Best Schools in Cary, North Carolina

Cary's public school landscape is substantial and consistently strong. The city has 32 ranked public schools, spanning elementary through high school, giving families a wide range of options within a single mid-sized suburban city. The average school score across all ranked schools is 6.8 out of 10 — a figure that sits comfortably above what most comparable suburban markets deliver. Eleven schools, or 34% of the total, score 7 or higher, meaning high-performing options are genuinely plentiful rather than concentrated in one corner of the city.

Elementary schools anchor Cary's strongest performers. Hortons Creek Elementary leads all 32 ranked schools with a score of 8.8 out of 10, the highest in the city. Kingswood Elementary follows at 8.6, and Farmington Woods Elementary and Cary Elementary round out a cluster of top-rated elementary campuses. At the middle school level, East Cary Middle scores 8.5 out of 10, matching Farmington Woods and signaling that academic quality doesn't drop off as students advance. Parents with children at multiple grade levels will find strong options across elementary and middle tiers without having to compromise.

Practically speaking, Cary's 6.8 average means even schools outside the top tier offer a solid baseline. Families who don't land in a top-10 feeder zone are unlikely to face a dramatic quality gap. That said, the gap between the city average and the top schools — nearly two full points — is real, so assignment zone matters for parents prioritizing the highest-rated campuses. Hortons Creek, Kingswood, and Farmington Woods are worth mapping against your home address early in the search process.

For parents relocating to the Raleigh-Durham metro, Cary is one of the more consistent bets in the region. The combination of 32 ranked schools, a strong average, and a deep bench of 7-plus scorers means competition for top-zone housing is real — but so is the payoff. Research school zones before committing to a neighborhood, and use specific school scores rather than district-level reputation to guide your comparisons.