Best Public Schools in Zip Code 27516

Summary:

The 27516 zip code area in North Carolina is home to 14 schools, including 6 elementary schools, 4 middle schools, 3 high schools, and 1 alternative school, all part of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools district, except for Margaret B. Pollard Middle which is part of the Chatham County Schools district.

Several schools in the area stand out for their exceptional performance. Smith Middle is ranked 67th out of 773 North Carolina middle schools and has a 5-star rating, with over 70% proficiency in math and reading. Morris Grove Elementary is ranked 67th out of 1,490 North Carolina elementary schools and also has a 5-star rating, with over 80% proficiency in math and reading. Seawell Elementary is ranked 145th out of 1,490 North Carolina elementary schools and has a 5-star rating, with exceptional test scores in 4th and 5th grade math and science.

In contrast, some schools in the area struggle, with proficiency rates often below 50%. The schools with the highest free/reduced lunch rates, Northside Elementary (55.9%) and Phoenix Academy High (85.71%), also have the lowest test scores, indicating disparities in resources and student outcomes. The Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools district as a whole is highly ranked, but there is a significant gap in performance between the top-performing and lower-performing schools within the district.

Choose columns to see: Summary School Students/Teachers Ranking Test Scores Finance All

School													Students/Teachers											Ranking (2025)				Ranking (2024)				EOC Biology (2025)	EOC English II (2025)	EOC Math I (2025)	EOC Math III (2025)	EOG Mathematics (2025)						EOG Reading (2025)						EOG Science (2025)		Per Pupil Expenditures (2019)
Name	Type	Grades	Address	City	Zip	County	District	Is Charter	Is Magnet	Is Virtual	Is Title I	Phone	Enrollment	Full-time Teachers	Student/ Teacher Ratio	Free/Discounted Lunch Recipients	White	Black	Hispanic	Asian	American Indian	Pacific Islander	Two or More Races	Average Standard Score (2025)	Statewide Rank (2025)	State Percentile (2025)	SchoolDigger Rating (2025)	Average Standard Score (2024)	Statewide Rank (2024)	State Percentile (2024)	Rank Change from Previous Year	EOC Biology End of Course	EOC English II End of Course	EOC Math I End of Course	EOC Math III End of Course	EOG Mathematics 3rd Grade	EOG Mathematics 4th Grade	EOG Mathematics 5th Grade	EOG Mathematics 6th Grade	EOG Mathematics 7th Grade	EOG Mathematics 8th Grade	EOG Reading 3rd Grade	EOG Reading 4th Grade	EOG Reading 5th Grade	EOG Reading 6th Grade	EOG Reading 7th Grade	EOG Reading 8th Grade	EOG Science 5th Grade	EOG Science 8th Grade	Per Pupil Expenditures Total	Sub-total from Federal Funds	Sub-total from State/Local Funds
Woods Charter	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	160 Woodland Grove Ln	Chapel Hill	27516	Chatham County	Woods Charter School	Yes	No	No	No	(919) 960-8353	515	54	9.4		365 (70.9%)	21 (4.1%)	59 (11.5%)	32 (6.2%)	2 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	36 (7.0%)								(n/a)	79.6	95.2	47.4	95.4	97.2	94.4	92.3	87.5	84.6	67.5	81.1	91.7	89.7	82.5	80.0	75.0	97.4	95.0
Chapel Hill High	Public	9-12	9217 Seawell School Rd	Chapel Hill	27516	Orange County	Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools	No	No	No	No	(919) 929-2106	1,608	101	15.9	22.2%	821 (51.1%)	174 (10.8%)	316 (19.7%)	190 (11.8%)	2 (0.1%)	0 (0.0%)	105 (6.5%)	75.3	154^th of 641 public high schools	76.0%		74	160^th of 640 public high schools	75.0%	6	80.4	80.9	38.6	74.7															$11,533	$502	$11,031
Seawell Elementary	Public	PK, KG-5	9115 Seawell School Rd	Chapel Hill	27516	Orange County	Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools	No	No	No	No	(919) 967-4343	416	34	12.4	30.0%	142 (34.1%)	55 (13.2%)	44 (10.6%)	136 (32.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	39 (9.4%)	86.9	145^th of 1490 public elementary schools	90.3%		90.7	104^th of 1505 public elementary schools	93.1%	41					55.2	78.9	85.7				60.3	80.0	81.9				90.5		$13,527	$419	$13,108
FPG Elementary	Public, Magnet	PK, KG-5	101 Smith Level Rd	Chapel Hill	27516	Orange County	Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools	No	Yes	No	Yes	(919) 942-6491	536	40	13.2	36.4%	206 (38.4%)	20 (3.7%)	275 (51.3%)	7 (1.3%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	27 (5.0%)	76	305^th of 1490 public elementary schools	79.5%		64	510^th of 1505 public elementary schools	66.1%	205					70.5	68.7	65.3				60.3	73.5	64.0				73.3		$11,908	$501	$11,407
