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
501	Burton Elementary	Public, Magnet	PK, KG-5	1500 Mathison Avenue	Durham	27701	Durham County	Durham Public Schools	No	Yes	No	Yes	(919) 560-3908	293	27	10.7	99.0%	25 (8.5%)	136 (46.4%)	112 (38.2%)	3 (1.0%)	1 (0.3%)	1 (0.3%)	15 (5.1%)	$14,102			$1,610			$12,492	63.9	60.2	580	79		370126000308
502	Meadow School	Public	PK, KG-8	7507 NC Hwy 50 S	Benson	27504	Johnston County	Johnston County Public Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(919) 894-4226	646	43	15	98.3%	421 (65.2%)	22 (3.4%)	182 (28.2%)	3 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	17 (2.6%)	$10,525			$841			$9,683	63.7	72.6	363	139		370237001019
503	Royal Oaks Elementary	Public	K-8	608 Dakota Street	Kannapolis	28083	Cabarrus County	Cabarrus County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(704) 260-6310	661	44	14.8	99.5%	205 (31.0%)	258 (39.0%)	136 (20.6%)	7 (1.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	55 (8.3%)	$10,732			$1,643			$9,089	63.7	57.5	624	121		370053000217
504	Carthage Elementary	Public	PK, KG-5	312 Rockingham St	Carthage	28327	Moore County	Moore County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(910) 947-2781	350	22	15.5	99.1%	227 (64.9%)	40 (11.4%)	40 (11.4%)	5 (1.4%)	3 (0.9%)	2 (0.6%)	33 (9.4%)	$11,202			$879			$10,323	63.4	55.6	649	145		370309001317
505	W M Jenkins Elementary	Public	K-5	3750 N Center Street	Hickory	28601	Catawba County	Hickory City Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(828) 327-3491	276	18	15.4	98.9%	116 (42.0%)	35 (12.7%)	59 (21.4%)	18 (6.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	48 (17.4%)	$9,330			$894			$8,436	63.4	68.5	436	69		370219000945
506	Southwood Elementary	Public	PK, KG-5	5850 NC Hwy 8	Lexington	27292	Davidson County	Davidson County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(336) 357-2777	616	41	14.9	99.5%	426 (69.2%)	25 (4.1%)	116 (18.8%)	10 (1.6%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	39 (6.3%)	$8,958			$925			$8,033	63.3	65.2	486	20		370114002036
507	Banks Elementary	Public	PK, KG-5	2148 Falling Creek Rd	Kinston	28504	Lenoir County	Lenoir County Public Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(252) 527-9470	436	32	13.5	99.3%	167 (38.3%)	151 (34.6%)	87 (20.0%)	5 (1.1%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	25 (5.7%)	$9,503			$1,056			$8,446	63.3	45.2	830	323		370261001086
508	Charles H Tuttle Elementary	Public	K-6	2872 Water Plant Road	Maiden	28650	Catawba County	Catawba County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(828) 428-3080	368	22	16.8	99.2%	262 (71.2%)	4 (1.1%)	54 (14.7%)	25 (6.8%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	23 (6.3%)	$9,003			$737			$8,265	63.2	60.7	571	63		370069000279
509	Nashville Elementary	Public	K-5	209 East Virginia Avenue	Nashville	27856	Nash County	Nash County Public Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(252) 451-2877	593	30	19.7	99.5%	206 (34.7%)	285 (48.1%)	50 (8.4%)	6 (1.0%)	5 (0.8%)	0 (0.0%)	41 (6.9%)	$8,696			$1,010			$7,686	63.2	41.3	905	396		370327001349
510	North Brook Elementary	Public	PK, KG-5	642 Hwy 274	Vale	28168	Lincoln County	Lincoln County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(704) 276-2479	344	24	14.5	99.1%	296 (86.0%)	6 (1.7%)	23 (6.7%)	2 (0.6%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	16 (4.7%)	$9,492			$999			$8,493	63.1	64.5	495	15		370268002197

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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:

A high school boy doing homework on a laptop

Virtual Schools: The Future of Online Education

Public School Districts and Their Services: A Comprehensive Guide

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.