The 10 Dumbest Places In North Carolina For 2026

The unfortunate fact of the matter is that some places in the Tar Heel State have a larger percent of their population that never graduated from high school.

While the emphasis on going to college might be overblown, the fact is that not graduating from high school puts you at a significant disadvantage on average. Educational attainment might not be the best way to measure one person’s intelligence, but it does shine a light on the state.

We will use Saturday Night Science to determine what places in North Carolina have the highest percentage of adults without a high school degree.

A recent study we published found that North Carolina is the 28th smartest state in the United States, with an average IQ of 99.

But that doesn’t mean that a few cities in North Carolina are a bit slower than others due to a lack of basic education.

Table Of Contents: Top Ten | Methodology | Summary | Table

Don’t freak out.

Some places are just smarter than others, but that says nothing about the character of the people living there. It’s another data point a real estate agent would never tell you.

For this ranking, we only looked at cities with populations greater than 5,000, leaving us 136 cities in North Carolina to rank. You can take a look at the data below.

For more North Carolina reading, check out:

• Best Places To Live In North Carolina
• Safest Places To Live In North Carolina

Methodology: How we determined the dumbest cities in the Tar Heel State

We realize that formal education is only part of it when it comes to being intelligent, but on the other hand, knowing the difference between they’re, their, and there is always going to make you look pretty stupid.

So, we used Saturday Night Science to narrow down our criteria to focus on a city’s educational opportunities and what percentage of the population takes advantage of those opportunities.

In short, we came up with these criteria to determine the dumbest cities in North Carolina:

• % of the city’s population with less than a high school education (Age 25+)
• % of city’s population with a college degree (Age 25+)

We got the data from the U.S. Census 2020-2024 American Community Survey.

Then, our algorithm generates a rank for each place in these categories. After crunching all the numbers, a ranking of the cities in North Carolina from dumbest to brightest.

For this ranking, we used every North Carolina city with at least 5,000 residents. We updated this article for 2026, and it’s our eleventh time ranking the dumbest cities in North Carolina.

There You Have It – Now That You’re Asleep

If you’re measuring the locations in North Carolina where there are a high number of dropouts and adults who never received a formal education, this is an accurate ranking.

The dumbest cities in North Carolina are Williamston, Lexington, Roxboro, Marion, Sawmills, Selma, Eden, Henderson, Thomasville, and Long View.

If you’re also curious enough, here are the smartest places in North Carolina, according to science:

1. Davidson
2. Apex
3. Weddington

For more North Carolina reading, check out:

• Best Places To Live In North Carolina
• Cheapest Places To Live In North Carolina
• Most Dangerous Cities In North Carolina
• Richest Cities In North Carolina
• Safest Cities in North Carolina
• Worst Places To Live In North Carolina
• Most Expensive Places To Live In North Carolina

Dumbest Cities In North Carolina For 2026