Best College Towns to Live in North Carolina

There’s something exciting about living in a college town. The lively atmosphere and busy streets make for a vibrant community. With bustling bars, a high concentration of restaurants, and constant exciting sporting events, college towns can be ideal places to live for young professionals or families. 

North Carolina has plenty of college towns that are worth a visit. According to Broke Scholar, only eight states in the U.S. have more colleges than North Carolina. Let’s look at some of the most appealing college towns in North Carolina.

Wilmington is a scenic city on the water that is famed for the nearby beaches surrounding it. With excellent waves for surfing and busy boardwalks, it is a unique setting for a college town. The biggest school in Wilmington is the highly-regarded University of North Carolina Wilmington, which has a substantial undergraduate population of around 18,000. The presence of the school contributes the town’s thriving nightlife and excellent restaurants, and the city itself is historic and scenic.

Greensboro is a busy city home to around 300,000 with a thriving downtown area, including excellent commercial options. Greensboro has a fascinating history, excellent museums, and two major universities. The University of North Carolina at Greensboro is a massive public university that enrolls around 15,000, while North Carolina A&T State University is an HBCU with around 13,000 students. Both schools help make Greensboro a vibrant place to live.

Durham is another major city in North Carolina, with a population of 285,000. While many come to Durham for its massive healthcare industry and scenic parks, Duke University is the most famous area of this city. Duke is one of the best schools in the U.S., and you might not find a better sports venue than Cameron Indoor Stadium, where the Duke basketball teams play. The Duke campus also has premier museums open to the public, like the Nasher Museum of Art.

Raleigh is the state capital and one of the biggest cities in North Carolina. Raleigh is one of the three cities (Durham, Raleigh, and Chapel Hill) that make up the state’s Research Triangle, named for the high volume of universities and colleges in the area. Raleigh has appealing historic architecture and several major universities. The biggest is North Carolina State University, which has a massive student population of around 36,000. NC State football and basketball games are both huge draws, and many businesses in the city cater to students.

Chapel Hill is a scenic college town with pleasant architecture, home to the state’s famed University of North Carolina, or UNC. UNC has a gorgeous campus with excellent museums and a basketball team that has produced legends like Michael Jordan. The city’s busy center, Franklin Street, is filled with restaurants and bars that students flock to every night of the week. Chapel Hill is a historic town, and the University of North Carolina is one of the oldest and proudest institutions in the country.

Oak Island is a scenic natural haven, a small town home to just under 9,000. It is a beautiful little community on the Atlantic Coast with scenic beaches, popular for fishing, surfing, and boating. While no colleges are situated on Oak Island, it a short drive from some major institutions like UNC Wilmington and Brunswick Community College. Many residents of Oak Island commute to these institutions for their studies, giving it a cozy college-town feel.