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
601	Harding University High School	Public, Magnet	9-12	2001 Alleghany St	Charlotte	28208	Mecklenburg County	Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools	No	Yes	No	Yes	(980) 343-6007	1,204	71	16.9	99.8%	20 (1.7%)	799 (66.4%)	315 (26.2%)	38 (3.2%)	2 (0.2%)	2 (0.2%)	28 (2.3%)	$10,138			$983			$9,155	9.2	10.4	589	12		370297001221
602	SouthWest Edgecombe High	Public	9-12	5912 NC 43 North	Pinetops	27864	Edgecombe County	Edgecombe County Public Schools	No	No	No	No	(252) 827-5016	798	36	22	99.5%	208 (26.1%)	449 (56.3%)	101 (12.7%)	1 (0.1%)	2 (0.3%)	1 (0.1%)	36 (4.5%)	$9,044			$1,025			$8,019	9	12	576	26		370132000559
603	Carver High	Public	9-12	3545 Carver School Road	Winston Salem	27105	Forsyth County	Winston Salem / Forsyth County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(336) 727-2987	728	49	14.8	99.6%	23 (3.2%)	402 (55.2%)	280 (38.5%)	2 (0.3%)	1 (0.1%)	0 (0.0%)	20 (2.7%)	$15,235			$2,941			$12,294	9	9	597	6		370150000592
604	Kinston High	Public	9-12	2601 N Queen St	Kinston	28501	Lenoir County	Lenoir County Public Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(252) 527-8067	659	41	16	99.1%	16 (2.4%)	573 (86.9%)	33 (5.0%)	8 (1.2%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.3%)	27 (4.1%)	$10,743			$1,412			$9,331	8.7	10.7	588	16		370261000585
605	The Oaks Academy	Public	6-12	The Oaks Academy	Murphy	28906	Cherokee County	Cherokee County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(828) 837-6775	43	6	7.4	79.1%	39 (90.7%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (4.7%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (2.3%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (2.3%)	$16,426			$280			$16,146	8.2			(n/a)		370078002082
606	Ramsey Street High	Public	9-12	117 Quincy St	Fayetteville	28301	Cumberland County	Cumberland County Schools	No	No	No	No	(910) 437-5829	39	9	4.3	56.4%	6 (15.4%)	26 (66.7%)	1 (2.6%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (5.1%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (10.3%)	$25,524			$4,088			$21,436	8.1	2	632	26		370001102136
607	Weldon STEM High School Career Academies	Public	9-12	4489 Highway 301	Halifax	27839	Halifax County	Weldon City Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(252) 536-4829	145	12	11.7	97.9%	0 (0.0%)	143 (98.6%)	1 (0.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.7%)	$18,405			$2,475			$15,931	7.7	9.6	595	12		370489003262
608	Northwest Halifax Collegiate and Technic	Public	9-12	8492 Hwy 48	Littleton	27850	Halifax County	Halifax County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(252) 586-4125	321	13	24.5	99.1%	11 (3.4%)	247 (76.9%)	8 (2.5%)	0 (0.0%)	34 (10.6%)	1 (0.3%)	20 (6.2%)	$15,602			$2,497			$13,105	7.2	7.4	610	2		370195000866
609	ONE Academy	Public	6-12	501 Martin Luther King Jr Blvd	Siler City	27344	Chatham County	Chatham County Schools	No	No	No	No	(919) 663-5899	35	5	7	91.4%	13 (37.1%)	14 (40.0%)	2 (5.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (17.1%)	$98,377			$6,717			$91,661	7			(n/a)		370075002079
610	Eastern Randolph High School	Public	9-12	390 Eastern Randolph Rd	Ramseur	27316	Randolph County	Randolph County School System	No	No	No	No	(336) 824-2351	586	36	16	99.3%	291 (49.7%)	57 (9.7%)	195 (33.3%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	42 (7.2%)	$10,181			$839			$9,342	6.9	10.2	590	20		370378001519

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Other SchoolDigger ranking lists for North Carolina

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New! SchoolDigger ranking lists for NC student subgroups:

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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:

A high school boy doing homework on a laptop

Virtual Schools: The Future of Online Education

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.