. 70schoolsNo entrance examRemoving the test does not remove the judgment — it moves it to the visit day, the transcript, the recommendations, and the parent interview.
  4. 44schoolsInternational / I-20The I-20 is the gate, not the goal — what decides whether this works is the entry grade, the housing and guardianship plan, and a timeline several months longer than a local family's.
  5. 20schoolsMandarin & AP ChineseIf the goal is an AP Chinese score or literacy a student keeps, the real choice is narrow: 19 schools teach Mandarin, six reach AP, and all six are high schools.
  6. 7schoolsInside IrvineSeven schools, each covering part of the grade span and only one running K through 12, which is why most families who want private schooling commute out of the city.
  7. 91schoolsNear IrvineWidening the search to fifteen miles takes the field from seven schools to ninety-eight, at the price of a daily commute that usually runs well past the map distance.

Find Orange County Private Schools by City

7schoolsIrvineSeven schools, each covering part of the grade span and only one running K through 12, which is why most families who want private schooling commute out of the city.6schoolsNewport BeachNewport Beach's six private schools cover kindergarten through grade 12 and sit 3.9 to 7.4 miles in a straight line from central Irvine. Four of them require the ISEE or SSAT, and annual tuition for one child ranges from $9,912 to $58,100.4schoolsTustinAll four of Tustin's private schools end at grade 8 and sit 3.0 to 5.1 straight-line miles from central Irvine. Families living in Tustin will leave the city for high school, and the nearest options are in Orange, Santa Ana and Irvine.7schoolsCosta MesaSix of Costa Mesa's seven private schools end at grade 8, and the only one running through grade 12 is a Waldorf school. All sit 3.0 to 6.8 miles in a straight line from central Irvine, which makes them a close-in option for the elementary and middle school years.4schoolsLake ForestLake Forest's four private schools sit 7.9 to 9.4 straight-line miles from central Irvine. Two Christian schools run into the secondary grades, but one high school has 80 students and the other will graduate its first high school class only in 2028.3schoolsMission ViejoMission Viejo's three private schools sit 10.3 to 10.6 straight-line miles from central Irvine; one ends at grade 6 and two at grade 8. After that, the nearest private secondary schools are in Lake Forest, within two straight-line miles.9schoolsSanta AnaSanta Ana's nine private schools sit 3.9 to 7.4 miles from central Irvine in a straight line, and its four Catholic schools run from K-8 through high school inside one city, which suits Irvine families who want a Catholic path with a short commute.11schoolsCity of OrangeNine of the 11 private schools in the City of Orange are K-8, and Orange Lutheran High School is the only high school. Lutheran families can go from K-8 through high school inside the city; Catholic K-8 graduates must leave the city for a Catholic high school.29citiesEvery Orange County cityAll 116 Orange County private schools by city, with grades, tuition, entrance exams and distance from Irvine.

How to use the Orange County private school finder

  1. 1

    Start from your hard constraints: the child’s grade, whether you need a standardized test, F-1 status, Mandarin, and how far you can commute.

  2. 2

    Open the filter that matches. Each page says who that group suits, who it does not, and lists every school.

  3. 3

    Select a school name to see its full tuition, application timeline and counselor notes.

Compiled from each school’s official pages, verified 2026-09. A school can appear under more than one filter.

Browse Orange County Private Schools by Rank and Grade

Irvine-Area Private Elementary School Rankings→Irvine-Area Private Middle School Rankings→Irvine-Area Private High School Rankings→

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