Public school assignment in NC runs by district, and district lines don't always match town lines. Find the district for any town below, then use that district's own locator tool to confirm the exact schools for a specific address.
A note on how to use this page: town names are a starting point, not the final word. A handful of towns on this site (Angier and Broadway, flagged below) straddle a county line, so the same town can have addresses in two different districts. Always confirm the assigned schools for a specific address using the district's own tool, not by town name alone.
School count and enrollment figures below are from the federal NCES Common Core of Data, 2024-25 school year, the same source and year for all 9 districts, so they're a fair side-by-side comparison. These numbers shift year to year, so treat them as a general sense of scale rather than exact current figures.
Countywide, covers all of Wake County, and is the largest school district in North Carolina.
Programs: Multiple magnet schools, several year-round elementary and middle schools, and seven early college / leadership academies district-wide, including Wake Early College of Health and Science and Wake STEM Early College.
Countywide, covers all of Durham County.
Programs: Six magnet schools (including Durham School of the Arts and George Watts Montessori Magnet), two year-round elementary schools, and two early college programs (Middle College High School and Josephine Dobbs Clement Early College).
A city district covering Chapel Hill and Carrboro, the rest of Orange County is served by the separate Orange County Schools district below.
Programs: Spanish-English and Mandarin-English dual-language programs, career and technical education pathways, and a district-wide Academically/Intellectually Gifted (AIG) program.
Covers Hillsborough and the rest of Orange County outside the Chapel Hill-Carrboro city district above.
Programs: A year-round calendar option at Hillsborough Elementary and a global-studies focus at Efland-Cheeks Global Elementary, plus district-wide AVID, AP, and IB coursework.
Countywide, covers all of Franklin County.
Programs: Franklin County Early College High School, Louisburg Magnet High School, and a Spanish immersion dual-language program.
Countywide, covers all of Johnston County.
Programs: Johnston County Early College Academy, plus career and technical education pathways district-wide.
Countywide, covers all of Harnett County.
Programs: Harnett County Early College, a year-round calendar option at Lafayette Year Round School, and Harnett Virtual Academy for distance learning.
Countywide, covers all of Chatham County.
Programs: Chatham School of Science & Engineering, an early college program.
Countywide, covers all of Lee County.
Programs: Lee Early College (a 9-13 program) and more than 50 Career & College Promise dual-enrollment pathways through Central Carolina Community College.