Schools in Zip Code 28345

ZIP code 28345 in Hamlet, North Carolina, is served by four public schools within Richmond County Schools — Fairview Heights Elementary, Monroe Avenue Elementary, Hamlet Middle, and Richmond Early College High — spanning grades PK through 12 with a combined enrollment of 1,584 students. The district itself ranks in the bottom quarter of North Carolina districts (188th of 246, 1 star), and all four schools serve an almost entirely low-income population, with free/reduced-price lunch eligibility ranging from 96.4% to 99.3%. Despite these shared demographics, academic outcomes vary dramatically within this small town.

Richmond Early College High is the clear standout: a 5-star school ranked 14th of 662 high schools statewide (98th percentile) in 2025-26, up from 28th two years earlier. Its End-of-Course proficiency is extraordinary — 100% in English II, 99.9% in Math III, and 98.6% in Biology — roughly 50 points above the district average in several subjects. This places the school in the top 2% of North Carolina high schools, a striking contrast to a district otherwise ranked in the bottom quarter.

The other three schools produce far more modest results. Hamlet Middle is the highest-ranked K–8 school at the 37th percentile (2 stars), but its reading scores are inconsistent and chronic absenteeism is 35.9% — the highest in the ZIP code, with roughly 1 in 3 students chronically absent. Among elementaries, Fairview Heights Elementary outperforms Monroe Avenue Elementary in reading (45.5% vs. 34.2%) and ranks at the 30th percentile statewide, while Monroe ranks at the 21st. Reading is the biggest area-wide weakness; Monroe's 3rd-grade reading proficiency is just 27.1% versus the state's 55.6%. By contrast, 5th-grade science is a relative strength, with both elementaries near or above the state average of 67.7%. Notably, spending and class size do not explain the pattern: the highest-spending school, Monroe, ranks lowest, while the high-achieving early college has the lowest per-student spending ($6,338) and the highest student-teacher ratio (37.8:1).