North Carolina school data rankings

Compare regular public school districts by one measure at a time, then inspect the underlying profile. Of 121 regular districts, 121 report 2024–25 enrollment and 119 match the FY 2023 finance file. Charter, service, specialized, and other agencies remain in the directory but are excluded from these unlike comparisons.

Explore and re-rank regular North Carolina districts

Search by district or city, then switch between enrollment, spending, instructional investment, and student–teacher ratio. Missing records are excluded only from the selected measure.

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Comparison measure

Showing 1–25 of 121 regular districts reporting enrollment. NCES CCD 2024–25.

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Districts ordered by the selected measure; positions describe data, not school quality
Position	District	City	Schools	Enrollment
1	Wake County Schools	Cary	202	163,325
2	Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools	Charlotte	185	147,299
3	Guilford County Schools	Greensboro	121	67,620
4	Winston Salem / Forsyth County Schools	Winston Salem	80	52,430
5	Cumberland County Schools	Fayetteville	86	49,002
6	Union County Public Schools	Monroe	52	41,404
7	Johnston County Public Schools	Smithfield	49	37,320
8	Cabarrus County Schools	Concord	43	35,772
9	Durham Public Schools	Durham	57	31,865
10	Gaston County Schools	Gastonia	56	30,995
11	Onslow County Schools	Jacksonville	40	27,551
12	New Hanover County Schools	Wilmington	42	25,155
13	Pitt County Schools	Greenville	40	24,470
14	Alamance-Burlington Schools	Burlington	38	22,661
15	Buncombe County Schools	Asheville	45	22,452
16	Public Schools of Robeson County	Lumberton	37	21,301
17	Iredell-Statesville Schools	Statesville	37	21,017
18	Harnett County Schools	Lillington	29	20,095
19	Davidson County Schools	Lexington	35	17,985
20	Rowan-Salisbury Schools	Salisbury	32	17,683
21	Wayne County Public Schools	Goldsboro	33	17,150
22	Catawba County Schools	Newton	28	16,003
23	Randolph County School System	Asheboro	31	14,994
24	Cleveland County Schools	Shelby	28	14,504
25	Brunswick County Schools	Bolivia	20	13,561

The first 25 reported enrollment records are shown. JavaScript enables filtering and additional pages. Browse the complete state directory.

Largest school districts in North Carolina

Ordered by 2024–25 reported membership. This is a scale comparison, not a quality ranking.

Rank	Name	Location	Students
1	Wake County Schools 202 schools	Cary	163,325
2	Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools 185 schools	Charlotte	147,299
3	Guilford County Schools 121 schools	Greensboro	67,620
4	Winston Salem / Forsyth County Schools 80 schools	Winston Salem	52,430
5	Cumberland County Schools 86 schools	Fayetteville	49,002
6	Union County Public Schools 52 schools	Monroe	41,404
7	Johnston County Public Schools 49 schools	Smithfield	37,320
8	Cabarrus County Schools 43 schools	Concord	35,772
9	Durham Public Schools 57 schools	Durham	31,865
10	Gaston County Schools 56 schools	Gastonia	30,995
11	Onslow County Schools 40 schools	Jacksonville	27,551
12	New Hanover County Schools 42 schools	Wilmington	25,155
13	Pitt County Schools 40 schools	Greenville	24,470
14	Alamance-Burlington Schools 38 schools	Burlington	22,661
15	Buncombe County Schools 45 schools	Asheville	22,452
16	Public Schools of Robeson County 37 schools	Lumberton	21,301
17	Iredell-Statesville Schools 37 schools	Statesville	21,017
18	Harnett County Schools 29 schools	Lillington	20,095
19	Davidson County Schools 35 schools	Lexington	17,985
20	Rowan-Salisbury Schools 32 schools	Salisbury	17,683
21	Wayne County Public Schools 33 schools	Goldsboro	17,150
22	Catawba County Schools 28 schools	Newton	16,003
23	Randolph County School System 31 schools	Asheboro	14,994
24	Cleveland County Schools 28 schools	Shelby	14,504
25	Brunswick County Schools 20 schools	Bolivia	13,561

Source: NCES CCD LEA Membership, 2024–25.

Highest spending per pupil in North Carolina

Ordered by FY 2023 current expenditure per pupil among districts with at least 200 students. District responsibilities and local costs differ.

