Carthage Central High School is located on a 123 acres (50 ha) site in a rural geographic area of northern New York State, 40 mi (64 km) from the Canada–United States border, 6 mi (9.7 km) south of Fort Drum, 15 mi (24 km) east of Watertown, and 90 mi (140 km) northeast of Syracuse. The high school serves the villages of Carthage, West Carthage, Black River, Great Bend, Felts Mills, Deferiet, Deer River, Herrings and Natural Bridge along with a portion of the housing at the Fort Drum Army base. The population within this area is approximately 22,000. The high school is on Route 26, 1.5 mi (2.4 km) east from the intersection of Route 26 and Route 126 in West Carthage and serves an area of about 260 sq mi (670 km2). It maintains a population of about 950 for grades 9-12.