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
271	Northampton Early College	Public	9-12	100 College Dr.	Weldon	27890	Halifax County	Northampton County Schools	No	No	No	No	(252) 585-1900	148	6	24.6	98.0%	9 (6.1%)	118 (79.7%)	11 (7.4%)	4 (2.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (4.1%)	$11,161			$688			$10,474	53.4	56.6	249	22		370342003388
272	NERSBA Early College	Public	9-12	1215 Saint Andrews St	Jamesville	27846	Martin County	NERSBA Early College	No	No	No	Yes	(252) 792-0241	140			97.9%	79 (56.4%)	26 (18.6%)	27 (19.3%)	1 (0.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (5.0%)								53.1	62.4	220	52		370032103254
273	Arapahoe Charter School	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	9005 NC Hwy 306 S	Arapahoe	28510	Pamlico County	Arapahoe Charter School	Yes	No	No	Yes	(252) 249-2599	498	31	15.8	86.7%	333 (66.9%)	44 (8.8%)	50 (10.0%)	1 (0.2%)	3 (0.6%)	0 (0.0%)	67 (13.5%)								53.1	70.7	176	97		370003802343
274	Fred T Foard High	Public	9-12	3407 Plateau Road	Newton	28658	Catawba County	Catawba County Schools	No	No	No	No	(704) 462-1496	930	43	21.8	46.9%	684 (73.5%)	30 (3.2%)	98 (10.5%)	48 (5.2%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (0.3%)	67 (7.2%)	$8,769			$744			$8,025	52.6	57.9	245	29		370069000282
275	Camden County High	Public	9-12	103 Us 158 W	Camden	27921	Camden County	Camden County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(252) 338-0114	457	28	16	23.0%	360 (78.8%)	38 (8.3%)	23 (5.0%)	2 (0.4%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	33 (7.2%)	$11,470			$235			$11,235	52.6	42.5	354	79		370060000246
276	Sugar Creek Charter	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	4101 N Tryon Street	Charlotte	28206	Mecklenburg County	Sugar Creek Charter	Yes	No	No	Yes	(704) 509-5470	1,591	68	23.3	96.6%	3 (0.2%)	1,110 (69.8%)	425 (26.7%)	13 (0.8%)	1 (0.1%)	0 (0.0%)	39 (2.5%)								52.5	39.3	375	99		370008902472
277	Cleveland High	Public	9-12	1892 Polenta Rd	Clayton	27520	Johnston County	Johnston County Public Schools	No	No	No	No	(919) 934-2455	1,889	80	23.5	98.7%	933 (49.4%)	369 (19.5%)	464 (24.6%)	28 (1.5%)	2 (0.1%)	2 (0.1%)	91 (4.8%)	$7,646			$466			$7,180	52.4	49.7	300	23		370237003215
278	Kings Mountain High	Public	9-12	500 Phifer Road	Kings Mountain	28086	Cleveland County	Cleveland County Schools	No	No	No	No	(704) 476-8330	1,305	72	18.1	98.8%	771 (59.1%)	297 (22.8%)	119 (9.1%)	17 (1.3%)	2 (0.2%)	1 (0.1%)	98 (7.5%)	$9,036			$654			$8,382	52.3	50.8	291	13		370090002714
279	Ledford Senior High	Public	9-12	140 Jesse Green Road	Thomasville	27360	Davidson County	Davidson County Schools	No	No	No	No	(336) 769-9671	776	46	16.7	51.3%	446 (57.5%)	75 (9.7%)	183 (23.6%)	32 (4.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	40 (5.2%)	$7,933			$469			$7,464	52.2	44.9	333	54		370114000471
280	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	596	32	18.5	99.5%	433 (72.7%)	42 (7.0%)	93 (15.6%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	27 (4.5%)	$12,130			$897			$11,232	52	50.8	292	12		370372000785

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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.

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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.