Welcome to the happiest places in North Carolina.
Using Saturday Night Science and data, we determined the cities and towns with the most rainbows, butterflies, puppies, and unicorns.
You know, the places where people have jobs, white-picked fences, and friendly neighbors – unicorn cities.
After analyzing the 142 largest cities, we happily present the happiest cities in the Tar Heel State.
19.0% married households · 18.1% poverty · #1 happiest in North Carolina
Morehead City is by far the happiest place in the state of North Carolina. Let’s see why.
First off, having a solid family life is a good indication of how happy someone is. Lots of the residents of Morehead City aren’t missing out on love; more than 19% of them are married. Plus, the average commute time here is only about 18 minutes each way. That means a lot more time with the spouse and kids.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
28.0% married households · 8.7% poverty · #2 happiest in North Carolina
Located in
Brunswick County, North Carolina
Things look to be pretty pleasant in Oak Island. Crime is really low here, and the percentage of married residents (28%) mean there’s lots of stability at home.
In addition to those factors, there is a thriving amount of community involvement. Studies have shown that a key factor to happiness is when people volunteer, especially in their own neighborhoods.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
19.0% married households · 15.9% poverty · #3 happiest in North Carolina
Located in
Haywood County, North Carolina
The people who live in Waynesville have a lot going for them. 34% of them have college degrees, and they command some of the highest salaries in NC. 19% of the people here are married.
Most of these all tops in the entire state.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers | Compare
13.0% married households · 15.1% poverty · #4 happiest in North Carolina
Located in
Transylvania County, North Carolina
Brevard is where you can bet there are lots of smiley and happy people all over town. Crime is essentially something that just doesn’t happen here very often. And when you can let your guard down and relax a little, the lack of stress really makes a difference.
Same goes on the job front. Only 3.6% of residents here are out of work. Sounds like there are jobs for just about everyone who wants one. Which must be a good feeling to have.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
6.0% married households · 18.6% poverty · #5 happiest in North Carolina
Located in
Orange County, North Carolina
If you want to see a bunch of happy people, go to Chapel Hill. It seriously looks like something out of a commercial.
They have a 19 minute commute time, which means lots more time with the kids.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers | Compare
6.0% married households · 51.2% poverty · #6 happiest in North Carolina
Located in
Watauga County, North Carolina
For those who say that money doesn’t buy happiness, you’re half right. Studies have shown that people are happy up to a certain point when it comes to annual salaries, somewhere around $72,000 a year. After that, it doesn’t matter how much you make, you’re not going to be much happier.
The residents of Boone have that covered. Plus about 6% of households are married.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
26.0% married households · 23.1% poverty · #7 happiest in North Carolina
Located in
Beaufort County, North Carolina
Most of the people in Washington have to be ‘plum’ happy. True happiness is ‘Home Sweet Home’ with your kids and spouse, being reminded to do chores, run errands and fold the clothes right.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
11.0% married households · 14.6% poverty · #8 happiest in North Carolina
Located in
Henderson County, North Carolina
Less than 3.2% of the residents in Hendersonville are jobless, which is just about as low as you’ll see.
Incomes are steady, and commute times are really low as well. That really takes away the stress factors that stop folks from relaxing and enjoying their ‘down time’ to do the little things that matter: Walks in the park, time alone with a book and extra face time with the children.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
13.0% married households · 16.0% poverty · #9 happiest in North Carolina
Located in
New Hanover County, North Carolina
About 46% of residents in Wilmington, NC have a college degree. While we’ve all heard the saying, ‘Ignorance is bliss,’ our argument is: Ignorance is also broke.
Not only are most of the residents of Wilmington smart, they’re safe, too.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
13.0% married households · 14.1% poverty · #10 happiest in North Carolina
Located in
Buncombe County, North Carolina
In Woodfin, most of the population is married, and most own their own homes.
The commute times (22 minutes each way) might eventually start to turn the corners of those smiles sideways.
But for now, it’s all roses in Woodfin.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is North Carolina’s statewide median.
North Carolina statewide median: $336,408
North Carolina statewide median: 13.0%
On the map
Where the happiest places in North Carolina are
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: How We Measured The Happiest Cities In The Tar Heel State
To rank the happiest places in North Carolina, we had to determine what criteria make people happy. It isn’t a stretch to assume that happy people earn great salaries, are relatively stress-free, and have a stable home life.
So we went to the Census’s American Community Survey 2020-2024 report for the happy criteria, added some Saturday Night Science, and generated the answer.
Here are the criteria we used to measure happiness:
- Percentage of residents with a college degree
- Average commute times
- Unemployment rates
- Cost of living
- % of married couples
- % of families with kids
- Poverty rate
After we decided on the criteria, we gathered the data for the 142 places in North Carolina with over 5,000 people.
