Best Elementary Schools in North Carolina

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Find the best North Carolina elementary 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 EOG 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 1490)	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
201	G R Whitfield	Public	PK, KG-8	4839 School Rd	Grimesland	27837	Pitt County	Pitt County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(252) 752-6614	560	37	15.3	99.5%	292 (52.1%)	107 (19.1%)	124 (22.1%)	1 (0.2%)	1 (0.2%)	1 (0.2%)	34 (6.1%)	$10,605			$1,481			$9,124	83.1	75	324	123		370001201499
202	North Chatham Elementary	Public	PK, KG-5	3380 Lystra Road	Chapel Hill	27517	Chatham County	Chatham County Schools	No	No	No	No	(919) 967-3094	588	46	12.8	99.5%	313 (53.2%)	35 (6.0%)	175 (29.8%)	20 (3.4%)	2 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	43 (7.3%)	$10,576			$485			$10,091	83.1	81.3	221	19		370075002288
203	Locust Elementary	Public	K-5	103 School Rd	Locust	28097	Stanly County	Stanly County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(704) 961-5500	563	36	15.7	99.5%	408 (72.5%)	27 (4.8%)	88 (15.6%)	8 (1.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	32 (5.7%)	$8,043			$624			$7,419	83	86.3	160	43		370432001710
204	Oakboro Choice STEM	Public	K-8	1244 N Main St	Oakboro	28129	Stanly County	Stanly County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(704) 961-4700	353	25	13.9	99.2%	288 (81.6%)	9 (2.5%)	35 (9.9%)	4 (1.1%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	16 (4.5%)	$8,393			$828			$7,565	83	69.9	403	199		370432003440
205	Southeastern Academy	Public, Charter	K-8	12251 NC HWY 41 North	Lumberton	28358	Robeson County	Southeastern Academy	Yes	No	No	No	(910) 738-7828	218	14	15.3		144 (66.1%)	12 (5.5%)	5 (2.3%)	0 (0.0%)	49 (22.5%)	0 (0.0%)	8 (3.7%)								82.7	90.3	111	94		370034603302
206	Casar Elementary	Public	PK, KG-5	436 School House Road	Casar	28020	Cleveland County	Cleveland County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(704) 476-8255	275	19	14.2	98.9%	238 (86.5%)	7 (2.5%)	23 (8.4%)	3 (1.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (1.5%)	$11,433			$1,395			$10,038	82.5	79.1	256	50		370090000338
207	Tramway Elementary	Public	K-5	360 Center Church Road	Sanford	27330	Lee County	Lee County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(919) 718-0170	559	40	13.9	98.7%	304 (54.4%)	70 (12.5%)	160 (28.6%)	3 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	22 (3.9%)	$9,060			$791			$8,269	82.5	88.9	129	78		370256002391
208	Carpenter Elementary	Public	PK, KG-5	2100 Morrisville Parkway	Cary	27519	Wake County	Wake County Schools	No	No	No	No	(919) 462-6780	604	44	13.7	28.8%	144 (23.8%)	42 (7.0%)	138 (22.8%)	262 (43.4%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	17 (2.8%)	$9,401			$613			$8,788	82.4	83.2	203	5		370472002864
209	Edwin A Anderson Elementary	Public	K-5	455 Halyburton Memorial Parkwa	Wilmington	28412	New Hanover County	New Hanover County Schools	No	No	No	No	(910) 798-3311	514	39	13.1	47.7%	395 (76.8%)	20 (3.9%)	62 (12.1%)	6 (1.2%)	3 (0.6%)	2 (0.4%)	26 (5.1%)	$10,418			$855			$9,563	82.3	82.6	209			370333002822
210	Northwest Elementary	Public	PK, KG-5	400 Northwest Elementary Road	Lexington	27295	Davidson County	Davidson County Schools	No	No	No	No	(336) 764-0360	625	39	15.9	40.3%	522 (83.5%)	9 (1.4%)	48 (7.7%)	3 (0.5%)	2 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	41 (6.6%)	$7,891			$463			$7,428	82.3	74.8	327	117		370114000476

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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 EOG Mathematics, EOG Reading, EOG Science 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:

Student-Teacher Ratios and their Impact on Class Sizes & School Selection

Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA): Transforming Education in America

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.