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)
370162000681	281	East Gaston High	Public	9-12	1744 Lane Road	Mount Holly	28120	Gaston County	Gaston County Schools	No	No	No	No	(704) 836-9613	883	48	18.3	48.2%	607 (68.7%)	108 (12.2%)	124 (14.0%)	3 (0.3%)	1 (0.1%)	0 (0.0%)	40 (4.5%)	$10,078			$870			$9,208	53.1	49.3	294	13
370002502096	282	Quality Education Academy	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	5012-D Lansing Drive	Winston Salem	27105	Forsyth County	Quality Education Academy	Yes	No	No	Yes	(336) 744-7138	673	55	12.2	97.6%	1 (0.1%)	543 (80.7%)	99 (14.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	30 (4.5%)								52.8	25.5	475	193
370276001138	283	Franklin High	Public	9-12	100 Panther Drive	Franklin	28734	Macon County	Macon County Schools	No	No	No	No	(828) 524-6467	1,005	60	16.6	51.4%	733 (72.9%)	7 (0.7%)	223 (22.2%)	9 (0.9%)	2 (0.2%)	1 (0.1%)	30 (3.0%)	$9,457			$662			$8,795	52.7	53	271	12
370063000259	284	West Carteret High	Public	9-12	4700 Country Club Road	Morehead City	28557	Carteret County	Carteret County Public Schools	No	No	No	No	(252) 726-1176	1,146	72	15.9	40.2%	826 (72.1%)	60 (5.2%)	165 (14.4%)	19 (1.7%)	4 (0.3%)	6 (0.5%)	66 (5.8%)	$10,075			$730			$9,345	52.6	64.8	196	88
370333002595	285	Eugene Ashley High	Public	9-12	555 Halyburton Memorial Parkwy	Wilmington	28412	New Hanover County	New Hanover County Schools	No	No	No	No	(910) 790-2360	1,975	99	20	34.3%	1,410 (71.4%)	163 (8.3%)	267 (13.5%)	22 (1.1%)	7 (0.4%)	2 (0.1%)	104 (5.3%)	$8,956			$596			$8,360	52.4	59.7	228	57
370192000846	286	Southeast Guilford High	Public	9-12	4530 Southeast School Road	Greensboro	27406	Guilford County	Guilford County Schools	No	No	No	No	(336) 674-4300	1,273	81	15.7	48.2%	620 (48.7%)	392 (30.8%)	153 (12.0%)	30 (2.4%)	13 (1.0%)	2 (0.2%)	63 (4.9%)	$9,360			$799			$8,561	52.2	52.6	275	11
370297001214	287	East Mecklenburg High School	Public, Magnet	9-12	6800 Monroe Rd	Charlotte	28212	Mecklenburg County	Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools	No	Yes	No	No	(980) 343-6430	2,409	123	19.5	42.2%	463 (19.2%)	806 (33.5%)	956 (39.7%)	129 (5.4%)	4 (0.2%)	3 (0.1%)	48 (2.0%)	$9,101			$501			$8,599	52.1	49.2	295	8
370282001153	288	Madison High School	Public	9-12	5740 US Hwy 25-70	Marshall	28753	Madison County	Madison County Schools	No	No	No	No	(828) 649-2876	414	46	8.9	47.6%	374 (90.3%)	0 (0.0%)	28 (6.8%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	11 (2.7%)	$13,733			$1,107			$12,625	52	48.1	303	15
370472003570	289	Willow Spring High	Public	9-12	1704 Old Honeycutt Rd	Fuquay Varina	27526	Wake County	Wake County Schools	No	No	No	No	(919) 694-8030	1,477	82	18.1	30.5%	861 (58.3%)	185 (12.5%)	322 (21.8%)	43 (2.9%)	2 (0.1%)	1 (0.1%)	63 (4.3%)								51.6			(n/a)
370495001988	290	West Wilkes High School	Public	9-12	6598 Boone Trail	Millers Creek	28651	Wilkes County	Wilkes County Schools	No	No	No	No	(336) 903-6710	628	39	15.9	46.8%	500 (79.6%)	6 (1.0%)	101 (16.1%)	2 (0.3%)	2 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	17 (2.7%)	$9,570			$787			$8,783	51.4	45.8	318	28

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:

State-Administered Standardized Tests: A Comprehensive Guide

A high school boy doing homework on a laptop

Virtual Schools: The Future of Online 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.