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 4, 2024.

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

School															Students/Teachers											Per Pupil Expenditures (2019)							Ranking (2024 vs 2023)
ID	Rank (of 640)	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 (2024)	Average Standard Score (2023)	Rank (2023)	Rank Change from 2023	SchoolDigger Rating (2024)
370472003226	241	Heritage High	Public	9-12	1150 Forestville Road	Wake Forest	27587	Wake County	Wake County Schools	No	No	No	No	(919) 570-5600	1,817	98	18.6	27.6%	988 (54.4%)	286 (15.7%)	387 (21.3%)	80 (4.4%)	2 (0.1%)	3 (0.2%)	71 (3.9%)	$8,792			$487			$8,305	58.9	64.8	194	47
370032203260	242	Bear Grass Charter School	Public, Charter	6-12	6344 E Bear Grass Rd	Williamston	27892	Dare County	Bear Grass Charter School	Yes	No	No	Yes	(252) 789-1010	451	31	14.5		409 (90.7%)	11 (2.4%)	13 (2.9%)	5 (1.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	13 (2.9%)								58.8	68.3	183	59
370035903337	243	Pioneer Springs Community School	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	9232 Bob Beatty Rd.	Charlotte	28269	Mecklenburg County	Pioneer Springs Community School	Yes	No	No	Yes	(704) 494-0777	567	46	12.3		353 (62.3%)	75 (13.2%)	75 (13.2%)	12 (2.1%)	5 (0.9%)	1 (0.2%)	46 (8.1%)								58.4			(n/a)
370378003100	244	Wheatmore High School	Public	9-12	3678 Finch Farm Rd	Trinity	27370	Randolph County	Randolph County School System	No	No	No	No	(336) 476-1500	660	39	16.8	46.1%	538 (81.5%)	21 (3.2%)	66 (10.0%)	7 (1.1%)	2 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	26 (3.9%)	$8,813			$788			$8,025	58.3	50.9	282	38
370069000282	245	Fred T Foard High	Public	9-12	3407 Plateau Road	Newton	28658	Catawba County	Catawba County Schools	No	No	No	No	(704) 462-1496	956	54	17.8	44.5%	696 (72.8%)	33 (3.5%)	105 (11.0%)	54 (5.6%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.2%)	66 (6.9%)	$8,769			$744			$8,025	57.9	56.3	252	7
370002902321	246	Summit Charter	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	370 Mitten Lane	Cashiers	28717	Jackson County	Summit Charter	Yes	No	No	Yes	(828) 743-5755	299	23	13		224 (74.9%)	0 (0.0%)	62 (20.7%)	1 (0.3%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	11 (3.7%)								57.6	28.1	451	205
370237003225	247	Corinth Holders High	Public	9-12	6875 Applewhite Rd	Wendell	27591	Wake County	Johnston County Public Schools	No	No	No	No	(919) 365-4306	2,270	109	20.9	32.4%	1,233 (54.3%)	389 (17.1%)	513 (22.6%)	28 (1.2%)	8 (0.4%)	2 (0.1%)	97 (4.3%)	$7,404			$393			$7,011	57.6	57.9	241	6
370192000774	248	Grimsley High	Public, Magnet	9-12	801 N Josephine Boyd St.	Greensboro	27408	Guilford County	Guilford County Schools	No	Yes	No	No	(336) 370-8180	1,929	101	19	47.8%	797 (41.3%)	737 (38.2%)	227 (11.8%)	71 (3.7%)	3 (0.2%)	3 (0.2%)	91 (4.7%)	$8,660			$655			$8,005	56.8	53.9	264	16
370342003388	249	Northampton Early College	Public	9-12	100 College Dr.	Weldon	27890	Halifax County	Northampton County Schools	No	No	No	No	(252) 585-1900	164	6	27.3	98.2%	7 (4.3%)	133 (81.1%)	12 (7.3%)	4 (2.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	8 (4.9%)	$11,161			$688			$10,474	56.6	60.7	221	28
370210000928	250	Hendersonville High	Public	9-12	1 Bearcat Boulevard	Hendersonville	28791	Henderson County	Henderson County Schools	No	No	No	No	(828) 697-4802	785	47	16.8	99.6%	471 (60.0%)	70 (8.9%)	181 (23.1%)	9 (1.1%)	1 (0.1%)	8 (1.0%)	45 (5.7%)	$8,966			$700			$8,266	56.4	62.3	213	37

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 4, 2024, 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:

Charter Schools vs Regular Public Schools: Understanding the Key Differences

Per-Pupil Spending: Understanding the Breakdown of Federal, State, and Local Funds

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.