Culbreth Middle	Public	6-8	225 Culbreth Rd	Chapel Hill	27516	Orange County	Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools	No	No	No	No	(919) 929-7161	632	52	12.0	33.9%	287 (45.4%)	69 (10.9%)	190 (30.1%)	29 (4.6%)	2 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	55 (8.7%)	70.3	198^th of 773 public middle schools	74.4%		69.8	210^th of 793 public middle schools	73.5%	12								67.7	57.0	63.8				60.0	54.1	63.8		71.5	$12,195	$336	$11,860
McDougle Middle	Public	6-8	900 Old Fayetteville Rd	Chapel Hill	27516	Orange County	Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools	No	No	No	No	(919) 933-1556	659	57	11.6	27.6%	359 (54.5%)	69 (10.5%)	167 (25.3%)	17 (2.6%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	47 (7.1%)	84.8	98^th of 773 public middle schools	87.3%		83	110^th of 793 public middle schools	86.1%	12								76.7	65.4	69.4				72.1	67.7	75.1		75.6	$13,223	$311	$12,913
McDougle Elementary	Public	PK, KG-5	890 Old Fayetteville Rd	Chapel Hill	27516	Orange County	Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(919) 969-2435	497	39	12.9	31.4%	281 (56.5%)	76 (15.3%)	90 (18.1%)	14 (2.8%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	36 (7.2%)	79.4	253^rd of 1490 public elementary schools	83.0%		85.6	170^th of 1505 public elementary schools	88.7%	83					75.0	71.6	76.8				56.5	71.6	67.4				71.6		$12,936	$505	$12,431
Scroggs Elementary	Public	PK, KG-5	501 Kildaire Rd	Chapel Hill	27516	Orange County	Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools	No	No	No	No	(919) 918-7165	410	34	12.0	30.0%	212 (51.7%)	58 (14.1%)	56 (13.7%)	55 (13.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	29 (7.1%)	74.5	325^th of 1490 public elementary schools	78.2%		86.1	167^th of 1505 public elementary schools	88.9%	158					66.2	72.0	70.3				58.8	69.3	67.2				67.2		$13,218	$771	$12,446
Smith Middle	Public	6-8	9201 Seawell School Rd	Chapel Hill	27516	Orange County	Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools	No	No	No	No	(919) 918-2145	763	56	13.6	22.4%	322 (42.2%)	104 (13.6%)	98 (12.8%)	170 (22.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	69 (9.0%)	88.3	67^th of 773 public middle schools	91.3%		89.4	68^th of 793 public middle schools	91.4%	1								73.4	71.7	75.0				75.5	73.5	75.3		78.6	$11,562	$338	$11,224
Morris Grove Elementary	Public	PK, KG-5	215 Eubanks Rd	Chapel Hill	27516	Orange County	Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools	No	No	No	No	(919) 918-4800	383	32	12.1	22.5%	211 (55.1%)	30 (7.8%)	54 (14.1%)	56 (14.6%)	2 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	30 (7.8%)	93.5	67^th of 1490 public elementary schools	95.5%		95.1	46^th of 1505 public elementary schools	96.9%	21					86.2	83.3	89.8				79.3	72.7	83.0				86.4		$12,863	$298	$12,565
Phoenix Academy High	Public	8-12	750 S Merritt Mill Rd	Chapel Hill	27516	Orange County	Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools	No	No	No	No	(919) 918-2300	27	10	2.7	88.9%	8 (29.6%)	8 (29.6%)	8 (29.6%)	1 (3.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (7.4%)	14.5	567^th of 641 public high schools	11.5%					(n/a)		50.0		7.7															$46,250	$370	$45,881
Northside Elementary	Public	PK, KG-5	350 Caldwell St	Chapel Hill	27516	Orange County	Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(919) 918-2220	412	32	12.9	52.9%	172 (41.7%)	110 (26.7%)	50 (12.1%)	51 (12.4%)	3 (0.7%)	0 (0.0%)	26 (6.3%)	46.8	808^th of 1490 public elementary schools	45.8%		38.6	961^st of 1505 public elementary schools	36.1%	153					64.5	51.3	53.8				56.5	51.3	51.3				53.8		$14,816	$528	$14,288
Margaret B. Pollard Middle	Public	6-8	185 Granite Mill Blvd.	Chapel Hill	27516	Chatham County	Chatham County Schools	No	No	No	No	(919) 969-0070	736	44	16.6	20.8%	479 (65.1%)	47 (6.4%)	133 (18.1%)	22 (3.0%)	3 (0.4%)	3 (0.4%)	49 (6.7%)	84.9	94^th of 773 public middle schools	87.8%		85.2	97^th of 793 public middle schools	87.8%	3								78.5	79.1	60.3				75.8	75.7	71.5		68.5	$8,507	$455	$8,052

Cities Near Zip Code 27516

City	Distance	# of Schools	Statewide Rank
Chapel Hill	1.41 mi	22	59^th
Carrboro	1.86 mi	3	103^rd
Pittsboro	6.96 mi	7	86^th
Durham	7.13 mi	73	322^nd
Hillsborough	7.94 mi	12	108^th

See the top NC North Carolina cities

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.

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMERS: Not all boundaries are included. We make every effort to ensure that boundaries are up-to-date. But it's important to note that these are approximations and are for general informational purposes only. To verify legal descriptions of boundaries or school locations, contact your local tax assessor's office and/or school district.