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 3, 2025.

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School														Students/Teachers											Per Pupil Expenditures (2019)							Ranking (2025 vs 2024)					ID
Rank (of 641)	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 (2025)	Average Standard Score (2024)	Rank (2024)	Rank Change from 2024	SchoolDigger Rating (2025)	ID
491	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	973	64	15.1	99.3%	223 (22.9%)	258 (26.5%)	431 (44.3%)	4 (0.4%)	4 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	53 (5.4%)	$11,781			$1,553			$10,228	25.4	23.1	497	6		370462001792
492	Riverside High	Public	9-12	3218 Rose of Sharon Road	Durham	27712	Durham County	Durham Public Schools	No	No	No	No	(919) 560-3965	1,900	94	20.3	99.8%	490 (25.8%)	534 (28.1%)	728 (38.3%)	50 (2.6%)	3 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	95 (5.0%)	$10,389			$739			$9,651	25.2	25	484	8		370126002292
493	Purnell Swett High	Public	9-12	11344 Deep Branch Road	Pembroke	28372	Robeson County	Public Schools of Robeson County	No	No	No	Yes	(910) 521-3253	1,583	87	18.2	99.5%	36 (2.3%)	147 (9.3%)	86 (5.4%)	1 (0.1%)	1,244 (78.6%)	2 (0.1%)	67 (4.2%)	$10,198			$1,489			$8,709	25.2	30.5	447	46		370393002102
494	Ayden-Grifton High	Public	9-12	7653 NC 11 South	Ayden	28513	Pitt County	Pitt County Schools	No	No	No	No	(252) 746-4183	757	47	15.9	99.6%	299 (39.5%)	300 (39.6%)	117 (15.5%)	2 (0.3%)	1 (0.1%)	0 (0.0%)	38 (5.0%)	$10,854			$1,280			$9,574	25.1	21.8	503	9		370001201491
495	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	2,008	102	19.6	99.9%	29 (1.4%)	1,499 (74.7%)	368 (18.3%)	60 (3.0%)	1 (0.0%)	1 (0.0%)	50 (2.5%)	$12,290			$1,386			$10,904	25.1	22.8	498	3		370297001285
496	South View High	Public	9-12	4184 Elk Road	Hope Mills	28348	Cumberland County	Cumberland County Schools	No	No	No	No	(910) 425-8181	1,461	66	22.2	98.1%	275 (18.8%)	732 (50.1%)	271 (18.5%)	17 (1.2%)	28 (1.9%)	6 (0.4%)	132 (9.0%)	$8,362			$862			$7,499	25.1	25.3	482	14		370001100436
497	Lucy Ragsdale High	Public	9-12	1000 Lucy Ragsdale Drive	Jamestown	27282	Guilford County	Guilford County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(336) 454-7400	1,292	81	15.9	99.8%	295 (22.8%)	570 (44.1%)	239 (18.5%)	126 (9.8%)	5 (0.4%)	2 (0.2%)	55 (4.3%)	$9,118			$1,022			$8,096	24.7	16.9	539	42		370192000830
498	Westover High	Public	9-12	277 Bonanza Drive	Fayetteville	28303	Cumberland County	Cumberland County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(910) 864-0190	1,234	50	24.7	99.8%	103 (8.3%)	790 (64.0%)	198 (16.0%)	15 (1.2%)	5 (0.4%)	20 (1.6%)	103 (8.3%)	$9,865			$1,620			$8,245	24.3	21.8	504	6		370001100445
499	Union High	Public	9-12	1189 Kader Merritt Road	Rose Hill	28458	Sampson County	Sampson County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(910) 532-6300	494	29	17	99.2%	80 (16.2%)	112 (22.7%)	283 (57.3%)	1 (0.2%)	4 (0.8%)	1 (0.2%)	13 (2.6%)	$10,781			$1,362			$9,419	24.2	25.4	480	19		370414001683
500	Anson High School	Public	9-12	96 Anson High School Road	Wadesboro	28170	Anson County	Anson County Schools	No	No	No	No	(704) 694-9301	705	30	23.1	99.6%	173 (24.5%)	417 (59.1%)	70 (9.9%)	6 (0.9%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (0.4%)	36 (5.1%)	$12,828			$1,641			$11,187	24.1	15.6	548	48		370018002054

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New! SchoolDigger ranking lists for NC student subgroups:

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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 3, 2025, 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:

A high school boy doing homework on a laptop

Virtual Schools: The Future of Online Education

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.