Carolina Beach Elementary

Carolina Beach Elementary is a K-5 school of low-enrollment scale in Carolina Beach, North Carolina, one of the schools within New Hanover County Schools, teacheing 383 students in grades K through 5.

Carolina Beach Elementary is one of 42 schools operated by New Hanover County Schools, a district that educates 24,791 students overall.

Looking at the student body, Carolina Beach Elementary lists that nearly all students (91%) are White. Beyond that, the school records 5% Hispanic, 2% multiracial. The wider county runs roughly 77% White, putting the school's mix visibly more White than the area baseline.

On the income-and-resources front, Carolina Beach Elementary shows 27 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 14.2:1. That tracks the state average closely. About 33% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. Set against New Hanover County (around 67%), the school's rate is somewhat below typical.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, Carolina Beach Elementary performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 68.6%, the actual is 80.4%, a residual of +11.8 points.

In the surrounding community, the surrounding county (New Hanover County) shows that the typical household earns roughly $75,166 per year, 45% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and roughly 8% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Carolina Beach Elementary is one of 50 public schools in New Hanover County (combined enrollment of about 27,460 students).

Edwin An Anderson Elementary is the nearest neighboring public school, about 4.7 miles from this campus. 3 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. Among the 8 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Carolina Beach Elementary ranks 1st on composite proficiency, higher than the local average of 62.2%.

The school occupies an outer-ring site.

Trend over the last 7 years. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Carolina Beach Elementary has declined 16%, going from 456 students in 2018 to 383 in 2025. The student-to-teacher ratio narrowed from 16.7:1 in 2018 to 14.2:1 today.

On the community side, the feed for Carolina Beach Elementary typically covers science fair prep, picture-day reminders, and bus-route questions. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.