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)
370090002714	291	Kings Mountain High	Public	9-12	500 Phifer Road	Kings Mountain	28086	Cleveland County	Cleveland County Schools	No	No	No	No	(704) 476-8330	1,236	73	16.9	56.4%	768 (62.1%)	279 (22.6%)	83 (6.7%)	10 (0.8%)	1 (0.1%)	0 (0.0%)	95 (7.7%)	$9,036			$654			$8,382	50.8	43.6	330	39
370372000785	292	Polk County High School	Public	9-12	1681 East NC 108 Hwy	Columbus	28722	Polk County	Polk County Schools	No	No	No	No	(828) 894-2525	579	40	14.4	52.0%	426 (73.6%)	32 (5.5%)	91 (15.7%)	3 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	27 (4.7%)	$12,130			$897			$11,232	50.8	60.8	220	72
370192002669	293	A&T Four Middle College	Public	9-12	1601 East Market Street	Greensboro	27411	Guilford County	Guilford County Schools	No	No	No	No	(336) 691-0941	154	14	10.9	59.7%	3 (1.9%)	133 (86.4%)	11 (7.1%)	1 (0.6%)	2 (1.3%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (2.6%)	$14,153			$230			$13,923	50.7	44.5	326	33
370348001447	294	Orange High	Public	9-12	500 Orange High Rd	Hillsborough	27278	Orange County	Orange County Schools	No	No	No	No	(919) 732-6133	1,341	81	16.4	40.8%	747 (55.7%)	226 (16.9%)	269 (20.1%)	16 (1.2%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.1%)	82 (6.1%)	$9,879			$469			$9,410	50.7	35.7	395	101
370044103465	295	Jackson Day School	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	1209 Little Rock Rd	Charlotte	28214	Mecklenburg County	Jackson Day School	Yes	No	No	Yes	(704) 391-5516	817	50	16.2		359 (43.9%)	251 (30.7%)	87 (10.6%)	27 (3.3%)	2 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	91 (11.1%)								50.6	57.5	243	52
370472001844	296	Cary High	Public	9-12	638 Walnut St	Cary	27511	Wake County	Wake County Schools	No	No	No	No	(919) 460-3549	2,145	122	17.5	39.2%	912 (42.5%)	392 (18.3%)	626 (29.2%)	108 (5.0%)	4 (0.2%)	4 (0.2%)	99 (4.6%)	$8,602			$403			$8,198	50.5	54.5	260	36
370069000290	297	Saint Stephens High	Public	9-12	3205 34th Street Drive NE	Hickory	28601	Catawba County	Catawba County Schools	No	No	No	No	(828) 256-9841	1,265	68	18.5	53.4%	613 (48.5%)	82 (6.5%)	419 (33.1%)	53 (4.2%)	2 (0.2%)	1 (0.1%)	95 (7.5%)	$8,502			$740			$7,761	50.2	46.9	309	12
370042000132	298	West Brunswick High	Public	9-12	550 Whiteville Road NW	Shallotte	28470	Brunswick County	Brunswick County Schools	No	No	No	No	(910) 756-5050	1,526	91	16.7	99.8%	898 (58.8%)	220 (14.4%)	312 (20.4%)	5 (0.3%)	12 (0.8%)	0 (0.0%)	79 (5.2%)	$10,237			$814			$9,423	50.2	51.1	281	17
370399001595	299	Rockingham County High	Public	9-12	180 High School Rd	Reidsville	27320	Rockingham County	Rockingham County Schools	No	No	No	No	(336) 634-3220	882	51	17.4	42.1%	680 (77.1%)	93 (10.5%)	72 (8.2%)	2 (0.2%)	3 (0.3%)	2 (0.2%)	30 (3.4%)	$8,153			$721			$7,432	50.2	43.4	331	32
370237003215	300	Cleveland High	Public	9-12	1892 Polenta Rd	Clayton	27520	Johnston County	Johnston County Public Schools	No	No	No	No	(919) 934-2455	1,879	99	18.9	35.0%	1,020 (54.3%)	330 (17.6%)	403 (21.4%)	26 (1.4%)	2 (0.1%)	4 (0.2%)	94 (5.0%)	$7,646			$466			$7,180	49.7	52.7	273	27

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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:

Alternative Schools vs Public Schools: A Comparison

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.