Catholic Schools in North Carolina

Best Catholic high schools in North Carolina

There is no official ranking of North Carolina's Catholic high schools. These are the schools families most often shortlist, grouped by metro. Use them to build a compare list — not as a quality ranking — then confirm each school's current entrance-exam policy.

How we ranked these schools

• Metro first — most families choose Charlotte/Huntersville or the Raleigh-Durham Triangle.
• School identity — large diocesan flagships (Charlotte Catholic, Cardinal Gibbons), a classical academy (St. Thomas More), and Cristo Rey's work-study model.
• Enrollment size — from Father Capodanno at about 40 students to Cardinal Gibbons at about 1,590 (NCES 2023-24).
• HSPT coverage — only Christ the King has a source-reviewed HSPT page in our directory; confirm every other school directly.

Charlotte metro

The Charlotte and Huntersville city pages are the usual starting points for western North Carolina families.

Raleigh and the Triangle

The Raleigh city page covers Cardinal Gibbons and St. Thomas More; Cristo Rey sits just west in Durham.

Bishop McGuinness (Kernersville), Fr. Price (Wilmington), and Canongate (Arden) also serve families but are not yet in this NCES-based directory. Confirm admissions details on each school's site, then compare on commute, size, and aid using the choosing guide.

North Carolina Catholic school overview

Schools

8 serving high-school grades

Cities

7 across North Carolina

Students listed

4,412 across 8 schools reporting enrollment

Average enrollment

552 students among schools with published NCES enrollment

Grade span

5 schools serve grades 9–12 only; 3 also span lower grades

Verified HSPT guides

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Looking for Catholic schools near you?

If your search was for catholic schools near me, start with our Catholic schools near me guide — it turns the search into a local shortlist: find your state, narrow to your metro, then compare the real schools in your commute on HSPT requirements, scholarships, cost, and fit. For North Carolina specifically, pick a city above for the local list, then open each school page to confirm HSPT dates and admissions deadlines.

Catholic high schools in the Charlotte metro

The Diocese of Charlotte’s flagship is Charlotte Catholic High School (about 1,330 students). Christ the King in Huntersville serves the northern suburbs and is the one North Carolina school with a source-reviewed HSPT page. The Mecklenburg Area Catholic Schools network (discovermacs.org) runs the area’s K-8 feeder schools.

Catholic high schools in Raleigh and the Triangle

Cardinal Gibbons is Raleigh’s diocesan high school and one of the state’s largest, with about 1,590 students in grades 9-12. St. Thomas More Academy is a smaller classical academy serving grades 6-11, and Cristo Rey Research Triangle in Durham runs a corporate work-study model where students earn part of their tuition through paid internships.

Catholic high schools in eastern and central North Carolina

East of the Triangle, the options are fewer. Pope John Paul II Catholic High School in Greenville serves the Pitt County area, Infant of Prague in Jacksonville is a parish school spanning PK-11, and Father Capodanno in Vass is a small high school in the Sandhills. Some of these schools operate within the Diocese of Raleigh and others independently, so check each one’s admissions page for entrance-test and application details.

How to compare Catholic high schools in North Carolina

Start with the schools you can actually reach. For most North Carolina families that means the Charlotte metro, the Triangle, or one or two schools in the eastern part of the state, and the differences that matter are the ones below.

• Commute and location - North Carolina’s Catholic high schools sit in two dioceses, and most families pick within commuting distance. The region lists above keep the realistic choice set visible.
• School identity - Charlotte Catholic is the large diocesan flagship, Cristo Rey Research Triangle runs the corporate work-study model, St. Thomas More is a small classical academy, and the rest are parish or independent schools. The differences show up in how each school talks about formation, service, and academics.
• Enrollment size - the high schools range from Father Capodanno at about 40 students to Cardinal Gibbons and Charlotte Catholic at 1,300 or more. Smaller schools usually mean smaller classes and fewer course and athletic offerings.
• Entrance-exam policy - policies vary by school and by year. Confirm which test each school uses, the date, and whether one sitting can be shared across the schools on your list.
• Tuition, aid, and scholarships - tuition varies across the state, most schools run financial aid, both dioceses administer tuition assistance, and HSPT scores sometimes factor into merit scholarship consideration.
• Programs and outcomes - AP and dual-credit offerings, arts, athletics, and college placement. Ask each school for its own profile rather than relying on a single ranking.

Admissions deadlines and HSPT dates are worth collecting early, since most North Carolina schools test in the fall and winter of 8th grade. Treat them as planning inputs, not reasons to pick one school over another: choose on fit, where your child will be comfortable, challenged, and known.

Best Catholic schools: how to choose — turn rankings into a real comparison: HSPT requirements, scholarships, cost, college outcomes, and fit.

Applying to a Catholic high school in North Carolina

Admission is a school-by-school process: each North Carolina Catholic high school sets its own application timeline, entrance test, and deadlines. Most applications open in the fall of 8th grade, with decisions in the winter and spring.

Start early enough to fit the entrance test into your plan: confirm each school’s test date first, then build prep around the earliest one.

A practical application timeline

1. Spring or summer before 8th grade: build a short list of schools within commuting distance and note each one’s entrance-exam policy.
2. Late summer to early fall: confirm application, transcript, recommendation, financial-aid, and scholarship deadlines for each school.
3. Fall: register for each school’s entrance test and begin prep, paced to the earliest test date.
4. Winter to spring: complete applications, submit aid paperwork, and follow up on admissions decisions.

The HSPT in North Carolina

North Carolina Catholic high schools set their own entrance-exam policy, and it varies by school and by application year. Christ the King in Huntersville is the one North Carolina school with a source-reviewed HSPT page. For every other school, treat the admissions office as the source of truth for the current cycle.

What to confirm with each school

Which entrance test the school uses (HSPT, ISEE, SSAT, or another), the test date and registration deadline, whether one sitting can be shared across schools in the same diocese, and whether scores factor into scholarship consideration.

North Carolina schools with verified HSPT information

HSPT prep guidance

The HSPT tests verbal and quantitative skills, reading comprehension, and language. These guides cover the exam, the scores, and how to build a prep plan.

Tuition and scholarships

Tuition varies by school and is set annually. Most North Carolina Catholic high schools run financial aid, both dioceses administer tuition assistance, and HSPT scores sometimes factor into merit scholarship consideration. Start with the HSPT scores and scholarships guide, then scholarships by city, and build a study plan around the earliest confirmed test date.

Planning a Catholic high school application in North Carolina

Entrance-test rules are set by the school or diocese and can differ even within the same city. Check each school’s admissions site before registering.

1. Confirm whether each school requires the HSPT or another entrance test for the current cycle.
2. Record application, transcript, recommendation, financial-aid, and scholarship deadlines separately.
3. Ask whether one HSPT sitting can be shared with other schools in the same diocese.
4. Compare the daily commute as well as tuition, aid, academic programs, and school size.

North Carolina Catholic high school admissions FAQ