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)
370069002753	21	Challenger Early College High	Public	9-12	2550 Hwy 70 SE	Hickory	28602	Catawba County	Catawba County Schools	No	No	No	No	(828) 485-2980	352	14	25	40.9%	142 (40.3%)	12 (3.4%)	109 (31.0%)	56 (15.9%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.3%)	32 (9.1%)	$6,093			$246			$5,847	95.6	96.4	3	18
370357002906	22	Pender Early College High	Public	9-12	100 East Industrial Drive	Burgaw	28425	Pender County	Pender County Schools	No	No	No	No	(910) 362-7925	203	9	22.5	36.0%	136 (67.0%)	10 (4.9%)	45 (22.2%)	2 (1.0%)	1 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	9 (4.4%)	$7,865			$425			$7,440	95.5	95.4	20	2
370162003563	23	Gaston Early College of Medical Sciences	Public	9-12	300 Rhodes Perimeter Drive	Dallas	28034	Gaston County	Gaston County Schools	No	No	No	No	(704) 923-8480	113	7	16.1	52.2%	49 (43.4%)	27 (23.9%)	20 (17.7%)	9 (8.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	8 (7.1%)								95.5	96	10	13
370033003011	24	Beaufort County Early College High	Public	9-12	5337 Hwy 264 East	Washington	27889	Beaufort County	Beaufort County Schools	No	No	No	No	(252) 940-6227	282	8	35.2	47.2%	117 (41.5%)	50 (17.7%)	101 (35.8%)	1 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	13 (4.6%)	$6,887			$372			$6,515	95.5	96.1	7	17
370420003007	25	Scotland Early College High	Public	9-12	615 W. Covington Street	Laurinburg	28352	Scotland County	Scotland County Schools	No	No	No	No	(910) 277-4336	228	9	24.4	98.7%	99 (43.4%)	71 (31.1%)	10 (4.4%)	5 (2.2%)	32 (14.0%)	0 (0.0%)	11 (4.8%)	$10,574			$1,020			$9,554	95.4	83	114	89
370387002916	26	Richmond Early College High	Public	9-12	1042 W Hamlet Ave	Hamlet	28345	Richmond County	Richmond County Schools	No	No	No	No	(910) 410-1922	295	11	26.8	99.0%	161 (54.6%)	46 (15.6%)	63 (21.4%)	4 (1.4%)	7 (2.4%)	0 (0.0%)	14 (4.7%)	$6,338			$528			$5,810	95.3	95.9	14	12
370042002898	27	Brunswick County Early College	Public	9-12	50 College Road NE	Bolivia	28422	Brunswick County	Brunswick County Schools	No	No	No	No	(910) 756-5030	363	13	27.9	99.2%	246 (67.8%)	19 (5.2%)	67 (18.5%)	10 (2.8%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	20 (5.5%)	$7,807			$809			$6,998	95.1	93.9	38	11
370393002791	28	PSRC Early College at RCC	Public	9-12	5160 Fayetteville Road	Lumberton	28360	Robeson County	Public Schools of Robeson County	No	No	No	Yes	(910) 737-5232	225	10	21.9	44.4%	53 (23.6%)	28 (12.4%)	53 (23.6%)	3 (1.3%)	74 (32.9%)	0 (0.0%)	14 (6.2%)	$8,192			$839			$7,353	94.9	95	26	2
370372003006	29	Polk County Early College	Public	9-12	1545 East NC 108 Hwy	Columbus	28722	Polk County	Polk County Schools	No	No	No	No	(828) 894-2698	84	4	21.7	46.4%	68 (81.0%)	1 (1.2%)	11 (13.1%)	1 (1.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (3.6%)	$9,557			$127			$9,430	94.8	85.2	104	75
370001102757	30	Cumberland Polytechnic	Public	9-12	220 Hull Rd	Fayetteville	28303	Cumberland County	Cumberland County Schools	No	No	No	No	(910) 486-7300	289	13	23.1	42.6%	91 (31.5%)	112 (38.8%)	41 (14.2%)	7 (2.4%)	3 (1.0%)	5 (1.7%)	30 (10.4%)	$8,770			$513			$8,257	94.6	95.4	21	9

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:

Public School Districts and Their Services: A Comprehensive Guide

Alternative Schools vs Public Schools: A Comparison

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.