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)
370033703282	231	Longleaf School of the Arts	Public, Charter	9-12	322 Chapanoke Road	Raleigh	27603	Wake County	Longleaf School of the Arts	Yes	No	No	No	(919) 896-8164	406	30	13.4		245 (60.3%)	69 (17.0%)	59 (14.5%)	8 (2.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	25 (6.2%)								60.6	60.3	225	6
370472001901	232	Wake Forest High School	Public	9-12	420 West Stadium Drive	Wake Forest	27587	Wake County	Wake County Schools	No	No	No	No	(919) 554-8611	2,101	111	18.9	26.9%	1,216 (57.9%)	452 (21.5%)	288 (13.7%)	60 (2.9%)	3 (0.1%)	4 (0.2%)	78 (3.7%)	$8,011			$375			$7,637	60.5	63.3	208	24
370162003433	233	Gaston Virtual Academy	Public, Virtual, Magnet, Alternative	K-12	1 Learning Place	Gastonia	28052	Gaston County	Gaston County Schools	No	Yes	Yes	No	(704) 836-9125	462	32	14.4	52.2%	246 (53.2%)	136 (29.4%)	47 (10.2%)	10 (2.2%)	1 (0.2%)	3 (0.6%)	19 (4.1%)	$5,154			$290			$4,864	60	39.6	358	125
370036103332	234	The Franklin School of Innovation	Public, Charter	5-12	61 Innovation Dr	Asheville	28806	Buncombe County	The Franklin School of Innovation	Yes	No	No	Yes	(828) 318-8140	694	51	13.4		561 (80.8%)	12 (1.7%)	56 (8.1%)	4 (0.6%)	2 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	59 (8.5%)								59.9	59.8	227	7
370069000285	235	Maiden High	Public	9-12	600 West Main Street	Maiden	28650	Catawba County	Catawba County Schools	No	No	No	No	(828) 428-8197	870	49	17.7	45.9%	591 (67.9%)	47 (5.4%)	127 (14.6%)	61 (7.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.1%)	43 (4.9%)	$9,016			$684			$8,333	59.8	61	219	16
370192002991	236	Northern Guilford High	Public	9-12	7101 Spencer Dixon Road	Greensboro	27455	Guilford County	Guilford County Schools	No	No	No	No	(336) 643-8449	1,364	65	20.9	25.3%	828 (60.7%)	265 (19.4%)	139 (10.2%)	42 (3.1%)	8 (0.6%)	0 (0.0%)	82 (6.0%)	$7,983			$506			$7,477	59.8	66.4	188	48
370228003025	237	Hyde Academy	Public	9-12	20392 Hwy US 264	Swanquarter	27885	Hyde County	Hyde County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(252) 926-0221	0	0			0 ()	0 ()	0 ()	0 ()	0 ()	0 ()	0 ()	$21,313			$1,946			$19,367	59.3			(n/a)
370075000313	238	Northwood High	Public	9-12	310 Northwood High School Road	Pittsboro	27312	Chatham County	Chatham County Schools	No	No	No	No	(919) 542-4181	940	57	16.3	29.3%	578 (61.5%)	124 (13.2%)	164 (17.4%)	17 (1.8%)	4 (0.4%)	1 (0.1%)	52 (5.5%)	$9,555			$397			$9,159	59.3	51.3	279	41
370472002653	239	Middle Creek High	Public	9-12	123 Middle Creek Park Avenue	Apex	27539	Wake County	Wake County Schools	No	No	No	No	(919) 773-3838	1,659	94	17.6	26.9%	957 (57.7%)	232 (14.0%)	365 (22.0%)	46 (2.8%)	4 (0.2%)	4 (0.2%)	51 (3.1%)	$8,441			$392			$8,048	59.3	62.4	210	29
370053000216	240	Northwest Cabarrus High	Public	9-12	5130 NW Cabarrus Drive	Concord	28027	Cabarrus County	Cabarrus County Schools	No	No	No	No	(704) 260-6720	1,138	71	16	35.2%	614 (54.0%)	257 (22.6%)	147 (12.9%)	52 (4.6%)	4 (0.4%)	2 (0.2%)	62 (5.4%)	$9,034			$555			$8,479	58.9	62.3	211	29

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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:

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

High school students working on a science experiment

Magnet Schools: Unleashing the Power of Education

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.