33 public K-12 schools in Cary 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, Cary has more public-school enrollment than 96% of the 4,487 US cities in this directory. Cary's average Resource Investment Index ranks above most listed cities even though its student-teacher ratio is on the more crowded side of the national city distribution. That is a useful mismatch, not a contradiction: counselor access, gifted programs, and attendance can lift the composite while classroom staffing remains comparatively tight. Families should inspect the component scores on each school profile instead of reading the city index as a shorthand for small classes.
15 of Cary's 33 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.
Cary's average Resource Investment Index sits at the 79th percentile, while its teacher-staffing measure sits at the 31st percentile. The 48-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.
Cary school enrollment ranges from 8 students (lowest) to 2,609 students (highest), a spread of 2,601 students. That ratio is an extreme outlier spread — among the widest gaps observed anywhere in this dataset. 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 Cary is typically wider than the Cary-aggregate figure suggests.
| # | School | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Connections Academy | 64 |
| 2. | Mills Park Elementary | 59 |
| 3. | Wake Stem Early College High School | 56 |
| 4. | Score Academy | 55 |
| 5. | West Cary Middle | 54 |
| 6. | Highcroft Elementary | 54 |
| 7. | Crossroads Flex | 54 |
| 8. | Davis Drive Middle | 53 |
| 9. | Hortons Creek Elementary | 53 |
| 10. | Briarcliff Elementary | 53 |
| 11. | Mills Park Middle | 52 |
| 12. | Reedy Creek Middle | 52 |
| 13. | Northwoods Elementary | 51 |
| 14. | Davis Drive Elementary | 50 |
| 15. | Farmington Woods Elementary | 49 |
| 16. | Cardinal Charter Academy | 49 |
| 17. | Green Hope Elementary | 49 |
| 18. | Cary High | 45 |
| 19. | Alston Ridge Elementary | 45 |
| 20. | East Cary Middle | 45 |
| 21. | Green Level High | 44 |
| 22. | Weatherstone Elementary | 44 |
| 23. | Kingswood Elementary | 44 |
| 24. | Panther Creek High | 43 |
| 25. | Alston Ridge Middle | 43 |
| 26. | Green Hope High | 41 |
| 27. | Cary Elementary | 41 |
| 28. | Turner Creek Elementary | 39 |
| 29. | Reedy Creek Elementary | 39 |
| 30. | Carpenter Elementary | 38 |
| 31. | Penny Road Elementary | 38 |
| 32. | Adams Elementary | 37 |
| 33. | Triangle Math and Science Academy | 27 |
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.
Connections Academy has the highest Resource Investment Index among the Cary schools in this federal-data comparison at 64/100. The index summarizes reported staffing, counseling, gifted-program, and attendance inputs; it is not an academic rating.
Cary has 33 public schools with a total enrollment of 29,745 students. 2 are charter schools. Average student-teacher ratio: 17.3:1.
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.
