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)
370492001970	331	Whiteville High	Public	9-12	413 N Lee Street	Whiteville	28472	Columbus County	Whiteville City Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(910) 914-4189	662	44	15.1	98.6%	273 (41.2%)	244 (36.9%)	83 (12.5%)	7 (1.1%)	6 (0.9%)	0 (0.0%)	49 (7.4%)	$10,302			$1,532			$8,770	45.2	31.7	421	90
370042000125	332	North Brunswick High	Public	9-12	114 Scorpion Drive	Leland	28451	Brunswick County	Brunswick County Schools	No	No	No	No	(910) 371-2261	1,450	78	18.6	99.8%	791 (54.6%)	267 (18.4%)	271 (18.7%)	8 (0.6%)	7 (0.5%)	2 (0.1%)	104 (7.2%)	$10,133			$1,075			$9,059	45.1	38.7	363	31
370114000471	333	Ledford Senior High	Public	9-12	140 Jesse Green Road	Thomasville	27360	Davidson County	Davidson County Schools	No	No	No	No	(336) 769-9671	835	48	17.3	41.6%	529 (63.4%)	76 (9.1%)	164 (19.6%)	24 (2.9%)	3 (0.4%)	2 (0.2%)	37 (4.4%)	$7,933			$469			$7,464	44.9	40.8	347	14
370309003571	334	Connect Academy	Public, Virtual, Alternative	K-12	272 Archie Rd	West End	27376	Moore County	Moore County Schools	No	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(910) 673-2004	312	16	19.5	43.6%	203 (65.1%)	52 (16.7%)	30 (9.6%)	6 (1.9%)	3 (1.0%)	1 (0.3%)	17 (5.4%)								44.8			(n/a)
370021002425	335	Ashe County High	Public	9-12	184 Campus Drive	West Jefferson	28694	Ashe County	Ashe County Schools	No	No	No	No	(336) 846-2400	792	54	14.6	53.8%	663 (83.7%)	4 (0.5%)	100 (12.6%)	4 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	21 (2.7%)	$10,958			$817			$10,142	44.8	49.3	293	42
370502002000	336	James Hunt High	Public	9-12	4559 Lamm Rd	Wilson	27893	Wilson County	Wilson County Schools	No	No	No	No	(252) 399-7930	1,069	60	17.8	60.1%	383 (35.8%)	365 (34.1%)	257 (24.0%)	15 (1.4%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.1%)	48 (4.5%)	$8,469			$640			$7,829	44.8	41.4	340	4
370162000675	337	Cherryville High	Public	9-12	313 Ridge Avenue	Cherryville	28021	Gaston County	Gaston County Schools	No	No	No	No	(704) 836-9605	492	32	15.1	59.3%	361 (73.4%)	58 (11.8%)	51 (10.4%)	2 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	20 (4.1%)	$10,928			$967			$9,961	44.7	57.1	247	90
370153000658	338	Louisburg Magnet High	Public	9-12	201 Allen Lane	Louisburg	27549	Franklin County	Franklin County Schools	No	No	No	No	(919) 496-3725	536	38	13.9	69.0%	178 (33.2%)	183 (34.1%)	142 (26.5%)	2 (0.4%)	2 (0.4%)	1 (0.2%)	28 (5.2%)	$11,598			$723			$10,875	44.7	48.8	301	37
370237001012	339	Clayton High	Public	9-12	600 S Fayetteville St	Clayton	27520	Johnston County	Johnston County Public Schools	No	No	No	No	(919) 553-4064	2,024	110	18.3	42.0%	836 (41.3%)	531 (26.2%)	522 (25.8%)	18 (0.9%)	5 (0.2%)	1 (0.0%)	111 (5.5%)	$7,541			$374			$7,166	44.3	32.7	411	72
370297002593	340	Hopewell High School	Public, Magnet	9-12	11530 Beatties Ford Rd	Huntersville	28078	Mecklenburg County	Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools	No	Yes	No	No	(980) 343-5988	1,755	100	17.5	37.2%	422 (24.0%)	839 (47.8%)	357 (20.3%)	50 (2.8%)	5 (0.3%)	2 (0.1%)	80 (4.6%)	$8,867			$413			$8,454	44.1	45.6	319	21

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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:

Charter Schools vs Regular Public Schools: Understanding the Key Differences

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.