These North Carolina cities are among the best small cities in America, study says
Five North Carolina cities were named among the the top 90% of WalletHub’s 2023 list of best small cities in America.
Apex, located just outside of Raleigh, ranked the highest in the state, within the 99th percentile. Holly Springs and Wake Forest followed closely behind, within the 98th and 97th percentiles respectively. Morrisville ranked in the 93rd percentile and Mooresville ranked in the 90th percentile.
However, five North Carolina cities fell into the bottom 10th percentile.
Goldsboro ranked the lowest, in the 4th percentile. Sequentially, Asheboro, Wilson, Thomasville, and Salisbury all ranked in the 10th percentile, according to WalletHub.
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WalletHub compared 1,321 cities across five key categories:
Affordability
Economic Health
Education and Health
Quality of Life
Safety
Source: WalletHub
Apex secured a top-10 spot nationally in the category of economic health. Asheville, which ranked in the 84th percentile overall, secured the remarkable position of No. 2 nationally for the category quality of life.
Using 45 relevant metrics, including unemployment rate, violent-crime rate, and median household income, WalletHub graded each category on a 100-point scale in order to generate an overall weighted average for each city.
Cities considered for the list had populations between 25,000 and 100,000.
Carmel, Ind. ranked the highest on the list nationwide. Bessemer, Ala. ranked the lowest.
This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Best small cities in North Carolina: WalletHub ranks Apex high
