Best High Schools in North Carolina

A teacher and two students give a thumbs-up in a classroom.

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.

Be the first to know when we post new test scores and rankings!

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
541	Erwin High	Public	9-12	60 Lees Creek Road	Asheville	28806	Buncombe County	Buncombe County Schools	No	No	No	No	(828) 232-4251	1,013	69	14.6	99.7%	481 (47.5%)	94 (9.3%)	359 (35.4%)	4 (0.4%)	5 (0.5%)	23 (2.3%)	47 (4.6%)	$10,603			$744			$9,859	17.7	19.8	516	25		370045000143
542	West Caldwell High	Public	9-12	300 W Caldwell Drive	Lenoir	28645	Caldwell County	Caldwell County Schools	No	No	No	No	(828) 758-5583	634	36	17.7	98.7%	364 (57.4%)	63 (9.9%)	147 (23.2%)	4 (0.6%)	1 (0.2%)	1 (0.2%)	54 (8.5%)	$11,229			$831			$10,398	17.6	17.9	529	13		370058000241
543	Mattamuskeet School	Public, Alternative	PK, KG-12	60 Juniper Bay Road	Swanquarter	27885	Hyde County	Hyde County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(252) 926-0221	299	17	17.7	99.0%	148 (49.5%)	90 (30.1%)	46 (15.4%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	14 (4.7%)	$17,035			$2,169			$14,866	17.6	5.1	618	75		370228002460
544	Granville Academy	Public, Virtual, Alternative	K-12	200 Taylor St	Oxford	27565	Granville County	Granville County Schools	No	No	Yes	No	(919) 693-3914	207	11	18.5	98.6%	132 (63.8%)	41 (19.8%)	20 (9.7%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.5%)	1 (0.5%)	12 (5.8%)	$7,924			$156			$7,768	17.3	29.1	460	84		370180003483
545	Ben L. Smith High School	Public	9-12	2407 South Holden Road	Greensboro	27407	Guilford County	Guilford County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(336) 294-7300	1,348	83	16.1	99.8%	57 (4.2%)	657 (48.7%)	498 (36.9%)	87 (6.5%)	7 (0.5%)	7 (0.5%)	35 (2.6%)	$10,645			$1,589			$9,057	17.3	16.7	540	5		370192000798
546	Valor Preparatory Academy	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	355 Poplar Crossing Dr NW	Concord	28027	Cabarrus County	Valor Preparatory Academy	Yes	No	No	Yes	(704) 789-2500	608	26	23	77.3%	105 (17.3%)	321 (52.8%)	93 (15.3%)	16 (2.6%)	7 (1.2%)	0 (0.0%)	66 (10.9%)								17	20	514	32		370034703281
547	Hertford County High	Public	9-12	1500 W First St	Ahoskie	27910	Hertford County	Hertford County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(252) 332-4096	447	31	14.3	99.3%	27 (6.0%)	374 (83.7%)	29 (6.5%)	1 (0.2%)	1 (0.2%)	1 (0.2%)	14 (3.1%)	$12,418			$1,659			$10,759	17	17.7	533	14		370216002208
548	Walkertown High	Public	9-12	5240 Sullivantown Road	Walkertown	27051	Forsyth County	Winston Salem / Forsyth County Schools	No	No	No	No	(336) 703-4151	662	47	13.9	99.5%	281 (42.4%)	173 (26.1%)	169 (25.5%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	38 (5.7%)	$10,875			$1,189			$9,686	17	16.5	542	6		370150003194
549	Montgomery Central High	Public	9-12	770 Timberwolf Drive	Troy	27371	Montgomery County	Montgomery County Schools	No	No	No	No	(910) 556-5500	846	46	18.3	99.3%	327 (38.7%)	165 (19.5%)	306 (36.2%)	12 (1.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	36 (4.3%)								16.8	18.6	526	23		370306003515
550	Craven Virtual Academy	Public, Virtual, Alternative	4-12	3600 Trent Rd	New Bern	28562	Craven County	Craven County Board of Education	No	No	Yes	No	(252) 514-6353	117			50.4%	70 (59.8%)	22 (18.8%)	15 (12.8%)	1 (0.9%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	9 (7.7%)								16.8	23.2	495	55		370331003588

Sign up for updates!

Be the first to know when we update our rankings!

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 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:

High school students working on a science experiment

Magnet Schools: Unleashing the Power of Education

Charter Schools vs Regular Public Schools: Understanding the Key Differences

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.