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
221	Clover Garden	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	2454 Altamahaw Union Ridge Roa	Burlington	27217	Alamance County	Clover Garden	Yes	No	No	Yes	(336) 586-9440	963	48	20.1		763 (79.2%)	64 (6.6%)	67 (7.0%)	5 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.1%)	63 (6.5%)								61.8	68.3	193	28		370011602565
222	Pine Forest High	Public	9-12	525 Andrews Road	Fayetteville	28311	Cumberland County	Cumberland County Schools	No	No	No	No	(910) 488-2384	1,551	59	26.1	65.3%	344 (22.2%)	757 (48.8%)	253 (16.3%)	34 (2.2%)	12 (0.8%)	4 (0.3%)	147 (9.5%)	$8,296			$894			$7,402	61.8	54.8	263	41		370001100426
223	Grimsley High	Public, Magnet	9-12	801 N Josephine Boyd St.	Greensboro	27408	Guilford County	Guilford County Schools	No	Yes	No	No	(336) 370-8180	1,967	98	19.9	99.6%	830 (42.2%)	715 (36.3%)	246 (12.5%)	73 (3.7%)	5 (0.3%)	2 (0.1%)	96 (4.9%)	$8,660			$655			$8,005	61.8	56.8	248	25		370192000774
224	North East Carolina Prep	Public, Charter, Alternative	PK, KG-12	274 Husky Trail	Tarboro	27886	Edgecombe County	North East Carolina Preparatory School	Yes	No	No	Yes	(252) 641-0464	1,107	80	13.8	98.8%	530 (47.9%)	364 (32.9%)	150 (13.6%)	6 (0.5%)	2 (0.2%)	2 (0.2%)	53 (4.8%)								61.6	43.5	345	121		370032303256
225	East Surry High	Public	9-12	801 W Main Street	Pilot Mountain	27041	Surry County	Surry County Schools	No	No	No	No	(336) 368-2251	576	33	17.6	99.5%	467 (81.1%)	12 (2.1%)	71 (12.3%)	3 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	23 (4.0%)	$9,894			$884			$9,010	61.3	61.3	225			370441001748
226	Oak Grove High	Public	9-12	3507 Midway School Rd	Winston Salem	27107	Davidson County	Davidson County Schools	No	No	No	No	(336) 474-8280	992	53	18.8	34.0%	755 (76.1%)	47 (4.7%)	124 (12.5%)	10 (1.0%)	5 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	51 (5.1%)	$8,226			$493			$7,733	60.3	68.6	190	36		370114003389
227	Jackson Day School	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	1209 Little Rock Rd	Charlotte	28214	Mecklenburg County	Jackson Day School	Yes	No	No	Yes	(704) 391-5516	882	60	14.6		387 (43.9%)	279 (31.6%)	80 (9.1%)	34 (3.9%)	3 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	99 (11.2%)								59.9	50.6	295	68		370044103465
228	North Lincoln High	Public	9-12	2737 Lee Lawing Road	Lincolnton	28092	Lincoln County	Lincoln County Schools	No	No	No	No	(704) 736-1969	1,126	52	21.5	25.3%	921 (81.8%)	30 (2.7%)	120 (10.7%)	9 (0.8%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	46 (4.1%)	$7,071			$386			$6,685	59.6	69.3	184	44		370268002673
229	John T Hoggard High	Public	9-12	4305 Shipyard Blvd	Wilmington	28403	New Hanover County	New Hanover County Schools	No	No	No	No	(910) 350-2072	2,082	106	19.5	36.2%	1,358 (65.2%)	269 (12.9%)	315 (15.1%)	37 (1.8%)	4 (0.2%)	1 (0.0%)	98 (4.7%)	$8,673			$593			$8,080	59.6	66.3	198	31		370333001379
230	Cape Fear High	Public	9-12	4762 Clinton Road	Fayetteville	28312	Cumberland County	Cumberland County Schools	No	No	No	No	(910) 483-0191	1,515	65	23.2	55.1%	699 (46.1%)	406 (26.8%)	210 (13.9%)	19 (1.3%)	41 (2.7%)	7 (0.5%)	133 (8.8%)	$8,895			$990			$7,905	59.5	56.4	252	22		370001100402

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Other SchoolDigger ranking lists for North Carolina

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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 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:

Charter Schools vs Regular Public Schools: Understanding the Key Differences

A high school boy doing homework on a laptop

Virtual Schools: The Future of Online 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.