We then ranked each place from one to 142 for each of the seven criteria, with a score of one being the happiest.
Next, we averaged the seven rankings into a Happy Index for each place with the lowest overall Happy Index “earning” the title “Happiest City In North Carolina.”
If you’d like to see the complete list of cities, happiest to saddest, scroll to the bottom of this post to see the unabridged chart.
We updated this article for 2026, and it’s our eleventh time ranking the happiest cities in North Carolina.
The full plate
Happiest Cities In North Carolina For 2026
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Happy Index | Population | Poverty Level | Median Home Value | % Married | % Kids |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Morehead City | 35.71 | 9,806 | 18.1% | $410,236 | 19.0% | 22.9% |
| 2 | Oak Island | 37.64 | 9,030 | 8.7% | $568,672 | 28.0% | 8.8% |
| 3 | Waynesville | 41.57 | 10,502 | 15.9% | $355,352 | 19.0% | 20.0% |
| 4 | Brevard | 42.57 | 7,897 | 15.1% | $464,518 | 13.0% | 18.4% |
| 5 | Chapel Hill | 43.14 | 61,607 | 18.6% | $631,167 | 6.0% | 23.8% |
| 6 | Boone | 47.71 | 20,032 | 51.2% | $483,789 | 6.0% | 9.8% |
| 7 | Washington | 47.79 | 9,726 | 23.1% | $242,528 | 26.0% | 24.4% |
| 8 | Hendersonville | 47.86 | 15,408 | 14.6% | $405,676 | 11.0% | 15.5% |
| 9 | Wilmington | 47.93 | 120,805 | 16.0% | $416,159 | 13.0% | 18.8% |
| 10 | Woodfin | 50.00 | 8,048 | 14.1% | $427,001 | 13.0% | 17.5% |
| 11 | Asheville | 51.07 | 94,535 | 14.3% | $460,994 | 10.0% | 20.5% |
| 12 | Fletcher | 51.14 | 8,098 | 7.6% | $446,279 | 21.0% | 23.0% |
| 13 | Oak Ridge | 51.50 | 7,744 | 3.6% | $599,278 | 25.0% | 39.0% |
| 14 | Morganton | 51.64 | 17,646 | 25.7% | $261,445 | 20.0% | 29.0% |
| 15 | Black Mountain | 52.71 | 8,513 | 5.9% | $463,739 | 14.0% | 15.4% |
| 16 | Kernersville | 54.14 | 27,830 | 12.6% | $322,447 | 19.0% | 25.9% |
| 17 | Hickory | 54.79 | 44,258 | 17.1% | $293,999 | 20.0% | 29.0% |
| 18 | Elon | 55.29 | 11,032 | 20.0% | $350,880 | 14.0% | 28.4% |
| 19 | Mills River | 55.57 | 7,281 | 2.6% | $530,766 | 21.0% | 31.1% |
| 20 | Shelby | 55.86 | 22,100 | 17.6% | $209,227 | 25.0% | 27.6% |
| 21 | Tarboro | 56.21 | 10,770 | 18.5% | $152,776 | 33.0% | 21.6% |
| 22 | Mount Airy | 56.43 | 10,633 | 26.9% | $210,209 | 22.0% | 27.3% |
| 23 | Carolina Beach | 56.64 | 6,745 | 6.0% | $606,035 | 20.0% | 18.3% |
| 24 | Durham | 56.93 | 291,467 | 11.7% | $396,395 | 11.0% | 24.9% |
| 25 | Carrboro | 57.07 | 21,204 | 12.2% | $429,675 | 7.0% | 26.4% |
| 26 | Lewisville | 57.36 | 13,828 | 10.2% | $404,564 | 30.0% | 38.0% |
| 27 | Walke | 58.43 | 5,873 | 10.8% | $275,857 | 29.0% | 29.2% |
| 28 | New Bern | 59.86 | 32,734 | 17.3% | $281,328 | 15.0% | 25.5% |
| 29 | Hillsborough | 60.00 | 9,724 | 8.0% | $472,962 | 15.0% | 30.2% |
| 30 | Raleigh | 60.29 | 481,031 | 11.9% | $433,996 | 12.0% | 26.3% |
| 31 | Conover | 61.07 | 8,580 | 15.7% | $277,412 | 30.0% | 44.1% |
| 32 | Matthews | 62.29 | 30,577 | 3.7% | $501,848 | 14.0% | 28.3% |
| 33 | Trinity | 62.43 | 7,111 | 11.6% | $287,548 | 28.0% | 27.5% |
| 34 | Pinehurst | 62.57 | 18,256 | 4.3% | $535,650 | 13.0% | 16.7% |
| 35 | Salisbury | 62.86 | 35,825 | 26.3% | $280,646 | 19.0% | 28.8% |
