VISUALIZED AMERICAN
PUBLIC SCHOOLS
STATE-BY-STATE DATA
VISUALIZED AMERICAN PUBLIC SCHOOLS · NC

North Carolina Public Schools

The canvas comes first: every public school district in North Carolina, drawn from the federal boundary files. The data layers — enrollment change, funding, teachers, achievement — are built on top of this map, Missouri-style, in phases.

THE DISTRICT MAP

School district boundaries

Hover any district for its name. Boundaries are the 2024–25 school-year files from NCES EDGE / U.S. Census TIGER.

MAP IN PREPARATION
The North Carolina district boundary file hasn’t been generated yet.
Run scripts/make_boundaries.sh to rebuild boundaries/north-carolina.geojson, then redeploy.
Source: NCES EDGE Composite School District Boundaries, 2024–25 (via U.S. Census TIGER/Line). Unified school districts.

118 districts are drawn on this map.

A note about charter schools. Charter schools enroll about 10% of North Carolina’s public-school students, and they are not represented on this map. In North Carolina most charters are authorized by the state Charter Schools Review Board rather than by school districts: they operate outside the district system, are usually their own local education agency, and often enroll students across district lines. So this map describes North Carolina’s geographic district system — not its whole public-school population. That distinction matters here more than in most states, and it will matter for every data layer built on top of this map.
COMING NEXT

The Missouri playbook, applied to North Carolina

Each theme below becomes a page of interactive maps as North Carolina is built out. The national data backbone (NCES, Census F-33, SEDA, SAIPE) covers every theme; state-specific sources add depth.

ENROLLMENT & DEMOGRAPHICS
Who the schools serve
District-by-district enrollment change, student diversity, urban-to-rural patterns.
In development
FUNDING & FINANCE
What communities can raise
Per-pupil spending, local tax base, and the state's own funding formula pressure points.
In development
TEACHERS & ACHIEVEMENT
Classrooms and outcomes
Teacher workforce and pay, achievement vs. poverty, and pandemic recovery from SEDA.
In development