Briar ChapelNC
A town of 6,049.
Is Briar Chapel a good place to live?
For most people who can afford it, yes. Briar Chapel grades B+ overall, 35th among North Carolina's 286 graded towns. It is among the healthiest towns in the country on CDC estimates. The median household earns $166K. The catch is cost: homes are expensive, about $570K for a typical one and 6.8 times the Durham metro’s $84K median household income. 82% of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more in Briar Chapel, above both the North Carolina town median (29%) and the median of U.S. towns (29%). Briar Chapel has 2 places on the National Register. Among 277 North Carolina towns, just 1 have a higher median rent than Briar Chapel.
What makes Briar Chapel stand out
Where Briar Chapel beats most towns.
6 miles of trails in Briar Chapel
0% of the town is conserved land, across 4 parks and preserves.
How Briar Chapel grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within North Carolina), ordered by how far Briar Chapel is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Kenan Memorial Stadium and 25 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Briar Chapel. Close and well known come first.
7 mi Stadium & arenaKenan Memorial Stadium
22 mi Stadium & arenaLenovo Center
22 mi Stadium & arenaCarter–Finley Stadium
7 mi Stadium & arenaDean Smith Center
20 mi Stadium & arenaWakeMed Soccer Park
39 mi Zoo & aquariumNorth Carolina Zoo700K visitors a yearPhoto credits
Kenan Memorial Stadium: Yeungb, CC BY 3.0 · Lenovo Center: Edward T. Funkhouser, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Carter–Finley Stadium: SMaloney, CC BY 3.0 · Dean Smith Center: No machine-readable author provided. Snargle~commonswiki assumed (based on copyr, Public domain · WakeMed Soccer Park: Hameltion, CC BY-SA 4.0 · North Carolina Zoo: Diane Villa, CC BY-SA 4.0
Moving to Briar Chapel: who provides what
Briar Chapel is unincorporated, so Chatham County and regional agencies provide most services.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
The data
Ordered by what stands out in Briar Chapel.
Briar Chapel is among the three healthiest towns in North Carolina and sends most of its workers to Chapel Hill and beyond, but it has homes that cost more against local pay than most of North Carolina.
Compared with most of North Carolina and the rest of the country, trail density in Briar Chapel is higher
The trail density in Briar Chapel is 2.7 miles per square mile. 5.7 miles of trail in 4 parks and preserves.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Great Meadow Park | 0.5 mi | 7 |
| 2. Constellation Park | 0.2 mi | 4 |
| 3. Boulder Park | 0.1 mi | 2 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
On state tests, Briar Chapel’s schools beat 68% of North Carolina districts
Its three schools are below. The largest public high school is Woods Charter, with 515 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Margaret B. Pollard MiddleLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 736 | A− |
| Woods CharterLargest public high schoolGrades K–12 | Grades K–12 | 515 | A |
| Willow Oak MontessoriTop results in townGrades K–8 | Grades K–8 | 281 | A− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NC on state tests and graduation
Briar Chapel stands out in North Carolina and nationally, with fewer of its adults who feel lonely
It ranks #2 of the 289 North Carolina towns we grade on the CDC estimates behind the Health Grade. Its widest gap with North Carolina is tooth loss: 2.8% of those 65+ have lost all their teeth, against 13.9% statewide.
25% of adults feel lonely in Briar Chapel. Only 1 of the 289 North Carolina towns we compare have a lower share of adults who say their health is fair or poor than Briar Chapel. 8.7% of adults report frequent physical distress in Briar Chapel.
| Briar Chapel | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 25% | 33% | 33% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 8.7% | 13% | 14% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 12% | 17% | 17% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 34% | 36% |
| What stands out | Briar Chapel | NC |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 2.8% | 13.9% |
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 5.3% | 15.2% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 9.4% | 7.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Most working residents commute out of Briar Chapel
Briar Chapel has 282 jobs for its 2,427 working residents: even if every job went to a resident, most would still commute out. 41.8% of workers work from home, against 16.3% across North Carolina.
Most working residents leave Briar Chapel for work: only 2% work in town. 0.6% of Briar Chapel residents live below the poverty line. Jobs based in Briar Chapel grew to 282 in 2023, 219 more than in 2013.
| Briar Chapel | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $166,000 | $69,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 0.6% | 13% | 9.6% |
| Average trip to work | 28 minutes | 24 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 1.5% | 6.8% | 8% |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Briar Chapel has mild winters and hot summers
Briar Chapel has mild winters and warm summers. Briar Chapel’s July high is 90°F.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Low risk in Briar Chapel, with inland flooding at the top
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 62% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
The median home in Briar Chapel sells for about $625K
At 6.8 years of the Durham metro’s $84K median household income, the typical home costs more against local pay than in 91% of North Carolina towns; that ratio is one input to its C− for cost of living. The median property tax bill is $3,556, against $1,896 across North Carolina, another input to its cost-of-living grade.
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Everything we know about Briar Chapel
Colleges nearby
1 within 15 miles of the center of Briar Chapel
About 5 of every 100 Briar Chapel residents are enrolled in college, about the same as North Carolina.
98% of working residents leave Briar Chapel for work
Where Briar Chapel’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
About Briar Chapel
Census-designated place in North Carolina, United States
Briar Chapel is a planned community and census-designated place (CDP) in Chatham County, North Carolina, United States. It was first listed as a CDP in the 2020 census with a population of 5,108. The community is in northern Chatham County, 1 mile (1.6 km) west of U.S. Routes 15 and 501. It is 8 miles (13 km) south of Chapel Hill and 9 miles (14 km) north of Pittsboro, the Chatham county seat.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 2.1 sq mi
- Elevation
- 515 ft
Questions about Briar Chapel
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Briar Chapel, NC a good place to live?
For most people who can afford it, yes. Briar Chapel grades B+ overall, better than 72% of U.S. towns and #35 of 286 in North Carolina. It grades A+ for health and B+ for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a C−.
Is Briar Chapel, NC expensive?
Yes. The typical home is worth about $570,000, 72% above the North Carolina typical home. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C−.