Best High Schools in North Carolina

A teacher and two students give a thumbs-up in a classroom.

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.

Be the first to know when we post new test scores and rankings!

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)
370033603304	131	Falls Lake Academy	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	1701 East Lyon Station Road	Creedmoor	27522	Granville County	Falls Lake Academy	Yes	No	No	Yes	(919) 964-9003	1,116	86	12.9		789 (70.7%)	118 (10.6%)	130 (11.6%)	7 (0.6%)	3 (0.3%)	1 (0.1%)	68 (6.1%)								80.6	72.3	164	33
370126001547	132	Durham School of the Arts	Public, Magnet	6-12	401 North Duke Street	Durham	27701	Durham County	Durham Public Schools	No	Yes	No	No	(919) 560-3926	1,767	111	15.9	37.7%	627 (35.5%)	419 (23.7%)	547 (31.0%)	59 (3.3%)	1 (0.1%)	1 (0.1%)	113 (6.4%)	$10,260			$523			$9,737	80.5	81.6	118	14
370216003107	133	Cs Brown High - STEM Program	Public	9-12	102 CSB Dr	Winton	27986	Hertford County	Hertford County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(252) 358-2852	73	7	10.4	95.9%	3 (4.1%)	64 (87.7%)	1 (1.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (6.8%)	$21,553			$437			$21,117	79.8	46.1	313	180
370336002754	134	Discovery High School	Public	9-12	301 West 18th St	Newton	28658	Catawba County	Newton Conover City Schools	No	No	No	No	(828) 466-5581	162	6	25.2	24.7%	101 (62.3%)	5 (3.1%)	34 (21.0%)	8 (4.9%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	14 (8.6%)	$7,999			$741			$7,259	79.8	77.6	141	7
370072001942	135	East Chapel Hill High	Public	9-12	500 Weaver Dairy Rd	Chapel Hill	27514	Orange County	Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools	No	No	No	No	(919) 969-2482	1,411	88	15.9	21.4%	681 (48.3%)	132 (9.4%)	185 (13.1%)	300 (21.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	113 (8.0%)	$11,539			$386			$11,153	79.7	83.3	112	23
370472002847	136	Holly Springs High	Public	9-12	5329 Cass Holt Road	Holly Springs	27540	Wake County	Wake County Schools	No	No	No	No	(919) 577-1444	2,111	106	19.8	13.5%	1,583 (75.0%)	159 (7.5%)	182 (8.6%)	101 (4.8%)	7 (0.3%)	2 (0.1%)	77 (3.6%)	$8,040			$403			$7,638	79.5	80.2	126	10
370010402520	137	Piedmont Community Charter School	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	2596 Robinwood Road	Gastonia	28054	Gaston County	Piedmont Community Charter	Yes	No	No	Yes	(704) 853-2428	1,940	122	15.8		983 (50.7%)	385 (19.8%)	420 (21.6%)	31 (1.6%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	121 (6.2%)								79.1	75.7	149	12
370297003175	138	William Amos Hough High	Public	9-12	12420 Bailey Rd	Cornelius	28031	Mecklenburg County	Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools	No	No	No	No	(980) 344-0514	2,503	118	21.2	19.6%	1,677 (67.0%)	267 (10.7%)	378 (15.1%)	88 (3.5%)	5 (0.2%)	3 (0.1%)	85 (3.4%)	$7,994			$484			$7,511	78.6	76.3	146	8
370150002765	139	Ronald W Reagan High School	Public	9-12	3750 Transou Road	Pfafftown	27040	Forsyth County	Winston Salem / Forsyth County Schools	No	No	No	No	(336) 703-6776	2,227	110	20.2	31.6%	1,345 (60.4%)	328 (14.7%)	337 (15.1%)	105 (4.7%)	1 (0.0%)	2 (0.1%)	109 (4.9%)	$7,615			$522			$7,093	77.8	82.3	117	22
370078002892	140	Tri-County Early College High	Public	9-13	Tri-County Early College High	Murphy	28906	Cherokee County	Cherokee County Schools	No	No	No	No	(828) 837-6775	153	11	14.1	98.0%	115 (75.2%)	3 (2.0%)	28 (18.3%)	3 (2.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (2.6%)	$7,830			$280			$7,549	77.7	77.7	140

Sign up for updates!

Be the first to know when we update our rankings!

Other SchoolDigger ranking lists for North Carolina

Elementary Schools Middle Schools High Schools Districts Cities

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:

Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA): Transforming Education in America

Student-Teacher Ratios and their Impact on Class Sizes & School Selection

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.