NORTH CAROLINA — Data compiler Niche has ranked North Carolina’s best school districts for the 2019-2020 school year. The rankings were released Monday as part of the website’s 2020 K-12 rankings.

Each North Carolina school district received a letter grade in the following categories: Academics; Diversity; Teachers; College Prep; Clubs & Activities; Health & Safety; Administration; Sports; Food; and Resources & Facilities.

To arrive at the rankings, Niche looked at data from the U.S. Department of Education as well as test scores, college data, and ratings collected from Niche users. (You can read more about the methodology here.)

The top-ranked school district in North Carolina is Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools. Niche gave the school system an A or an A+ in every category. Last year, Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools was also No. 1. (See last year’s list as a comparison: New Report On NC’s Best School Districts: How Mooresville Ranks)

Here the top 50 from the list of top school districts in North Carolina as ranked by Niche.com:

  1. Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools
  2. Polk County Schools
  3. Union County Public Schools
  4. Elkin City Schools
  5. Asheville City Schools
  6. Dare County Schools
  7. Carteret County Public Schools
  8. Mooresville Graded School District
  9. Wake County Schools
  10. Watauga County Schools
  11. Orange County Schools
  12. Mount Airy City Schools
  13. Newton Conover City Schools
  14. Henderson County Schools
  15. Davie County Schools
  16. Yancey County Schools
  17. Chatham County Schools
  18. New Hanover County Schools
  19. Lincoln County Schools
  20. Buncombe County Schools
  21. Surry County Schools
  22. Burke County Schools
  23. Moore County Schools
  24. Macon County Schools
  25. Winston Salem/Forsyth County Schools
  26. Cabarrus County Schools
  27. Cleveland County Schools
  28. Guilford County Schools
  29. Catawba County Schools
  30. Iredell-Statesville Schools
  31. Transylvania County Schools
  32. Graham County Schools
  33. Rutherford County Schools
  34. Ashe County Schools
  35. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools
  36. Swain County Schools
  37. Caldwell County Schools
  38. Johnston County Schools
  39. Jackson County Public Schools
  40. Pender County Schools
  41. Avery County Schools
  42. Davidson County Schools
  43. Wilkes County Schools
  44. Asheboro City Schools
  45. Jones County Schools
  46. Whiteville City Schools
  47. Yadkin County Schools
  48. Cherokee County Schools
  49. Craven County Schools
  50. Haywood County Schools

Niche looked at more than 94,000 public schools, 4,100 private schools and nearly 11,000 school districts across the country. The rankings are meant to help parents and students find schools that best fit their needs.

“Unlike traditional school rankings, which rely almost exclusively on test scores and academic performance, Niche’s rankings provide a real-life view of what it’s like to attend a given school,” the company said in a news release.

Comments from current students, alumni, and parents are included in the analysis, as well as observations about things like campus life, extracurricular activities, sports options, diversity, and programs for gifted and special needs students.

“Parents and students need more than test-score data,” Luke Skurman, CEO at Niche, said in the news release. “They need to understand what it’s really like to attend a school before they start the application or registration process.”