The high school my daughter went to was so small (how small was it?) that one of her friends was sent to a local technical school to get more advanced math classes because he had passed all that was offered before he got to senior year.
Hers was among the first graduating classes with more than 100 students. Even now, grades 9 - 12 have about 500 kids total. The school is located about 20 miles from Hartford (the capital) and they don’t go wanting for high-paying jobs. Average home price is in the $360K range, but there’s some really pricey stuff in the remoter areas.
Another related anecdote:
I think this is how weighted classes may’ve come into being - certainly a contributing factor.
My late sister was at the top of her class. As graduation approached, she was told she might no longer be the top-rated female student. She had all the college prep classes and all that, but there was a girl in the secretarial track that had equally good grades. It seemed unfair. What I don’t know is how they resolved it, but my sister walked at graduation as the top-ranked girl. This was in 1969.