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)
370011402554	471	Southern Wake Academy	Public, Charter	6-12	5108 Old Powell Rd	Holly Springs	27540	Wake County	Southern Wake Academy	Yes	No	No	No	(919) 567-9955	579	50	11.5		433 (74.8%)	40 (6.9%)	51 (8.8%)	9 (1.6%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	45 (7.8%)								26.8	31.6	422	49
370237003583	472	JCPS Virtual Academy	Public, Virtual, Alternative	K-12	1455 Buffalo Rd	Smithfield	27577	Johnston County	Johnston County Public Schools	No	No	Yes	No	(984) 285-3700	660	23	29.3	50.2%	306 (46.4%)	158 (23.9%)	136 (20.6%)	3 (0.5%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	56 (8.5%)								26.7	10.7	574	102
370393002244	473	Saint Pauls High	Public	9-12	648 North Old Stage Rd	Saint Pauls	28384	Robeson County	Public Schools of Robeson County	No	No	No	Yes	(910) 865-4177	1,151	54	21.4	98.9%	160 (13.9%)	248 (21.5%)	491 (42.7%)	3 (0.3%)	189 (16.4%)	2 (0.2%)	58 (5.0%)	$10,368			$1,515			$8,853	26.4	27.5	458	15
370012302597	474	KIPP Gaston College Preparatory	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	320 Pleasant Hill Road	Gaston	27832	Northampton County	KIPP Gaston College Preparatory	Yes	No	No	Yes	(252) 308-6932	1,286	69	18.6	97.7%	81 (6.3%)	1,033 (80.3%)	85 (6.6%)	11 (0.9%)	8 (0.6%)	1 (0.1%)	67 (5.2%)								26	14.8	541	67
370297002811	475	Mallard Creek High School	Public	9-12	3825 Johnston Oehler Rd	Charlotte	28269	Mecklenburg County	Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools	No	No	No	No	(980) 343-1341	2,185	106	20.5	42.0%	177 (8.1%)	1,534 (70.2%)	296 (13.5%)	90 (4.1%)	4 (0.2%)	1 (0.0%)	83 (3.8%)	$8,152			$456			$7,697	25.8	31.9	419	56
370201000884	476	Harnett Central High	Public	9-12	2911 Harnett Central Rd	Angier	27501	Harnett County	Harnett County Schools	No	No	No	No	(919) 639-6161	1,474	82	17.9	56.2%	672 (45.6%)	278 (18.9%)	438 (29.7%)	5 (0.3%)	7 (0.5%)	1 (0.1%)	73 (5.0%)	$7,920			$580			$7,341	25.8	24.2	483	7
370256001080	477	Lee County High	Public	9-12	1708 Nash Street	Sanford	27330	Lee County	Lee County Schools	No	No	No	No	(919) 776-7541	1,508	96	15.7	60.2%	487 (32.3%)	329 (21.8%)	618 (41.0%)	7 (0.5%)	8 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	59 (3.9%)	$9,332			$595			$8,737	25.7	26.6	463	14
370438001737	478	North Stokes High School	Public	9-12	1350 N Stokes Sch Rd	Danbury	27016	Stokes County	Stokes County Schools	No	No	No	No	(336) 593-8134	280	23	12.1	53.2%	252 (90.0%)	3 (1.1%)	15 (5.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	10 (3.6%)	$14,520			$873			$13,648	25.7	34.9	399	79
370180000742	479	J. F. Webb High	Public	9-12	3200 Webb School Rd	Oxford	27565	Granville County	Granville County Schools	No	No	No	No	(919) 693-2521	594	31	19.1	77.1%	132 (22.2%)	340 (57.2%)	95 (16.0%)	1 (0.2%)	2 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	24 (4.0%)	$12,237			$926			$11,311	25.4	14.1	546	67
370414001683	480	Union High	Public	9-12	1189 Kader Merritt Road	Rose Hill	28458	Duplin County	Sampson County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(910) 532-6300	461	31	15	99.3%	81 (17.6%)	108 (23.4%)	258 (56.0%)	1 (0.2%)	4 (0.9%)	1 (0.2%)	8 (1.7%)	$10,781			$1,362			$9,419	25.4	29.2	437	43

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

Charter Schools vs Regular Public Schools: Understanding the Key Differences

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.