Best High Schools in North Carolina

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Find the best North Carolina high schools with SchoolDigger.com! Focused on test scores for accurate rankings, our user-friendly site simplifies your search. Empower your decisions by exploring top-rated schools, only on SchoolDigger.com - the ultimate guide to K-12 schools!

Year after year, SchoolDigger is always the first to publish North Carolina test scores and rankings. Other sites use stale test score data that are several years old! Be in the know with the very latest performance metrics.

The list is updated annually upon the release of the EOC test scores by the North Carolina Dept of Public Instruction. The most recent update was on Wednesday, September 4, 2024.

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School															Students/Teachers											Per Pupil Expenditures (2019)							Ranking (2024 vs 2023)
ID	Rank (of 640)	School	Type	Grades	Address	City	Zip	County	District	Is Charter	Is Magnet	Is Virtual	Is Title I	Phone	# Students	Full-time Teachers	Student/ Teacher Ratio	Free/Disc Lunch Recipients	White	Black	Hispanic	Asian	American Indian	Pacific Islander	Two or More Races	Per Pupil Expenditures: Total	Personnel from Federal Funds	Non-Personnel from Federal Funds	Total from Federal Funds	Personnel from State and Local Funds	Non-Personnel from State and Local Funds	Total from State and Local Funds	Average Standard Score (2024)	Average Standard Score (2023)	Rank (2023)	Rank Change from 2023	SchoolDigger Rating (2024)
370414001672	371	Hobbton High	Public	9-12	12201 Hobbton Hwy	Newton Grove	28366	Sampson County	Sampson County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(910) 594-0242	490	30	16.5	99.4%	136 (27.8%)	82 (16.7%)	252 (51.4%)	2 (0.4%)	2 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	16 (3.3%)	$9,904			$1,058			$8,846	40.1	46.8	310	61
370234001008	372	Smoky Mountain High School	Public	9-12	100 Smoky Mountain Drive	Sylva	28779	Jackson County	Jackson County Public Schools	No	No	No	No	(828) 586-2177	899	54	16.6	53.4%	625 (69.5%)	11 (1.2%)	176 (19.6%)	9 (1.0%)	40 (4.4%)	0 (0.0%)	38 (4.2%)	$11,017			$880			$10,137	39.8	37.2	378	6
370231000994	373	South Iredell High	Public	9-12	299 Old Mountain Rd	Statesville	28677	Iredell County	Iredell-Statesville Schools	No	No	No	No	(704) 528-4536	1,675	81	20.6	30.2%	1,038 (62.0%)	199 (11.9%)	280 (16.7%)	60 (3.6%)	1 (0.1%)	1 (0.1%)	96 (5.7%)	$7,902			$590			$7,312	39.5	47	308	65
370042000127	374	South Brunswick High	Public	9-12	280 Cougar Drive BSL	Southport	28461	Brunswick County	Brunswick County Schools	No	No	No	No	(910) 756-6880	1,182	69	17.1	99.7%	906 (76.6%)	110 (9.3%)	86 (7.3%)	7 (0.6%)	3 (0.3%)	2 (0.2%)	68 (5.8%)	$10,849			$855			$9,994	39.4	42.4	334	40
370008902472	375	Sugar Creek Charter	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	4101 N Tryon Street	Charlotte	28206	Mecklenburg County	Sugar Creek Charter	Yes	No	No	Yes	(704) 509-5470	1,573	73	21.5	96.5%	2 (0.1%)	1,280 (81.4%)	238 (15.1%)	5 (0.3%)	1 (0.1%)	0 (0.0%)	47 (3.0%)								39.3	39.6	357	18
370010502522	376	Phoenix Academy - Primary Elementary Upper	Public, Virtual, Charter, Alternative	K-12	7847 Clinard Farms Rd	High Point	27265	Guilford County	Phoenix Academy Inc	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	(336) 869-0079	1,508	75	20.2		521 (34.5%)	462 (30.6%)	223 (14.8%)	140 (9.3%)	9 (0.6%)	2 (0.1%)	151 (10.0%)								38.8			(n/a)
370069000277	377	Bunker Hill High	Public	9-12	4675 Oxford School Road	Claremont	28610	Catawba County	Catawba County Schools	No	No	No	No	(828) 241-3355	883	48	18.3	60.9%	475 (53.8%)	60 (6.8%)	188 (21.3%)	96 (10.9%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	64 (7.2%)	$8,880			$745			$8,136	38.7	45.3	321	56
370327001354	378	Southern Nash High	Public	9-12	6446 Southern Nash High Road	Bailey	27807	Nash County	Nash County Public Schools	No	No	No	No	(252) 451-8520	1,073	53	20.3	57.3%	402 (37.5%)	236 (22.0%)	381 (35.5%)	3 (0.3%)	1 (0.1%)	0 (0.0%)	50 (4.7%)	$9,274			$717			$8,556	38.7	35.7	392	14
370039203365	379	TMSA Charlotte	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	9108 Mallard Creek Rd.	Charlotte	28262	Mecklenburg County	The Math and Science Academy of Charlott	Yes	No	No	Yes	(980) 321-7744	745	43	17.3	92.2%	22 (3.0%)	385 (51.7%)	74 (9.9%)	173 (23.2%)	6 (0.8%)	0 (0.0%)	85 (11.4%)								38.5	22	498	119
370472001855	380	East Wake High	Public	9-12	5101 Rolesville Rd	Wendell	27591	Wake County	Wake County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(919) 365-2625	1,708	91	18.7	66.6%	286 (16.7%)	738 (43.2%)	595 (34.8%)	26 (1.5%)	2 (0.1%)	1 (0.1%)	60 (3.5%)	$11,170			$530			$10,640	38.4	36	388	8

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Other SchoolDigger ranking lists for North Carolina

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New! SchoolDigger ranking lists for NC student subgroups:

Female Students Male Students Asian Students African American Students Hispanic Students Native American Students White Students Multi-racial Students English Language Learner Students Special Education Students Low Socio Economic Status Students Homeless Students Gifted and Talented Students Military Connected Students

About our rankings:

Schooldigger calculates school rankings based on EOC Biology, EOC English II, EOC Math I, EOC Math III test scores released by the North Carolina Dept of Public Instruction.
These rankings were last updated on September 4, 2024, and are based on the most recent test scores available. We update rankings as we receive new test scores from the North Carolina Dept of Public Instruction, usually on a yearly basis.
Our sources of data include the National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education and the North Carolina Dept of Public Instruction.
For more information about our ranking process, please see our Ranking FAQ. Details about our methodology are here.

Educational resources:

High school students working on a science experiment

Magnet Schools: Unleashing the Power of Education

Charter Schools vs Regular Public Schools: Understanding the Key Differences

SchoolDigger data sources: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Census Bureau and the North Carolina Dept of Public Instruction.