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)
370264001102	481	Lexington Senior High School	Public	9-12	26 Penry Street	Lexington	27292	Davidson County	Lexington City Schools	No	No	No	No	(336) 242-1574	929	53	17.6	99.7%	156 (16.8%)	284 (30.6%)	341 (36.7%)	46 (5.0%)	4 (0.4%)	3 (0.3%)	95 (10.2%)	$10,435			$1,128			$9,307	25.3	28.2	449	32
370001100436	482	South View High	Public	9-12	4184 Elk Road	Hope Mills	28348	Cumberland County	Cumberland County Schools	No	No	No	No	(910) 425-8181	1,451	84	17.2	71.5%	307 (21.2%)	701 (48.3%)	255 (17.6%)	17 (1.2%)	29 (2.0%)	6 (0.4%)	136 (9.4%)	$8,362			$862			$7,499	25.3	27.6	457	25
370297001255	483	Olympic High School	Public	9-12	4301 Sandy Porter Rd	Charlotte	28273	Mecklenburg County	Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools	No	No	No	No	(980) 343-3800	1,500	89	16.9	64.9%	89 (5.9%)	615 (41.0%)	684 (45.6%)	72 (4.8%)	1 (0.1%)	1 (0.1%)	38 (2.5%)	$8,149			$512			$7,637	25.2	21.1	504	21
370126002292	484	Riverside High	Public	9-12	3218 Rose of Sharon Road	Durham	27712	Durham County	Durham Public Schools	No	No	No	No	(919) 560-3965	1,851	102	18.1	53.5%	481 (26.0%)	508 (27.4%)	728 (39.3%)	41 (2.2%)	5 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	88 (4.8%)	$10,389			$739			$9,651	25	31.1	427	57
370001100400	485	Douglas Byrd High	Public	9-12	1624 Ireland Drive	Fayetteville	28304	Cumberland County	Cumberland County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(910) 484-8121	1,002	65	15.3	98.3%	136 (13.6%)	517 (51.6%)	215 (21.5%)	9 (0.9%)	21 (2.1%)	8 (0.8%)	96 (9.6%)	$10,626			$1,758			$8,868	25	28.3	445	40
370444001763	486	Swain County High School	Public	9-12	1415 Fontana Road	Bryson City	28713	Swain County	Swain County Schools	No	No	No	No	(828) 488-2152	559	41	13.4	99.5%	367 (65.7%)	2 (0.4%)	36 (6.4%)	3 (0.5%)	111 (19.9%)	0 (0.0%)	40 (7.2%)	$12,889			$1,251			$11,638	24.9	35.7	391	95
370405002882	487	Carson High	Public	9-12	290 Kress Venture Dr	China Grove	28023	Rowan County	Rowan-Salisbury Schools	No	No	No	No	(704) 855-7297	1,135	61	18.7	98.0%	749 (66.0%)	76 (6.7%)	248 (21.9%)	10 (0.9%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	52 (4.6%)	$8,570			$767			$7,803	24.8	25.8	470	17
370003000202	488	Hugh M Cummings High	Public	9-12	2200 N Mebane Street	Burlington	27217	Alamance County	Alamance-Burlington Schools	No	No	No	No	(336) 570-6100	813	47	17.3	99.6%	48 (5.9%)	248 (30.5%)	480 (59.0%)	2 (0.2%)	2 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	33 (4.1%)	$9,437			$1,037			$8,400	24.3	18.2	521	33
370234003104	489	Blue Ridge Early College	Public	7-12	95 Bobcat Dr	Cashiers	28717	Jackson County	Jackson County Public Schools	No	No	No	No	(828) 743-2646	136	13	10.8	97.8%	74 (54.4%)	0 (0.0%)	60 (44.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (1.5%)	$11,670			$875			$10,794	24.2	32.3	413	76
370180003385	490	South Granville High	Public	9-12	701 N Crescent Dr	Creedmoor	27522	Granville County	Granville County Schools	No	No	No	No	(919) 528-5533	720	42	17	49.7%	343 (47.6%)	186 (25.8%)	140 (19.4%)	6 (0.8%)	2 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	43 (6.0%)	$8,664			$442			$8,222	24.1	28.1	450	40

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:

Alternative Schools vs Public Schools: A Comparison

Student-Teacher Ratios and their Impact on Class Sizes & School Selection

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.