Rank	Name	Location	Per pupil
1	Hyde County Schools 485 students	Swan Quarter	$25,648
2	Weldon City Schools 664 students	Weldon	$24,869
3	Tyrrell County Schools 462 students	Columbia	$23,232
4	Northampton County Schools 1,251 students	Jackson	$20,303
5	Appalachian State U Academy Middle Fork 295 students	Walkertown	$18,000
6	Pamlico County Schools 1,130 students	Bayboro	$17,517
7	Warren County Schools 1,547 students	Warrenton	$17,499
8	Washington County Schools 1,024 students	Plymouth	$17,309
9	Jones County Schools 1,016 students	Trenton	$17,058
10	Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools 11,353 students	Chapel Hill	$16,963
11	Halifax County Schools 2,150 students	Halifax	$16,927
12	Bertie County Schools 1,708 students	Windsor	$16,650
13	Graham County Schools 1,096 students	Robbinsville	$16,628
14	Asheville City Schools 3,960 students	Asheville	$16,507
15	Hertford County Schools 2,367 students	Winton	$16,424
16	Bladen County Schools 3,928 students	Elizabethtown	$16,306
17	Greene County Schools 2,863 students	Snow Hill	$16,157
18	Anson County Schools 2,924 students	Wadesboro	$16,070
19	Gates County Schools 1,410 students	Gatesville	$15,749
20	Avery County Schools 1,782 students	Newland	$15,513
21	Martin County Schools 2,647 students	Williamston	$15,333
22	Durham Public Schools 31,865 students	Durham	$15,239
23	Madison County Schools 2,063 students	Marshall	$15,167
24	Polk County Schools 2,110 students	Columbus	$15,041
25	Edenton-Chowan Schools 1,767 students	Edenton	$15,037

Source: NCES School District Finance Survey (F-33), FY 2023. Resource measure only.

North Carolina high schools with broad reported program access

Counts AP student enrollment, gifted programming, and computer-science classes reported in CRDC. This does not measure course quality, participation rates, or current availability.

Rank	Name	Location	Positive fields
1	Enloe High 09–12 · 35 AP courses	Wake County Schools	3 of 3
2	Ronald W Reagan High School 09–12 · 32 AP courses	Winston Salem / Forsyth County Schools	3 of 3
3	R J Reynolds High 09–12 · 32 AP courses	Winston Salem / Forsyth County Schools	3 of 3
4	Chapel Hill High 09–12 · 32 AP courses	Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools	3 of 3
5	East Chapel Hill High 09–12 · 32 AP courses	Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools	3 of 3
6	Atkins Academic & Tech High 09–12 · 32 AP courses	Winston Salem / Forsyth County Schools	3 of 3
7	Providence High School 09–12 · 30 AP courses	Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools	3 of 3
8	West Forsyth High 09–12 · 30 AP courses	Winston Salem / Forsyth County Schools	3 of 3
9	Ardrey Kell High School 09–12 · 28 AP courses	Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools	3 of 3
10	South Mecklenburg High School 09–12 · 28 AP courses	Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools	3 of 3
11	Carrboro High 09–12 · 28 AP courses	Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools	3 of 3
12	Mount Tabor High School 09–12 · 27 AP courses	Winston Salem / Forsyth County Schools	3 of 3
13	Myers Park High School 09–12 · 26 AP courses	Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools	3 of 3
14	Panther Creek High 09–12 · 26 AP courses	Wake County Schools	3 of 3
15	Green Hope High 09–12 · 26 AP courses	Wake County Schools	3 of 3
16	Northwest Guilford High 09–12 · 26 AP courses	Guilford County Schools	3 of 3
17	Junius H Rose High 09–12 · 26 AP courses	Pitt County Schools	3 of 3
18	Apex Friendship High 09–12 · 25 AP courses	Wake County Schools	3 of 3
19	William Amos Hough High 09–12 · 25 AP courses	Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools	3 of 3
20	Apex High 09–12 · 25 AP courses	Wake County Schools	3 of 3
21	Pinecrest High 09–13 · 24 AP courses	Moore County Schools	3 of 3
22	Mallard Creek High School 09–12 · 24 AP courses	Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools	3 of 3
23	Marvin Ridge High 09–12 · 24 AP courses	Union County Public Schools	3 of 3
24	Riverside High 09–12 · 24 AP courses	Durham Public Schools	3 of 3
25	Weddington High 09–12 · 23 AP courses	Union County Public Schools	3 of 3

Source: CRDC 2021–22. At least two program fields must be known for inclusion.