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)
370001102124	511	E E Smith High	Public	9-12	1800 Seabrook Road	Fayetteville	28301	Cumberland County	Cumberland County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(910) 483-0153	1,004	60	16.8	99.2%	97 (9.7%)	671 (66.8%)	141 (14.0%)	11 (1.1%)	8 (0.8%)	6 (0.6%)	70 (7.0%)	$10,706			$1,987			$8,720	20.8	21.7	501	10
370345001431	512	Southwest High	Public	9-12	1420 Burgaw Hwy	Jacksonville	28540	Onslow County	Onslow County Schools	No	No	No	No	(910) 455-4888	702	39	17.8	54.1%	409 (58.3%)	122 (17.4%)	93 (13.2%)	3 (0.4%)	4 (0.6%)	2 (0.3%)	69 (9.8%)	$10,201			$909			$9,291	20.8	17.8	525	13
370363001484	513	Person High	Public	9-12	1010 Ridge Rd	Roxboro	27573	Person County	Person County Schools	No	No	No	No	(336) 599-8321	1,079	58	18.5	60.1%	515 (47.7%)	341 (31.6%)	147 (13.6%)	6 (0.6%)	8 (0.7%)	0 (0.0%)	62 (5.7%)	$10,129			$1,162			$8,967	20.4	31.4	424	89
370034703281	514	Valor Preparatory Academy	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	355 Poplar Crossing Dr NW	Concord	28027	Cabarrus County	Valor Preparatory Academy	Yes	No	No	Yes	(704) 789-2500	669	48	14	59.0%	125 (18.7%)	322 (48.1%)	126 (18.8%)	12 (1.8%)	12 (1.8%)	0 (0.0%)	72 (10.8%)								20	9.1	583	69
370201002158	515	Triton High	Public	9-12	215 Maynard Lake Road	Erwin	28339	Harnett County	Harnett County Schools	No	No	No	No	(910) 897-8121	1,287	72	17.9	62.9%	503 (39.1%)	331 (25.7%)	373 (29.0%)	5 (0.4%)	10 (0.8%)	1 (0.1%)	64 (5.0%)	$8,782			$698			$8,084	19.9	27.1	460	55
370045000143	516	Erwin High	Public	9-12	60 Lees Creek Road	Asheville	28806	Buncombe County	Buncombe County Schools	No	No	No	No	(828) 232-4251	1,096	76	14.3	63.9%	569 (51.9%)	91 (8.3%)	357 (32.6%)	11 (1.0%)	5 (0.5%)	19 (1.7%)	44 (4.0%)	$10,603			$744			$9,859	19.8	28.9	440	76
370032503265	517	College Prep and Leadership Academy	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	4201 Furniture Avenue	Jamestown	27282	Guilford County	The College Preparatory and Leadership A	Yes	No	No	Yes	(336) 884-0131	821	19	43.3	96.2%	0 (0.0%)	734 (89.4%)	21 (2.6%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.1%)	1 (0.1%)	64 (7.8%)								19.7	32.3	414	103
370399001072	518	John M Morehead High	Public	9-12	134 N Pierce St	Eden	27288	Rockingham County	Rockingham County Schools	No	No	No	No	(336) 627-7731	814	50	16.3	63.5%	419 (51.5%)	187 (23.0%)	154 (18.9%)	8 (1.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	46 (5.7%)	$8,851			$808			$8,043	19.6	23.4	492	26
370036000101	519	Bertie High	Public	9-12	716 US Hwy 13 North	Windsor	27983	Bertie County	Bertie County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(252) 794-3034	442	30	14.9	99.3%	36 (8.1%)	384 (86.9%)	6 (1.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	16 (3.6%)	$14,631			$2,772			$11,859	19.6	12.8	552	33
370075000311	520	Jordan Matthews High	Public	9-12	910 East Cardinal Street	Siler City	27344	Chatham County	Chatham County Schools	No	No	No	No	(919) 742-2916	913	55	16.6	75.6%	184 (20.2%)	103 (11.3%)	589 (64.5%)	5 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.1%)	31 (3.4%)	$11,306			$836			$10,470	19.6	20.2	506	14

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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

Per-Pupil Spending: Understanding the Breakdown of Federal, State, and Local Funds

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.