The 10 Best College Towns In North Carolina For 2024

Believe it or not, America has the best colleges in the world. It's been proven by data (and surveys) that the U.S. educational system is of the highest quality

It's actually not even close and North Carolina is home to a handful of them.

While we could debate which colleges within North Carolina are the 'best,' that's not the goal of this post.

Instead, ride along with us as we determine which college towns in North Carolina are the best.

You know, the type of places where there's energy and stimulation, but the type of place you can walk around at night. The happiest, chillest, most downright fun places where you can send your kids off to college where you won't break the bank, or worry about their well being.

The 10 Best College Towns In North Carolina For 2024

1. Chapel Hill, NC
2. Boone, NC
3. Raleigh, NC
4. Greenville, NC
5. Davidson, NC
6. Durham, NC
7. Elon, NC
8. Brevard, NC
9. Wilmington, NC
10. Greensboro, NC

While some of these may not seem like a 'real' college town per se, when you look at the numbers, it's hard to argue against.

And for those who live in Chapel Hill, Boone and Raleigh - we tip our hats to you and we'll schedule a tour for next week. You can see where Chapel Hill ranks in terms of the best college town in America.

Finally, if you live in Laurinburg, NC - it's officially the worst college town in North Carolina. Sorry, Laurinburg!

Read on to find out more or for more on North Carolina check out:

• Best Places To Live In North Carolina
• Best Counties To Live In North Carolina
• Cheapest Places To Live In North Carolina

The 10 Best College Towns In North Carolina For 2024

Colleges: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Aveda Institute-Chapel Hill

Colleges: Appalachian State University

Colleges: North Carolina State University at Raleigh, Wake Technical Community College, Meredith College

Colleges: East Carolina University, Miller-Motte College-Greenville, Grace College of Barbering

Colleges: Davidson College

Colleges: Duke University, Durham Technical Community College, North Carolina Central University

Colleges: Elon University

Colleges: Brevard College

Colleges: University of North Carolina Wilmington, Cape Fear Community College, Miller-Motte College-Wilmington

Colleges: University of North Carolina at Greensboro, North Carolina A & T State University, Guilford College

How'd we figure out the best college towns in North Carolina?

To crunch our data on North Carolina's best college towns, we used Saturday Night Science to decide which qualities (or rankings) make sense to use in the data, and then crunch the numbers for our rankings.

First off, we firmly decided that only cities with a 4 year college should make the cut -- so there has to be at least one college granting bachelors degrees in town.

You might be surprised to hear that there are only 23 places in North Carolina with an institution of higher learning with that criteria.

Source of data include OpenStreetMaps, the College Scorecard, the U.S. Census, and FBI reporting data to include the following factors:

• Students Make Up Large % of the Population
• College-specific Factors
• Graduation rate
• Tuition Cost
• Student Body Diversity
• Town Characteristics
• Safety
• Affordability
• Income and Employment Opportunities
• Things to Do
• Bars
• Museums & Libraries
• Population Density

We ranked each city across each of the criteria, with one being the best.

We rolled up the individual scores into the category and ranked them again based on the category.

Finally, we took the average rank across each category, with the city posting the lowest overall score being crowned the winner of the title "Best College Town In North Carolina For 2024." We updated this article for 2024. This is our six time ranking the best college towns in North Carolina.

And it looks like Chapel Hill placed Summa Cum Laude.

There You Have It -- The Best College Towns In The North Carolina

If you're looking for the best college towns in North Carolina, you came to the right place.

The best college towns in North Carolina are Chapel Hill, Boone, Raleigh, Greenville, Davidson, Durham, Elon, Brevard, Wilmington, and Greensboro.

These places all have great college sports programs, tons of stuff to do, and are great places to raise a family.

If you're curious, these are the worst college towns in North Carolina, starting with the absolute worst, Laurinburg:

1. Laurinburg
2. High Point
3. Dunn
4. Winston-Salem
5. Rocky Mount
6. Fayetteville
7. Charlotte
8. Salisbury
9. Wilson
10. Belmont

For more reading, check out:

• Worst Places To Live In North Carolina
• Best Places To Retire In North Carolina
• Fastest Growing Cities In North Carolina

23 Best College Towns In North Carolina

Rank	City	Population
1	Chapel Hill, NC	58919
2	Boone, NC	19368
3	Raleigh, NC	465517
4	Greenville, NC	87894
5	Davidson, NC	15199
6	Durham, NC	284094
7	Elon, NC	11161
8	Brevard, NC	7777
9	Wilmington, NC	116933
10	Greensboro, NC	297202
11	Morrisville, NC	29756
12	Concord, NC	105335
13	Asheville, NC	93695
14	Belmont, NC	14842
15	Wilson, NC	47767
16	Salisbury, NC	35437
17	Charlotte, NC	875045
18	Fayetteville, NC	208697
19	Rocky Mount, NC	54260
20	Winston-Salem, NC	249571
21	Dunn, NC	8549
22	High Point, NC	114120
23	Laurinburg, NC	14971