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)
370472002560	211	Wakefield High	Public	9-12	2200 Wakefield Pines Drive	Raleigh	27614	Wake County	Wake County Schools	No	No	No	No	(919) 562-3600	2,072	108	19.1	34.5%	932 (45.0%)	586 (28.3%)	385 (18.6%)	100 (4.8%)	5 (0.2%)	2 (0.1%)	62 (3.0%)	$8,642			$337			$8,306	63.9	62.3	212	1
370195003512	212	Halifax County Early College High	Public	9-12	100 College Drive	Weldon	27890	Halifax County	Halifax County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(252) 536-5461	128	5	25.6	97.7%	6 (4.7%)	98 (76.6%)	5 (3.9%)	0 (0.0%)	15 (11.7%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (3.1%)								63.7	74.8	155	57
370031703184	213	Mountain Island Charter School	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	13440 Lucia Riverbend Highway	Mount Holly	28120	Gaston County	Mountain Island Charter	Yes	No	No	Yes	(704) 827-8840	1,703	100	16.9	23.5%	947 (55.6%)	464 (27.2%)	140 (8.2%)	31 (1.8%)	1 (0.1%)	2 (0.1%)	118 (6.9%)								63.5	55.8	253	40
370048403629	214	Wake Preparatory Academy	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	14111 Capital Blvd	Wake Forest	27587	Wake County	Wake Preparatory Academy	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(984) 245-0050	1,961	1	1961		1,191 (60.7%)	333 (17.0%)	297 (15.1%)	40 (2.0%)	10 (0.5%)	2 (0.1%)	88 (4.5%)								63.4			(n/a)
370363003581	215	PCS Virtual Academy	Public, Virtual, Alternative	PK, KG-12	1010 Ridge Rd	Roxboro	27573	Person County	Person County Schools	No	No	Yes	No	(336) 599-1089	72	10	7.2	4.2%	43 (59.7%)	16 (22.2%)	5 (6.9%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (1.4%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (9.7%)								63.2	70.1	178	37
370462001799	216	Piedmont High	Public	9-12	3006 Sikes Mill Road	Monroe	28110	Union County	Union County Public Schools	No	No	No	No	(704) 296-3170	1,265	65	19.3	31.4%	916 (72.4%)	74 (5.8%)	221 (17.5%)	16 (1.3%)	2 (0.2%)	1 (0.1%)	35 (2.8%)	$8,326			$606			$7,720	62.9	63.6	205	11
370507002030	217	Mountain Heritage High	Public	9-12	333 Mtn Heritage HS Road	Burnsville	28714	Yancey County	Yancey County Schools	No	No	No	No	(828) 682-6103	639	48	13.4	48.4%	524 (82.0%)	0 (0.0%)	103 (16.1%)	1 (0.2%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	10 (1.6%)	$11,483			$884			$10,599	62.9	72.8	161	56
370309001321	218	Pinecrest High	Public	9-12	250 Voit Gilmore Lane	Southern Pines	28387	Moore County	Moore County Schools	No	No	No	No	(910) 692-6554	2,221	102	21.8	33.8%	1,345 (60.6%)	373 (16.8%)	293 (13.2%)	44 (2.0%)	23 (1.0%)	1 (0.0%)	142 (6.4%)	$7,767			$635			$7,132	62.7	61.8	217	1
370005002366	219	River Mill Academy	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	235 Cheeks Lane	Graham	27253	Alamance County	River Mill Academy	Yes	No	No	No	(336) 229-0909	771	48	16.1		524 (68.0%)	102 (13.2%)	100 (13.0%)	11 (1.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	34 (4.4%)								62.6	59.9	226	7
370032103254	220	NERSBA Early College	Public	9-12	1215 Saint Andrews St	Jamesville	27846	Martin County	NERSBA Early College	No	No	No	Yes	(252) 792-0241	123	8	16	97.6%	65 (52.8%)	28 (22.8%)	21 (17.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	9 (7.3%)								62.4	63.8	202	18

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:

Public School Districts and Their Services: A Comprehensive Guide

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.