| 36 | Clemmons | 63.29 | 21,871 | 6.5% | $387,814 | 21.0% | 30.5% |
| 37 | Belmont | 63.50 | 15,546 | 7.9% | $432,565 | 17.0% | 25.1% |
| 38 | Lincolnton | 64.14 | 11,783 | 22.7% | $296,022 | 23.0% | 30.3% |
| 39 | Cornelius | 64.29 | 32,783 | 5.4% | $527,117 | 8.0% | 29.2% |
| 40 | Archer Lodge | 64.57 | 5,186 | 17.4% | $377,862 | 22.0% | 34.8% |
| 41 | Mocksville | 64.79 | 6,068 | 19.2% | $280,268 | 20.0% | 30.0% |
| 42 | Winterville | 64.79 | 10,725 | 9.8% | $278,291 | 24.0% | 29.9% |
| 43 | Stokesdale | 64.79 | 6,004 | 5.6% | $386,451 | 28.0% | 35.1% |
| 44 | Dunn | 65.14 | 8,559 | 19.7% | $227,476 | 23.0% | 26.7% |
| 45 | Southern Pines | 65.50 | 16,420 | 9.6% | $456,116 | 13.0% | 23.0% |
| 46 | Archdale | 65.57 | 12,087 | 5.2% | $248,494 | 26.0% | 25.0% |
| 47 | Boiling Spring Lakes | 65.86 | 6,347 | 8.5% | $315,223 | 18.0% | 21.0% |
| 48 | Kill Devil Hills | 65.86 | 7,761 | 9.1% | $521,722 | 10.0% | 23.7% |
| 49 | Cary | 65.93 | 179,306 | 5.7% | $626,396 | 9.0% | 34.8% |
| 50 | Smithfield | 66.64 | 12,116 | 27.3% | $293,391 | 20.0% | 25.6% |
| 51 | Clinton | 67.00 | 8,304 | 23.6% | $154,113 | 22.0% | 29.6% |
| 52 | Winston-Salem | 67.21 | 252,037 | 17.7% | $264,333 | 16.0% | 28.0% |
| 53 | Pleasant Garden | 67.50 | 5,060 | 9.7% | $315,482 | 39.0% | 36.5% |
| 54 | Long View | 67.71 | 5,011 | 11.3% | $183,167 | 28.0% | 18.9% |
| 55 | Greenville | 67.93 | 92,857 | 24.6% | $235,821 | 13.0% | 24.5% |
| 56 | Davidson | 68.14 | 15,660 | 7.0% | $655,968 | 8.0% | 30.8% |
| 57 | Mint Hill | 68.21 | 27,556 | 8.4% | $513,193 | 19.0% | 28.8% |
| 58 | Greensboro | 68.64 | 301,198 | 17.0% | $264,428 | 13.0% | 28.4% |
| 59 | Summerfield | 68.86 | 11,116 | 7.1% | $519,610 | 16.0% | 37.7% |
| 60 | King | 70.64 | 7,408 | 7.0% | $276,086 | 31.0% | 32.6% |
| 61 | Weddington | 70.79 | 13,805 | 4.0% | $1,074,644 | 15.0% | 51.0% |
| 62 | Cramerton | 71.07 | 5,450 | 6.2% | $305,443 | 25.0% | 33.8% |
| 63 | Leland | 71.64 | 29,607 | 6.1% | $376,599 | 14.0% | 22.2% |
| 64 | Wilson | 71.79 | 48,370 | 23.0% | $218,942 | 24.0% | 30.8% |
| 65 | Ayden | 71.93 | 5,150 | 22.4% | $226,359 | 28.0% | 29.6% |
| 66 | Charlotte | 72.07 | 903,844 | 11.7% | $397,125 | 9.0% | 28.6% |
| 67 | High Point | 72.21 | 116,245 | 15.7% | $249,821 | 16.0% | 29.2% |
| 68 | Morrisville | 72.43 | 31,422 | 3.1% | $480,926 | 5.0% | 36.9% |
| 69 | Unionville | 73.29 | 6,954 | 9.4% | $419,701 | 37.0% | 33.3% |
| 70 | Thomasville | 73.36 | 27,321 | 16.3% | $237,157 | 27.0% | 32.1% |
| 71 | Gibsonville | 73.64 | 9,467 | 5.8% | $307,075 | 26.0% | 33.9% |
| 72 | Statesville | 73.93 | 29,894 | 20.4% | $297,070 | 15.0% | 32.2% |
| 73 | Williamston | 74.00 | 5,112 | 36.3% | $131,111 | 21.0% | 25.6% |
| 74 | Garner | 74.43 | 34,473 | 8.4% | $384,100 | 17.0% | 27.1% |
| 75 | Reidsville | 74.57 | 14,585 | 21.1% | $210,647 | 22.0% | 25.9% |
| 76 | Carolina Shores | 74.93 | 5,017 | 3.9% | $319,366 | 8.0% | 5.9% |
| 77 | Albemarle | 75.21 | 16,762 | 24.9% | $261,947 | 23.0% | 30.5% |
| 78 | Rocky Mount | 75.21 | 54,297 | 19.7% | $185,887 | 19.0% | 25.4% |
| 79 | Marion | 75.29 | 7,579 | 23.5% | $244,493 | 23.0% | 32.0% |
| 80 | Knightdale | 75.57 | 20,214 | 5.3% | $370,204 | 18.0% | 41.5% |
| 81 | Aberdeen | 75.64 | 9,228 | 10.5% | $352,796 | 17.0% | 30.1% |
