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)
370331000384	311	Havelock High	Public	9-12	101 Webb Boulevard	Havelock	28532	Craven County	Craven County Board of Education	No	No	No	No	(252) 444-5112	1,104	62	17.9	49.1%	500 (45.3%)	289 (26.2%)	164 (14.9%)	15 (1.4%)	2 (0.2%)	12 (1.1%)	122 (11.1%)	$9,356			$1,044			$8,312	47.8	55	258	53
370192002989	312	Kearns Academy	Public, Magnet	9-12	1710 McGuinn Dr.	High Point	27265	Guilford County	Guilford County Schools	No	Yes	No	Yes	(336) 885-7905	116	12	9.5	56.9%	13 (11.2%)	58 (50.0%)	32 (27.6%)	6 (5.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (6.0%)	$14,695			$989			$13,705	47.7	55.1	257	55
370162003246	313	Stuart W Cramer High	Public	9-12	101 Lakewood Rd	Belmont	28012	Gaston County	Gaston County Schools	No	No	No	No	(704) 866-5700	964	52	18.5	44.6%	572 (59.3%)	184 (19.1%)	127 (13.2%)	22 (2.3%)	3 (0.3%)	2 (0.2%)	54 (5.6%)	$8,748			$608			$8,139	47.7	42.5	333	20
370162002384	314	Forestview High	Public	9-12	5545 Union Road	Gastonia	28056	Gaston County	Gaston County Schools	No	No	No	No	(704) 861-2625	1,081	54	20	46.8%	534 (49.4%)	255 (23.6%)	213 (19.7%)	23 (2.1%)	2 (0.2%)	3 (0.3%)	51 (4.7%)	$8,409			$693			$7,716	47.6	46.6	311	3
370333001373	315	Emsley A Laney High	Public	9-12	2700 N College Rd	Wilmington	28405	New Hanover County	New Hanover County Schools	No	No	No	No	(910) 350-2089	2,220	119	18.7	41.8%	1,292 (58.2%)	404 (18.2%)	364 (16.4%)	34 (1.5%)	6 (0.3%)	3 (0.1%)	117 (5.3%)	$8,690			$533			$8,157	47.4	44.1	328	13
370011102548	316	Millennium Charter Academy	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	500 Old Springs Rd	Mount Airy	27030	Surry County	Millennium Charter Academy	Yes	No	No	No	(336) 789-7570	687	47	14.4		568 (82.7%)	20 (2.9%)	71 (10.3%)	12 (1.7%)	1 (0.1%)	0 (0.0%)	15 (2.2%)								47.4	54	263	53
370120003154	317	Duplin Early College High	Public	9-12	212 James Sprunt Dr	Kenansville	28349	Duplin County	Duplin County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(910) 296-1136	206	10	21.6	98.5%	59 (28.6%)	42 (20.4%)	93 (45.1%)	3 (1.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	9 (4.4%)	$7,848			$494			$7,355	47.1	74.8	156	161
370058000239	318	South Caldwell High	Public	9-12	7035 Spartan Drive	Hudson	28638	Caldwell County	Caldwell County Schools	No	No	No	No	(828) 396-2188	1,317	85	15.4	50.1%	1,106 (84.0%)	16 (1.2%)	116 (8.8%)	11 (0.8%)	1 (0.1%)	1 (0.1%)	66 (5.0%)	$9,486			$729			$8,757	46.9	53.1	270	48
370488001948	319	Charles B Aycock High	Public	9-12	5460 US 117 North	Pikeville	27863	Wayne County	Wayne County Public Schools	No	No	No	No	(919) 242-3400	1,122	64	17.4	99.7%	600 (53.5%)	268 (23.9%)	169 (15.1%)	16 (1.4%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.1%)	68 (6.1%)	$8,936			$829			$8,107	46.5	40	353	34
370012000037	320	Alleghany High	Public	9-12	404 Trojan Avenue	Sparta	28675	Alleghany County	Alleghany County Schools	No	No	No	No	(336) 372-4554	426	36	11.9	58.9%	305 (71.6%)	0 (0.0%)	108 (25.4%)	1 (0.2%)	1 (0.2%)	2 (0.5%)	9 (2.1%)	$13,265			$926			$12,339	46.4	33.4	409	89

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:

A high school boy doing homework on a laptop

Virtual Schools: The Future of Online 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.