Brooklyn Tech Ranking: Where Schools Stand Now
- 01. Brooklyn Tech Ranking Reveals Surprising Trends
- 02. Current National and State Rankings
- 03. Why Brooklyn Technical Ranks So Highly
- 04. STEM-Specific Rankings and Recognition
- 05. Brooklyn Tech vs. Other NYC Specialized High Schools
- 06. Implications for Families and Admissions
- 07. Historical Context and Long-Term Trends
- 08. How Rankings Are Calculated for Brooklyn Tech
- 09. External Factors Shaping the Ranking
- 10. How to Interpret the Ranking for Individual Students
- 11. Frequently Asked Brooklyn Tech Ranking Questions
- 12. How competitive is it to get into Brooklyn Tech?
Brooklyn Tech Ranking Reveals Surprising Trends
When Brooklyn residents ask about "Brooklyn Tech ranking," they are most often asking about Brooklyn Technical High School's standing in national and state evaluations; as of 2024-2025, Brooklyn Technical High School consistently appears in the top 100 U.S. high schools and the top 10 in New York State in major rankings, including U.S. News & World Report and specialized STEM-focused lists. These rankings reflect a combination of rigorous state test scores, strong college readiness indicators, and a long-running reputation for excellence in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
Current National and State Rankings
In the most recent U.S. News national rankings that evaluated roughly 24,000 schools, Brooklyn Technical High School landed around the mid-50s in the U.S., with a state rank just outside the top 5 in New York. Within Brooklyn specifically, it typically sits in the top three public high schools, frequently trailing slightly behind Brooklyn Latin School but still outperforming the vast majority of New York City institutions. These metrics are calculated using a composite formula that weights state test proficiency, AP/college-level exam participation, and graduation rates, giving Brooklyn Tech particularly high scores in the "college readiness" index.
One notable 2022 snapshot placed Brooklyn Tech at 46th in the U.S. and 6th in New York State, based on 2019-2020 data gathered during the pandemic year; that year's cohort still generated nationally competitive scores, underscoring the school's resilience as the largest high school in New York City. By 2023-2024, the same ranking framework shifted it down a few spots nationally, into the mid-50s, while keeping it in the top tier of New York State, reflecting tightening competition rather than a decline in absolute performance.
Why Brooklyn Technical Ranks So Highly
- Strong college readiness scores: Brooklyn Tech's 12th-graders average above-state-average performance on Regents exams and high participation in AP and IB-style assessments, which are heavily weighted in U.S. News' methodology.
- High four-year graduation rate: Recent data show more than 95 percent of Brooklyn Tech students earning a diploma within four years, compared with a statewide average closer to the high-80s.
- Large volume of STEM-focused graduates: Given its size and specialized curriculum, Brooklyn Tech produces one of the largest cohorts of students in New York pursuing STEM majors and engineering tracks in college.
- Reputation and lineage: First founded in 1922, Brooklyn Tech has been a STEM pioneer for over a century, creating a deep alumni network that feeds back into admissions selectivity and employer recognition.
In 2023, U.S. News placed Brooklyn Technical at 56th nationally and 8th in New York State, ahead of dozens of other specialized and private institutions. That same year, two Brooklyn high schools-Brooklyn Latin and Brooklyn Technical-were named among the state's top 10, with both cracking the top 100 in the U.S. These results reinforce the school's status as a flagship specialized public high school in New York's competitive admissions landscape.
STEM-Specific Rankings and Recognition
Beyond general "best high school" lists, Brooklyn Tech also appears in more narrowly focused STEM rankings. In a 2019 Newsweek "Best STEM Schools" list that ranked 500 U.S. high schools, Brooklyn Tech placed at 324th nationally, one of three Brooklyn schools to make the cut. In that cohort it trailed private Brooklyn institutions such as Packer Collegiate Institute (ranked 269) but still outpaced other large public and suburban STEM-focused schools on several process-oriented metrics.
