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
191	White Oak Elementary	Public	PK, KG-5	555 WB McLean Dr	Cape Carteret	28584	Carteret County	Carteret County Public Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(252) 393-3990	784	45	17.6	29.5%	677 (86.4%)	10 (1.3%)	44 (5.6%)	12 (1.5%)	2 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	39 (5.0%)	$8,636			$484			$8,153	84	84.1	185	6		370063000260
192	Barnardsville Elementary	Public	PK, KG-4	20 Hillcrest Drive	Barnardsville	28709	Buncombe County	Buncombe County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(828) 626-2290	125	11	10.9	97.6%	113 (90.4%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (4.8%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (4.8%)	$13,378			$1,474			$11,905	83.9	89.3	124	68		370045001003
193	Community School of Davidson	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	404 Armour Street	Davidson	28036	Mecklenburg County	Community School of Davidson	Yes	No	No	No	(704) 897-8061	1,631	87	18.7		1,263 (77.4%)	63 (3.9%)	151 (9.3%)	56 (3.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	98 (6.0%)								83.8	88.6	134	59		370013502736
194	Easley Elementary	Public, Magnet	PK, KG-5	302 Lebanon Circle	Durham	27712	Durham County	Durham Public Schools	No	Yes	No	No	(919) 560-3913	490	38	12.8	99.4%	202 (41.2%)	93 (19.0%)	153 (31.2%)	6 (1.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	36 (7.3%)	$12,062			$830			$11,231	83.5	87.3	148	46		370126002217
195	Jesse Wharton Elementary	Public	K-5	5813 Lake Brandt Road	Greensboro	27455	Guilford County	Guilford County Schools	No	No	No	No	(336) 545-3700	521	37	14.2	99.4%	265 (50.9%)	143 (27.4%)	53 (10.2%)	21 (4.0%)	2 (0.4%)	1 (0.2%)	36 (6.9%)	$9,913			$557			$9,357	83.5	79.3	252	57		370192000828
196	Chatham Charter	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	2200 Hamp Stone Rd	Siler City	27344	Chatham County	Chatham Charter	Yes	No	No	Yes	(919) 742-4550	591	42	14	29.4%	445 (75.3%)	57 (9.6%)	40 (6.8%)	6 (1.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	43 (7.3%)								83.4	71.5	376	180		370002002081
197	New Hope Elementary	Public	K-5	137 Stowe Road	Gastonia	28056	Gaston County	Gaston County Schools	No	No	No	No	(704) 836-9112	571	34	16.7	34.3%	405 (70.9%)	60 (10.5%)	59 (10.3%)	18 (3.2%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	28 (4.9%)	$8,471			$727			$7,744	83.4	86.8	155	42		370162000700
198	Kitty Hawk Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-5	16 Dogwood Trail	Kitty Hawk	27949	Dare County	Dare County Schools	No	No	No	No	(252) 261-2313	487	35	13.7	23.2%	423 (86.9%)	3 (0.6%)	33 (6.8%)	3 (0.6%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	24 (4.9%)	$11,885			$396			$11,489	83.3	78.9	258	60		370111000455
199	Mills River Elementary	Public	PK, KG-5	94 School House Road	Mills River	28759	Henderson County	Henderson County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(828) 891-6563	608	39	15.5	40.6%	497 (81.7%)	7 (1.2%)	76 (12.5%)	4 (0.7%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.3%)	22 (3.6%)	$9,074			$912			$8,162	83.2	82.7	208	9		370210000922
200	Holly Tree Elementary	Public	K-5	3020 Web Trace	Wilmington	28409	New Hanover County	New Hanover County Schools	No	No	No	No	(910) 790-2250	383	28	13.5	26.1%	289 (75.5%)	28 (7.3%)	44 (11.5%)	5 (1.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	17 (4.4%)	$10,025			$585			$9,440	83.2	86.9	152	48		370333002335

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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 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:

High school students working on a science experiment

Magnet Schools: Unleashing the Power of Education

Per-Pupil Spending: Understanding the Breakdown of Federal, State, and Local Funds

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.