These are the 10 best SC high schools in 2024, US News & World Report ranking shows

Patrick McCreless
·2 min read

South Carolina has plenty of high-performing high schools, but only 10 can be considered the best.

U.S. News & World Report recently unveiled its list of best high schools in South Carolina for 2024, one of which ranked seventh overall in the nation. The list was part of a greater ranking of 17,660 high schools in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Academic Magnet High School in North Charleston took the top spot in South Carolina for 2024 and was the only high school in the state to crack the top 10 in the U.S. at seventh place.

BASIS Peoria, a charter school in Arizona, was ranked the best high school in the U.S., jumping from 12th best last year. Looking at all ranked schools, 11.5% of high schools were charters and 4.4% were magnets, U.S. News says.

To rank the schools, U.S. News & World Report scored them on six factors: college readiness, state assessment proficiency, state assessment performance, underserved student performance, college curriculum breadth and graduation rate.

Below are the 10 best high schools in South Carolina out of 227 that were ranked. For the complete ranking of South Carolina high schools, click here.

#1 Academic Magnet High School

  • Location: North Charleston

  • Enrollment: 719

  • Student-teacher ratio: 17:1

  • National ranking: 7

#2 Aiken Scholars Academy

  • Location: Aiken

  • Enrollment: 182

  • Student-teacher ratio: 30:1

  • National ranking: 28

#3 Charleston School of the Arts

  • Location: North Charleston

  • Enrollment: 584

  • Student-teacher ratio: 15:1

  • National ranking: 234

#4 Palmetto Scholars Academy

  • Location: North Charleston

  • Enrollment: 282

  • Student-teacher ratio: 15:1

  • National ranking: 542

#5 Spring Hill High School

  • Location: Chapin

  • Enrollment: 1,089

  • Student-teacher ratio: 12:1

  • National ranking: 893

#6 Wando High School

  • Location: Mount Pleasant

  • Enrollment: 2,596

  • Student-teacher ratio: 17:1

  • National ranking: 936

#7 Fort Mill High School

  • Location: Fort Mill

  • Enrollment: 2,036

  • Student-teacher ratio: 15:1

  • National ranking: 1,041

#8 Mayo High for Math Science and Technology

  • Location: Darlington

  • Enrollment: 334

  • Student-teacher ratio: 15:1

  • National ranking: 1,230

#9 Chapin High School

  • Location: Chapin

  • Enrollment: 1,615

  • Student-teacher ratio: 16:1

  • National ranking: 1,304

#10 Wade Hampton High School

  • Location: Greenville

  • Enrollment: 1,831

  • Student-teacher ratio: 19:1

  • National ranking: 1,306

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