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)
370162000668	491	Bessemer City High	Public	9-12	119 Yellow Jacket Lane	Bessemer City	28016	Gaston County	Gaston County Schools	No	No	No	No	(704) 836-9601	566	32	17.9	79.9%	260 (45.9%)	157 (27.7%)	115 (20.3%)	2 (0.4%)	2 (0.4%)	1 (0.2%)	29 (5.1%)	$9,616			$754			$8,862	23.9	32.2	416	75
370331002180	492	West Craven High	Public	9-12	2600 Streets Ferry Road	Vanceboro	28586	Craven County	Craven County Board of Education	No	No	No	No	(252) 244-3200	860	50	17.1	97.8%	397 (46.2%)	265 (30.8%)	131 (15.2%)	7 (0.8%)	1 (0.1%)	1 (0.1%)	58 (6.7%)	$9,958			$1,152			$8,807	23.5	24.2	484	8
370093000353	493	Clinton High	Public	9-12	340 Indian Town Road	Clinton	28328	Sampson County	Clinton City Schools	No	No	No	No	(910) 592-2067	851	48	17.7	99.3%	216 (25.4%)	283 (33.3%)	285 (33.5%)	4 (0.5%)	18 (2.1%)	1 (0.1%)	44 (5.2%)	$10,512			$1,042			$9,470	23.4	25.7	473	20
370001100433	494	Seventy-First High	Public	9-12	6764 Raeford Road	Fayetteville	28304	Cumberland County	Cumberland County Schools	No	No	No	No	(910) 867-3116	1,366	81	16.9	70.1%	116 (8.5%)	921 (67.4%)	185 (13.5%)	14 (1.0%)	6 (0.4%)	9 (0.7%)	115 (8.4%)	$8,861			$890			$7,971	23.3	27.7	454	40
370331003588	495	Craven Virtual Academy	Public, Virtual, Alternative	4-12	1319 Commerce Dr	New Bern	28562	Craven County	Craven County Board of Education	No	No	Yes	No	(252) 497-2250	111	11	10.2	3.6%	66 (59.5%)	26 (23.4%)	8 (7.2%)	3 (2.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	8 (7.2%)								23.2			(n/a)
370201000894	496	Western Harnett High	Public	9-12	10637 NC Hwy 27 West	Lillington	27546	Harnett County	Harnett County Schools	No	No	No	No	(919) 499-5113	1,386	73	18.8	59.7%	661 (47.7%)	238 (17.2%)	378 (27.3%)	11 (0.8%)	10 (0.7%)	2 (0.1%)	86 (6.2%)	$8,173			$760			$7,413	23.2	23.7	489	7
370462001792	497	Forest Hills High	Public	9-12	100 Forest Hills School Rd	Marshville	28103	Union County	Union County Public Schools	No	No	No	No	(704) 296-3025	873	65	13.4	69.0%	230 (26.3%)	257 (29.4%)	345 (39.5%)	5 (0.6%)	3 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	33 (3.8%)	$11,781			$1,553			$10,228	23.1	30	433	64
370297001285	498	West Charlotte High School	Public, Magnet	9-12	2219 Senior Dr	Charlotte	28216	Mecklenburg County	Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools	No	Yes	No	Yes	(980) 343-6060	1,538	93	16.4	99.8%	26 (1.7%)	1,180 (76.7%)	253 (16.4%)	53 (3.4%)	1 (0.1%)	0 (0.0%)	25 (1.6%)	$12,290			$1,386			$10,904	22.8	16.9	531	33
370378001527	499	Randleman High School	Public	9-12	4396 Tigers Den Rd	Randleman	27317	Randolph County	Randolph County School System	No	No	No	No	(336) 498-2682	877	53	16.5	55.3%	538 (61.3%)	38 (4.3%)	247 (28.2%)	6 (0.7%)	2 (0.2%)	1 (0.1%)	45 (5.1%)	$8,760			$682			$8,077	22	23.5	491	8
370378003016	500	Providence Grove High School	Public	9-12	5555 Mack Lineberry Rd	Concord	27233	Guilford County	Randolph County School System	No	No	No	No	(336) 685-0728	653	35	18.5	50.7%	460 (70.4%)	36 (5.5%)	111 (17.0%)	2 (0.3%)	3 (0.5%)	1 (0.2%)	40 (6.1%)	$9,290			$677			$8,613	22	35	398	102

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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

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.