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
331	C E Jordan High	Public	9-12	6806 Garrett Road	Durham	27707	Durham County	Durham Public Schools	No	No	No	No	(919) 560-3912	2,189	105	20.9	99.9%	628 (28.7%)	653 (29.8%)	660 (30.2%)	90 (4.1%)	3 (0.1%)	1 (0.0%)	154 (7.0%)	$9,868			$693			$9,175	45.9	37.9	387	56		370126000530
332	Wilkes Central High School	Public	9-12	1179 Moravian Falls Rd	Wilkesboro	28697	Wilkes County	Wilkes County Schools	No	No	No	No	(336) 667-5277	719	49	14.6	99.6%	365 (50.8%)	79 (11.0%)	191 (26.6%)	7 (1.0%)	3 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	74 (10.3%)	$9,054			$938			$8,116	45.9	30.9	442	110		370495001989
333	East Wilkes High School	Public	9-12	13315 Elkin Hwy 268	Ronda	28670	Wilkes County	Wilkes County Schools	No	No	No	No	(336) 651-7200	469	28	16.4	99.4%	407 (86.8%)	5 (1.1%)	30 (6.4%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	25 (5.3%)	$10,562			$769			$9,794	45.8	69.4	182	151		370495001974
334	Cape Hatteras Secondary School	Public	6-12	48576 Highway 12	Buxton	27920	Dare County	Dare County Schools	No	No	No	No	(252) 995-5730	364	23	16.1	99.2%	271 (74.5%)	0 (0.0%)	77 (21.2%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	15 (4.1%)	$16,457			$937			$15,520	45.5	31.3	437	103		370111000454
335	Western Guilford High	Public, Magnet	9-12	409 Friendway Road	Greensboro	27410	Guilford County	Guilford County Schools	No	Yes	No	No	(336) 316-5800	1,243	73	16.9	99.8%	241 (19.4%)	610 (49.1%)	267 (21.5%)	46 (3.7%)	2 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	77 (6.2%)	$8,638			$478			$8,159	45.4	32.3	425	90		370192000855
336	Washington Montessori	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	2330 Old Bath Hwy	Washington	27889	Beaufort County	Washington Montessori	Yes	No	No	No	(252) 946-1977	429	35	12.4		350 (81.6%)	14 (3.3%)	40 (9.3%)	3 (0.7%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	21 (4.9%)								45.3	42.3	356	20		370010102502
337	Stuart W Cramer High	Public	9-12	101 Lakewood Rd	Belmont	28012	Gaston County	Gaston County Schools	No	No	No	No	(704) 866-5700	953	53	17.8	99.7%	522 (54.8%)	193 (20.3%)	150 (15.7%)	27 (2.8%)	2 (0.2%)	2 (0.2%)	57 (6.0%)	$8,748			$608			$8,139	45.2	47.7	313	24		370162003246
338	Connect Academy	Public, Virtual, Alternative	K-12	272 Archie Rd	West End	27376	Moore County	Moore County Schools	No	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(910) 673-2004	283	14	20.6	34.6%	203 (71.7%)	35 (12.4%)	21 (7.4%)	3 (1.1%)	2 (0.7%)	0 (0.0%)	19 (6.7%)								45.1	44.8	334	4		370309003571
339	Sun Valley High	Public	9-12	5211 Old Charlotte Hwy	Monroe	28110	Union County	Union County Public Schools	No	No	No	No	(704) 296-3020	1,272	79	16.1	46.1%	589 (46.3%)	300 (23.6%)	289 (22.7%)	24 (1.9%)	1 (0.1%)	1 (0.1%)	68 (5.3%)	$8,375			$469			$7,906	45.1	42.6	352	13		370462001803
340	South Mecklenburg High School	Public, Magnet	9-12	8900 Park Rd	Charlotte	28210	Mecklenburg County	Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools	No	Yes	No	No	(980) 343-3600	2,534	142	17.7	46.8%	804 (31.7%)	521 (20.6%)	1,072 (42.3%)	63 (2.5%)	3 (0.1%)	0 (0.0%)	71 (2.8%)	$8,057			$412			$7,646	45	38.3	381	41		370297001274

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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:

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

No Child Left Behind (NCLB): A Comprehensive Analysis of Its Impact on 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.