Currently, Wells serves a large section of the inner and central areas of Chicago, with its attendance boundaries reaching as far north as Webster Avenue, as far south as 16th Street, as far east as Lake Michigan, and as far west as Sacramento Boulevard.

As of the 2023–2024 school year, 53.9% of Wells's student body is Hispanic, 34.8% is African-American, 9.7% White, 0.4% Asian, and 1.1% Other.

Wells began building up their Fine Arts programming in their 2019 Continuing Improvement Work Plan (CIWP).

In October 2013, Rituparna Raichoudhuri was named as principal of the school, succeeding Ernesto Matias.

Dr. Stosek departed in the summer of 2021 and is now the principal of Ruby Thomas Elementary School in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Wells competes in the Chicago Public League (CPL) and is a member of the Illinois High School Association (IHSA).

[11] K-8 schools which feed into Wells include Andersen, Burr, Columbus, Chopin, Jenner, Lozano, Mitchell, Ogden K-8, Otis, Peabody, Pritzker, and Talcott.