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There’s a new school at the top of the list for best public high school in the Triangle, according to the latest rankings from U.S. News & World Report.
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Wake STEM Early College High School in Cary dethroned Raleigh Charter High School as the top local school in U.S. News & World Report 2026-27 Best High Schools rankings released Tuesday. Five Triangle schools (Wake STEM, Raleigh Charter, Green Level High, Woods Charter and Green Hope High) were ranked among the top 500 public high schools nationally.
North Carolina had 13 of the nation’s top 500 high schools and 152 schools ranked in the top 25% nationally. North Carolina was ranked 24th nationally among the states for having a quarter of its high schools in the top 25%.
The Early College at Guilford in Greensboro continues to be ranked as the top public high school in North Carolina. It was ranked No. 26 nationally. In 2023, it was ranked as the nation’s top public high school.
Some highly specialized schools like the N.C. School of Science and Mathematics, which has campuses in Durham and Morganton, are not ranked by U.S. News. Last year, the public boarding school for academically gifted high school juniors and seniors was ranked as the top public high school in the nation by Niche.
U.S. News worked with RTP-based RTI International to rank nearly 18,000 public high schools based on college readiness, proficiency on state exams, performance on Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate exams, performance of underserved students, college curriculum breadth and graduation rates.
“Every student deserves a pathway to success, and that journey often begins with selecting the right school,” LaMont Jones, managing editor for education at U.S. News, said in a news release. “The 2026-2027 Best High Schools rankings empower families with the valuable data and transparency they need to help make the best educational choices for them. We are proud to offer this essential resource to help shape the next generation of college-ready students.”
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U.S. News has been rating high schools since 2007.
The rankings were based on data from the 2023-24 school year.
The top 10 schools in the Raleigh-Cary metro area (which includes Wake, Johnston and Franklin counties) are:
The top 10 schools in the Durham-Chapel Hill metro area (which includes Durham, Orange, Chatham, Granville and Person counties) are:
Charter schools make up 10 of the top 30 ranked high schools in the state. Charter schools also account for three of the top 10 schools in the Raleigh list and five of the top 10 in the Durham list.
Charter schools are taxpayer-funded schools that are exempt from some of the rules that traditional public schools must follow. For instance, they’re not required to provide school bus service or participate in the federal school lunch program.
They also have more flexibility in how they spend their money, don’t have to follow the school calendar law and don’t need all their teachers to be licensed.
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Read the full report at www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools.
News researcher David Raynor contributed