| 82 | Asheboro | 75.79 | 27,580 | 19.7% | $240,877 | 18.0% | 30.5% |
| 83 | Lenoir | 76.07 | 18,299 | 14.6% | $215,174 | 20.0% | 22.0% |
| 84 | Graham | 76.21 | 18,048 | 16.8% | $292,521 | 20.0% | 27.9% |
| 85 | Burlington | 76.43 | 59,610 | 16.4% | $256,022 | 18.0% | 28.1% |
| 86 | Cherryville | 76.50 | 6,226 | 12.4% | $249,357 | 38.0% | 37.4% |
| 87 | Sanford | 76.64 | 31,478 | 22.0% | $291,206 | 19.0% | 38.6% |
| 88 | Butner | 76.64 | 8,065 | 15.0% | $273,631 | 28.0% | 34.5% |
| 89 | St. James | 76.64 | 7,072 | 4.3% | $694,377 | 4.0% | 2.2% |
| 90 | Locust | 76.86 | 5,840 | 8.7% | $384,686 | 30.0% | 32.3% |
| 91 | Huntersville | 77.43 | 63,969 | 3.1% | $550,755 | 11.0% | 36.1% |
| 92 | Goldsboro | 77.43 | 34,383 | 22.8% | $194,177 | 18.0% | 29.2% |
| 93 | Pineville | 77.57 | 11,055 | 13.8% | $403,663 | 6.0% | 31.1% |
| 94 | Roanoke Rapids | 78.00 | 14,856 | 18.4% | $121,329 | 29.0% | 29.5% |
| 95 | Harrisburg | 78.14 | 19,633 | 3.7% | $494,884 | 17.0% | 50.0% |
| 96 | Kannapolis | 78.50 | 57,890 | 12.6% | $279,708 | 19.0% | 32.3% |
| 97 | Fuquay-Varina | 79.00 | 40,485 | 8.2% | $525,746 | 14.0% | 40.2% |
| 98 | Nashville | 79.29 | 5,729 | 16.9% | $257,559 | 26.0% | 29.2% |
| 99 | Marvin | 79.64 | 6,692 | 7.6% | $1,251,047 | 9.0% | 59.4% |
| 100 | Apex | 79.93 | 70,630 | 2.2% | $599,085 | 10.0% | 47.7% |
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024. 142 cities with more than 5,000 residents.
Summary
There You Have It – The Happiest Cities In North Carolina
As we said earlier, trying to determine the most miserable cities in North Carolina is usually a subjective matter.
But if you’re analyzing cities where people are not stable, where you’re stuck in traffic, and no one spent the time to go to college, then this is an accurate list.
The happiest cities in North Carolina are Morehead City, Oak Island, Waynesville, Brevard, Chapel Hill, Boone, Washington, Hendersonville, Wilmington, and Woodfin. Not sold on North Carolina? Take the two-minute Find Your Place quiz and see which state actually fits you.
Questions and answers
Happiest Places In North Carolina FAQs
What is the happiest place in North Carolina?
Morehead City is the happiest place in North Carolina for 2026. 19.0% of its households are married and its poverty rate is just 18.1%.
What are the happiest places in North Carolina?
The happiest places in North Carolina are Morehead City, Oak Island, Waynesville, Brevard, Chapel Hill, Boone, Washington, Hendersonville, Wilmington, and Woodfin. We ranked all 142 places with more than 5,000 residents across seven happiness criteria.
How can you measure happiness?
You cannot poll feelings at scale, so we use the Census proxies research ties to well-being: marriage rates, home values, poverty, and the share of households with kids. Seven criteria total, all from the American Community Survey.
Why does Morehead City rank so happy?
Morehead City scores well across the board: 19.0% of households are married, the median home is worth $410,236, and only 18.1% of residents live below the poverty line.
What is the most miserable place in North Carolina?
Zebulon lands at the bottom of the Happy Index for North Carolina. The same seven criteria that lifted Morehead City to the top put Zebulon last.