The Newsweek-STEM.org methodology emphasized not only test scores but also the presence of trained STEM faculty, project-based learning intensity, and access to lab infrastructure. Brooklyn Tech's combination of specialized academies-for example, the Electrical Engineering, Applied Mathematics, and Biotechnology tracks-allowed it to score highly on curriculum breadth and lab access, even though it ranked lower than selective private schools on per-pupil resources.
Brooklyn Tech vs. Other NYC Specialized High Schools
Within the nine-school New York City specialized high schools family, Brooklyn Tech typically ranks behind Stuyvesant High School and Brooklyn Latin on national lists, but ahead of Staten Island Technical High School and several Bronx-based peers. A 2023 U.S. News breakdown showed Stuyvesant at 4th in New York State and Brooklyn Technical at 8th, with graduation rates in the low- to mid-90th percentile across both campuses.
Here is an illustrative snapshot of how Brooklyn Technical stacks up against several peer schools on a simplified national ranking scale:
| School | State Rank (NY) | National Rank | Approx. Graduation Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stuyvesant High School | 4 | 39 | ≥98% |
| Brooklyn Latin School | 7 | 55 | ≥97% |
| Brooklyn Technical High School | 8 | 56 | ≥95% |
| Staten Island Technical High School | 9 | 65 | ≥94% |
| High School of American Studies at Lehman | 5 | 54 | ≥96% |
These figures are rounded from recent U.S. News and state-level datasets and are meant to illustrate relative positioning rather than exact year-to-year consistency. The table highlights that Brooklyn Tech sits in the upper echelon of NYC specialized high schools, trading small rank differences with peers but maintaining similar performance on core metrics.
Implications for Families and Admissions
For families weighing a Brooklyn Tech application, the school's ranking signals several practical advantages: nationally recognized college readiness, strong STEM pipelines, and a vast alumni network spanning top engineering and computer-science programs. However, it also comes with very high competition: the school receives tens of thousands of applications each year for a limited number of seats, driven by its reputation as a free STEM magnet in one of the most expensive real-estate markets in the U.S.
- Students in the top decile of the SHSAT score distribution historically have the highest likelihood of admission, though the exact cutoff shifts annually.
- Families often pair Brooklyn Tech with other top-ranked NYC public high schools (such as Townsend Harris and Eleanor Roosevelt) on their preference lists to hedge against attrition.
- Brooklyn Tech's expansive course catalog, including advanced engineering and research tracks, means students can arrive at many colleges with more than typical high school STEM exposure.
Historical Context and Long-Term Trends
Brooklyn Technical High School has appeared on U.S. News' "Gold Medal" list since the rankings launched in the mid-2000s, a designation reserved for schools that consistently place in the top 100 nationally. That longevity is notable because it spans major disruptions, including the 2008 financial crisis, the Common Core rollout, and the 2020 pandemic, during which many large urban districts saw score declines.
Between 2015 and 2022, Brooklyn Tech's national ranking fluctuated between roughly the 40s and 60s, a relatively narrow band for a school with more than 6,000 students. Analysts at the Brooklyn Tech Alumni Foundation have argued that this stability reflects the school's ability to maintain high expectations even as demographic and policy changes reshaped other large NYC high schools. At the same time, critics note that the school's size can strain individualized attention, especially in its most popular engineering and computer-science academies.
Other Brooklyn institutions, such as Academy of Innovative Technology High School and various smaller CTE (Career and Technical Education) campuses, serve different niches and rarely appear in the same national rankings; they are better evaluated through local metrics like college placement and industry partnerships. For families primarily interested in a high-visibility STEM ranking, Brooklyn Tech remains the dominant name in the borough.
How Rankings Are Calculated for Brooklyn Tech
The core of the U.S. News ranking formula for Brooklyn Tech-and peers-relies on three main pillars: state test proficiency rates, college readiness, and graduation indicators. Within that framework, Brooklyn Tech earns high marks for its percentage of students scoring at "proficient" or above on state exams, particularly in mathematics and science, and for its large share of students taking AP-level coursework.
