2024 Best High Schools in North Carolina

What High School Paths Does North Carolina Provide?

North Carolina offers a wide variety of high school options, with 1,066 schools in total, a whopping 119% more than the average state. Although the average school rating across the state is a B–, which is the same as the national average, 61% of North Carolina schools exceed the national average which is notable.

Breaking down these schools by type, 64% of high schools in North Carolina are public and they have an average rating of B. Among those 686 public schools, the vast majority are traditional schools (548). Of these traditional public schools, an impressive 64% earned a rating above the national average.

In addition to the traditional public schools, there are also 83 charter schools, which is 36% more than the average state per capita. 71% of those charter schools earned a rating above the national average. North Carolina is also ahead of the pack in terms of magnet schools, having 6 times more per capita than the average state. Of those 55 magnet schools, 85% of them earned above average marks.

North Carolina also offers a good selection of private schools, with a total of 347 (33% of all schools). Although the state has 23% fewer private schools than the average state per capita, the median rating is a B+, and 51% of these private schools sit above the national average. About 71% of the private schools are religiously affiliated, with Christian schools making up about 236 of them. Although the state rank of 36th in terms of religious schools per capita is below the national average, there are still 12 all-boys schools, and 9 all-girls schools, both of which are 6% and 32% less respectively than the average state per capita.

Finally, there are 12 online schools in North Carolina (1% of all schools), which is below the average state by 27%.