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)
370114000459	411	Central Davidson High	Public	9-12	2747 NC Hwy 47	Lexington	27292	Davidson County	Davidson County Schools	No	No	No	No	(336) 357-2920	900	53	17.1	48.9%	704 (78.2%)	47 (5.2%)	104 (11.6%)	3 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	42 (4.7%)	$8,319			$521			$7,798	34	39.6	359	52
370150000600	412	East Forsyth High	Public	9-12	2500 W Mountain Street	Kernersville	27284	Forsyth County	Winston Salem / Forsyth County Schools	No	No	No	No	(336) 703-6735	1,655	105	15.8	53.2%	735 (44.4%)	383 (23.1%)	426 (25.7%)	18 (1.1%)	2 (0.1%)	0 (0.0%)	91 (5.5%)	$8,955			$537			$8,418	33.7	32.1	417	5
370488002499	413	Spring Creek High	Public	9-12	4340 Indian Springs Rd	Seven Springs	28578	Wayne County	Wayne County Public Schools	No	No	No	No	(919) 751-7160	753	45	16.6	97.9%	203 (27.0%)	107 (14.2%)	417 (55.4%)	1 (0.1%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.1%)	24 (3.2%)	$9,260			$926			$8,335	33.7	25.8	469	56
370120000497	414	East Duplin High	Public	9-12	394 North NC Highway 111	Beulaville	28518	Duplin County	Duplin County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(910) 298-4535	861	51	16.7	99.7%	403 (46.8%)	97 (11.3%)	338 (39.3%)	1 (0.1%)	2 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	20 (2.3%)	$9,554			$893			$8,661	33.6	41.1	343	71
370297001203	415	Cochrane Collegiate Academy	Public	6-12	6200 Starhaven Dr	Charlotte	28215	Mecklenburg County	Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(980) 343-6460	918	46	19.7	97.8%	22 (2.4%)	245 (26.7%)	612 (66.7%)	32 (3.5%)	2 (0.2%)	1 (0.1%)	4 (0.4%)	$10,602			$1,223			$9,379	33.6	24.8	478	63
370053002570	416	Jay M Robinson High	Public	9-12	300 Pitts School Road SW	Concord	28027	Cabarrus County	Cabarrus County Schools	No	No	No	No	(704) 260-6660	1,080	56	19.4	49.6%	391 (36.2%)	326 (30.2%)	271 (25.1%)	30 (2.8%)	4 (0.4%)	1 (0.1%)	57 (5.3%)	$9,469			$752			$8,717	33.6	35.7	393	23
370414001674	417	Lakewood High	Public	9-12	245 Lakewood School Rd	Salemburg	28385	Sampson County	Sampson County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(910) 525-5171	479	33	14.6	99.4%	176 (36.7%)	120 (25.1%)	148 (30.9%)	1 (0.2%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	33 (6.9%)	$10,549			$1,417			$9,132	33.6	28.5	442	25
370090003537	418	Cleveland Innovation	Public, Virtual, Alternative	K-12	400 W Marion St	Shelby	28150	Cleveland County	Cleveland County Schools	No	No	Yes	No	(704) 476-8000	182	15	12	52.2%	128 (70.3%)	30 (16.5%)	7 (3.8%)	1 (0.5%)	1 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	15 (8.2%)								33.4	43.3	332	86
370037903323	419	Wilson Preparatory Academy	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	2755 Tilghman Rd N	Wilson	27896	Wilson County	Wilson Preparatory Academy	Yes	No	No	Yes	(252) 294-2533	807	42	19.4	61.1%	134 (16.6%)	526 (65.2%)	85 (10.5%)	11 (1.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	51 (6.3%)								33.4	29.6	435	16
370357002646	420	Heide Trask High	Public	9-12	14328 NC Hwy 210	Rocky Point	28457	Pender County	Pender County Schools	No	No	No	No	(910) 602-6810	720	44	16.3	69.3%	312 (43.3%)	114 (15.8%)	257 (35.7%)	1 (0.1%)	2 (0.3%)	1 (0.1%)	33 (4.6%)	$10,484			$771			$9,712	33.3	28.3	447	27

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:

Per-Pupil Spending: Understanding the Breakdown of Federal, State, and Local Funds

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

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.