You already know that Union County schools are the reason families move here. But one school — tucked on a shared vocational campus off Raritan Road in Scotch Plains — consistently outperforms every traditional public high school in the state. Union County Magnet High School for Science, Mathematics, and Technology isn’t just good. It’s ranked in the top 1% of all 2,184 public schools in New Jersey, and it’s one of fewer than 100 high schools in America to crack the U.S. News & World Report national top 100.

Here’s everything families need to know about Union County Magnet High School’s 2025–26 rankings, test scores, admissions, and what living near this school actually looks like.

The 2025–26 U.S. News & World Report Best High Schools rankings — released in August 2025 and covering data from the most recent school year — place Union County Magnet High School among the elite nationally. Meanwhile, Niche’s independently calculated rankings confirm the school’s standing from a different angle, incorporating student and parent reviews alongside academic data.

For context: New Jersey has over 430 ranked public high schools. Placing in the top 5 statewide and top 100 nationally puts UCMHS in rare company — alongside Bergen County Academies, High Technology High School, and the Bronx High School of Science.

The numbers tell a story of a school that doesn’t just teach well — it tests well, graduates everyone, and sends students to college ready to compete.

Those proficiency numbers aren’t a typo. When the statewide average for math proficiency is 38%, hitting 90%+ means UCMHS students are outperforming the rest of New Jersey by a factor of more than two to one.

AP coursework is where UCMHS truly separates itself. This isn’t a school where a handful of honors students take one or two AP classes — it’s a school where nearly everyone does.

An average SAT of 1430 places UCMHS students well within range of the nation’s most selective universities. The average ACT composite is 33 out of 36. And in the 2025–26 academic cycle, the school produced National Merit Scholarship Program Semifinalists — a distinction that reinforces its academic caliber at the highest level.

Union County Magnet High School isn’t a traditional high school. It’s a STEM-focused magnet school within the Union County Vocational-Technical Schools (UCVTS) campus — one of five specialized academies sharing a campus at 1776 Raritan Road in Scotch Plains. Students apply to attend, and roughly one-third of applicants are accepted.

The school is accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools through July 2031.

UCMHS enrolls 311 students in grades 9–12 with a student-teacher ratio of 21:1. The school draws from across all of Union County, creating a student body that reflects the county’s demographic range.

Total minority enrollment is 71%, and approximately 6–10% of students are economically disadvantaged. The school’s diversity score of 0.71 closely tracks the New Jersey state average of 0.72, meaning UCMHS is genuinely representative of the communities it serves — not a demographic outlier.

For families relocating to New Jersey — especially those moving from New York City — school quality is often the deciding factor. UCMHS adds a powerful dimension to the Union County value proposition: your child can attend a nationally ranked STEM high school, tuition-free, simply by living within Union County.

This is one of the reasons Union County remains one of the most sought-after areas for families moving out of NYC. You get suburban space, direct NJ Transit access to Penn Station, walkable downtown towns — and access to a top-100-nationally-ranked STEM high school that costs nothing in tuition.

Exploring Union County for your family? These guides will help you compare towns, commute times, and what daily life looks like:

Best NJ Towns for NYC Commuters — Town-by-town profiles of Westfield, Summit, Cranford, Montclair, and more, with train times and school data.

Most Walkable Towns in New Jersey — Ranked by Walk Score, transit access, and real-world livability.

NJ Commute Times to NYC — Every NJ Transit line mapped, with express and local schedules.

Living in Clark, NJ — Union County’s under-the-radar value play, minutes from the UCVTS campus.