Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Cary is a city of 183,582, and it grades A overall, ranked 11th of 286 in North Carolina. It is among the healthiest towns in the country on CDC estimates and the median household earns $135K. The trade-off: homes are expensive, about $613K for a typical one and 6.1 times the Raleigh metro’s $100K median household income. 71% of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more in Cary, above both the North Carolina town median (29%) and the median of U.S. towns (29%). Cary is home to Shepherds Theological Seminary. On the outdoors, just 32 of North Carolina’s 451 towns do better.
Where Cary beats most towns.
| Widest gap | Cary | NC |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 6.3% | 13.9% |
Page-Walker Hotel
Its founding year, 1750, comes before those of 97% of the North Carolina towns we grade with a known year.
Census counts: 316 in 1880, 174,721 in 2020. The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 1868 and 5 maps from 1943 on.
8 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within North Carolina), ordered by how far Cary is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Cary. Close and well known come first.
6 mi Stadium & arenaLenovo Center
6 mi Stadium & arenaCarter–Finley Stadium
in town Stadium & arenaWakeMed Soccer Park
15 mi Stadium & arenaKenan Memorial Stadium
7 mi MuseumNorth Carolina Museum of Art
15 mi Stadium & arenaDean Smith CenterLenovo Center: Edward T. Funkhouser, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Carter–Finley Stadium: SMaloney, CC BY 3.0 · WakeMed Soccer Park: Hameltion, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Kenan Memorial Stadium: Yeungb, CC BY 3.0 · North Carolina Museum of Art: Justin Doub, CC BY 2.0 · Dean Smith Center: No machine-readable author provided. Snargle~commonswiki assumed (based on copyr, Public domain
Who provides power, water and the rest in Cary, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
Ordered by what stands out in Cary.
Cary fares better on crime within North Carolina than nationally and has less tooth loss than most of North Carolina, but it has homes that cost more against local pay than most of North Carolina.
At 6.1 years of the Raleigh metro’s $100K median household income, the typical home (about $613K) costs more against local pay than in 85% of North Carolina towns; that ratio is one input to its C− for cost of living. The median property tax bill is $4,142, against $1,896 across North Carolina, another input to its cost-of-living grade.
Cary’s median rent is $1,738 a month. The typical Cary home is worth about $613,000, down 1.3% in a year, 85% above the North Carolina typical home. 38% of renter households spend 30% or more of their income on rent in Cary.
| Cary | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,738 a month | $1,084 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Renters paying 30%+ of income on rent | 38% | 49% | 48% |
| Households that own their home | 67% | 67% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Its public schools are run by the Wake County Schools. Three of its 54 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mills Park MiddleLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 1,632 | A+ |
| Panther Creek HighLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 2,609 | A+ |
| Wake STEM Early College High SchoolTop results in townGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 294 | A+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NC on state tests and graduation
Its widest gap with North Carolina is tooth loss: 6.3% of those 65+ have lost all their teeth, against 13.9% statewide.
8.4% of Cary adults report frequent physical distress. Only 7 of the 289 North Carolina towns we compare have a lower share of adults who say their health is fair or poor than Cary. 13% of Cary adults report frequent mental distress.
| Cary | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 8.4% | 13% | 14% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 25% | 36% | 35% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 13% | 17% | 17% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 7.7% | 14% | 14% |
| What stands out | Cary | NC |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 6.3% | 13.9% |
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 7.6% | 15.2% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
46 miles of trail in 68 parks and preserves. The trail density in Cary is 0.7 miles per square mile. The biggest park or preserve is Crabtree Creek Mitigation Project, at 464 acres.
| Cary | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 9.3% | 3.4% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.7 miles per square mile | 0.2 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Bond Park | 5.7 mi | 284 |
| 2. WakeMed Soccer Park | 1.9 mi | 151 |
| 3. Hemlock Bluffs Nature Preserve | 1.7 mi | 136 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Cary has mild winters and warm summers, with plenty of rain. July afternoons reach 90°, January nights drop to 31° and about 5 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Jobs based here grew from 73,727 in 2013 to 99,607. 36.5% of workers work from home, against 16.3% across North Carolina.
Among 290 North Carolina towns, just 4 have a higher share of workers working from home than Cary. Jobs based in Cary grew to 99,607 in 2023, 25,880 more than in 2013. Most working residents leave Cary for work: only 19% work in town.
| Cary | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 37% | 12% | 11% |
| Median household income | $135,000 | $69,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 19% | 6.8% | 8% |
| Below the poverty line | 5.7% | 13% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
At 15 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports less crime than 88% of North Carolina’s graded towns. Reported crimes fell from 2,441 to 1,913 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
160 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 19 properties have flooded more than once.
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 56% of U.S. communities. Since 1995, 160 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Cary.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
9 within 15 miles of the center of Cary
About 6 of every 100 Cary residents are enrolled in college, about the same as North Carolina.
135,234 counted in 2010 and 174,721 in 2020; an estimated 183,582 in 2025.
Growth hasn’t slowed: 5% since 2020, after 29.2% in the decade before.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts · Census Bureau estimate, July 1, 2025
8 places in Cary on the National Register of Historic Places.
18 notable people were born in Cary.
Town in North Carolina, US
Cary is a town in Wake, Chatham, and Durham counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina and is part of the Raleigh-Cary, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area. According to the 2020 census, its population was 174,721, making it the seventh-most populous municipality in North Carolina, and the 146th-most populous in the United States. In 2023, the town's population had increased to 180,010. Cary began as a railroad village and became known as an educational center in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In April 1907, Cary High School became the first state-funded public high school in North Carolina. The creation of the nearby Research Triangle Park in 1959 resulted in Cary's population doub…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
5 towns share a border with Cary.
| Town | NC rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cary | #11 | A | C− | B | A− | A+ |
| Morrisville | #34 | B+ | C | C | A− | A+ |
| Raleigh | #80 | B− | C | D | A− | A |
| Apex | #5 | A | C | — | A− | A+ |
| Durham | #179 | C− | C− | D | C+ | A− |
| Holly Springs | #17 | A− | C− | B+ | A− | A+ |
Apex reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare Cary with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Cary grades A overall, better than 86% of U.S. towns and #11 of 286 in North Carolina. It grades A+ for health, B for safety and A− for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a C−.
18 notable people were born here, including Claire Curzan and Justin Ress.