State education data from 2023 show that roughly 94-96 percent of Brooklyn Tech's senior cohort graduated within four years, with more than 80 percent of graduates enrolled in two- or four-year colleges the following fall. These figures feed into U.S. News' "college readiness" index, which weights the number of students who take at least one AP exam or equivalent advanced course, amplifying the impact of Brooklyn Tech's enriched STEM curriculum.
External Factors Shaping the Ranking
Beyond test scores, several external factors quietly influence how Brooklyn Tech's ranking is perceived. One is the explosive growth of the Brooklyn tech ecosystem, including the so-called "Tech Triangle" around Navy Yard, Atlantic Terminal, and Dumbo, which has more than doubled its tech-focused workforce since 2012. Local employers' demand for engineers and data scientists reinforces the school's reputation as a key talent pipeline, indirectly supporting its standing in both general and STEM-specific rankings.
Brooklyn Tech's size also creates a paradox: while its absolute impact on the city's STEM workforce is large, its average per-student resources are lower than at smaller, private STEM schools such as Packer Collegiate or Poly Prep Country Day. This dynamic helps explain why Brooklyn Tech often ranks in the same tier as those institutions academically but farther behind them in fully private, small-school rankings that heavily weight class size and per-pupil spending.
Second, the continued expansion of Brooklyn's tech and innovation economy may boost both enrollment interest and employer partnerships, driving more students into advanced STEM tracks. Such shifts would likely raise Brooklyn Tech's "college readiness" and "STEM outcomes" scores in algorithmic ranking systems, assuming state tests and graduation rates remain stable.
How to Interpret the Ranking for Individual Students
For individual families, the school's ranking is best treated as a signal of overall quality rather than a precise predictor of a student's experience. A student thriving in a small, arts-focused environment may find Brooklyn Tech's large campus culture overwhelming, despite its strong numbers. Conversely, a student deeply interested in engineering or computer science may benefit from the breadth of Brooklyn Tech's technical academies even if another school ranks slightly higher on paper.
Researchers at the Brooklyn Tech Alumni Foundation have emphasized that long-term outcomes-such as college graduation and career earnings-depend more on individual motivation and support at home than on whether a student's high school is ranked 40th or 60th nationally. Rankings remain useful for spotting systemic trends, but they should be one of several factors in a family's decision-making process.
Frequently Asked Brooklyn Tech Ranking Questions
How competitive is it to get into Brooklyn Tech?
Admission to Brooklyn Tech is highly competitive, as it is one of nine NYC specialized high schools that rely heavily on the SH
Expert answers to Brooklyn Tech Ranking Where Schools Stand Now queries
Does Brooklyn Tech Outperform Other Brooklyn Schools Overall?
In raw rankings terms, Brooklyn Latin often edges out Brooklyn Tech by a point or two in the latest U.S. News tables, but both schools cluster in the same high-performance band. For a parent trying to decide between a humanities-heavy program at Brooklyn Latin and a more explicitly engineering-oriented track at Brooklyn Tech, the difference in rank is less meaningful than the alignment of curriculum with the student's interests and aptitude.
Will Brooklyn Tech's Ranking Rise or Fall?
Looking ahead, several developments could shift Brooklyn Tech's position in coming years. First, ongoing debates about specialized high school admissions reform in New York-potentially replacing the SHSAT with a more holistic or lottery-based model-could alter the incoming student profile and, over time, affect average test-score outcomes. If admissions diversify significantly without corresponding increases in support resources, rankings could flatten; if the school expands its support services and extracurriculars, it could climb.
What is Brooklyn Technical High School's current national ranking?
As of the most recent U.S. News & World Report high school rankings cycle in 2023-2024, Brooklyn Technical High School is positioned around the 50s nationally, with specific recent placements at roughly 56th in the U.S. and in the top 10 of New York State high schools. These figures are based on state test scores, graduation rates, and college-readiness indicators, which are updated annually.
Is Brooklyn Tech the top high school in Brooklyn?
No; in recent rankings, Brooklyn Latin School has edged slightly ahead of Brooklyn Technical in both state and national lists, making it the top-ranked public high school in Brooklyn. However, Brooklyn Tech remains extremely close behind, with both schools clustering in the top 100 nationally and the top 10 in New York State.