21 public K-12 schools in Apex from NCES Common Core of Data: enrollment, grade span, demographics, and Civil Rights Data Collection statistics for every active campus.
National city placement
According to NCES CCD 2024-25, Apex has more public-school enrollment than 93% of the 4,487 US cities in this directory. Apex sits in the broad middle of the national city distribution rather than at a single obvious extreme. Its scale, average Resource Investment Index, and staffing position need to be read together: a middle placement on one measure does not cancel a stronger or weaker result on another. The percentile panel makes those dimensions explicit, and the school table shows where the city aggregate breaks into materially different campus profiles.
11 of Apex's 21 listed schools use NCES's combined or “other” grade-level classification. Citywide averages therefore blend campuses serving unusually broad or nonstandard grade spans with conventional elementary, middle, and high schools. Grade configuration is a first-order comparison here, not a minor label.
Apex's average Resource Investment Index sits at the 62nd percentile, while its teacher-staffing measure sits at the 26th percentile. The 36-point percentile gap is a reminder that the index is not a class-size score: counselors, gifted-program reporting, and attendance also affect it. Compare those components directly when two schools have similar index totals; the same headline score can arise from a different mix of reported resources.
Apex school enrollment ranges from 550 students (lowest) to 2,748 students (highest), a spread of 2,198 students. That relatively narrow ratio reflects an unusually homogeneous school portfolio for a city this size. Per-school staffing and program breadth can differ sharply at opposite ends of that enrollment range, so the city average should not be treated as a typical campus.
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
student-teacher ratio is the simplest comparative metric but it does not capture the full picture: the ratio counts FTE classroom teachers against total enrollment, push-in specialists, English-language aides, special-education co-teachers, and counselors are not included in most reporting Variation between sub-units within Apex is typically wider than the Apex-aggregate figure suggests.
| # | School | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Salem Middle | 51 |
| 2. | Lufkin Road Middle | 51 |
| 3. | Laurel Park Elementary | 51 |
| 4. | West Lake Elementary | 50 |
| 5. | Apex Friendship Middle | 49 |
| 6. | White Oak Elementary | 49 |
| 7. | Apex Middle | 48 |
| 8. | Olive Chapel Elementary | 47 |
| 9. | Baucom Elementary | 47 |
| 10. | Middle Creek Elementary | 47 |
| 11. | Oakview Elementary | 46 |
| 12. | Scotts Ridge Elementary | 46 |
| 13. | Apex Friendship High | 45 |
| 14. | West Lake Middle | 45 |
| 15. | Apex High | 42 |
| 16. | Salem Elementary | 42 |
| 17. | Apex Elementary | 41 |
| 18. | Middle Creek High | 39 |
| 19. | Peak Charter Academy | 38 |
| 20. | Apex Friendship Elementary | 36 |
| 21. | The Math and Science Academy of Apex | - |
Ranked by the Simpson student-body diversity index (0-100) from NCES race and ethnicity data, where higher means a more evenly mixed student body. It measures mix, not quality.
Salem Middle has the highest Resource Investment Index among the Apex schools in this federal-data comparison at 51/100. The index summarizes reported staffing, counseling, gifted-program, and attendance inputs; it is not an academic rating.
Apex has 21 public schools with a total enrollment of 22,032 students. 2 are charter schools. Average student-teacher ratio: 17.9:1.
Side-by-side: Compare any two schools or districts in North Carolina →
Data from NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) 2024-25 and Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) 2021-22. The Resource Investment Index uses reported student-teacher ratio, counselor access, gifted programs, and attendance; it is not an academic rating. Cities must include at least five schools to be listed. This public-data comparison is for informational purposes: verify current enrollment, attendance boundaries, and programs with the school district before acting. See the guide to understanding NCES data.
