Best Community Colleges in North Carolina 2024

Badge for BEST IN NORTH CAROLINA COMMUNITY COLLEGES

Published: Mar 25, 2021
Updated: Oct 16, 2023

The best community colleges provide an effective springboard into higher education, offering students high-quality two-year degree programs in a wide range of disciplines. The top-rated community colleges in North Carolina offer a broad selection of associate’s degrees, affordable tuition rates, and strong partnerships with public four-year schools so that students can easily transfer their credits into accredited bachelor’s degree programs.

10 Best Community Colleges in North Carolina

Central Piedmont Community College
Gaston College
Wake Technical Community College
Sandhills Community College
Guilford Technical Community College
Catawba Valley Community College
Wayne Community College
Wilkes Community College
Cape Fear Community College
Pitt Community College

Louisburg College
Central Piedmont Community College
Wake Technical Community College
Gaston College
Sandhills Community College
Guilford Technical Community College
Wilkes Community College
Wayne Community College
Southwestern Community College
Pitt Community College

Louisburg College 86%

Cape Fear Community College 24 to 1
Central Piedmont Community College 22 to 1
Wake Technical Community College 18 to 1
Guilford Technical Community College 17 to 1
South Piedmont Community College 16 to 1
Fayetteville Technical Community College 16 to 1
Louisburg College 16 to 1
Pitt Community College 15 to 1
Johnston Community College 15 to 1
Alamance Community College 14 to 1

Louisburg College $21,880
Sandhills Community College $2,598
Surry Community College $2,550
Central Piedmont Community College $2,432
Wayne Community College $2,432
Fayetteville Technical Community College $2,432
Piedmont Community College $2,432
Wake Technical Community College $2,432
Wilkes Community College $2,432
Gaston College $2,432

Surry Community College
Southwestern Community College
Central Carolina Community College
Alamance Community College
Isothermal Community College
South Piedmont Community College
Caldwell Community College & Technical Institute
Mitchell Community College
Piedmont Community College
Lenoir Community College

Surry Community College
Caldwell Community College & Technical Institute
Isothermal Community College
Lenoir Community College
South Piedmont Community College
Mitchell Community College
Johnston Community College
Forsyth Technical Community College
Alamance Community College
Piedmont Community College

Louisburg College 86%

Durham Technical Community College 6 to 1
Wilkes Community College 7 to 1
Catawba Valley Community College 9 to 1
Piedmont Community College 10 to 1
Southwestern Community College 10 to 1
Isothermal Community College 11 to 1
Forsyth Technical Community College 11 to 1
Sandhills Community College 12 to 1
Wayne Community College 12 to 1
Central Carolina Community College 12 to 1

South Piedmont Community College $1,824
Isothermal Community College $1,824
Pitt Community College $1,824
Southwestern Community College $1,976
Forsyth Technical Community College $1,992
Durham Technical Community College $2,067
Guilford Technical Community College $2,128
Catawba Valley Community College $2,128
Central Piedmont Community College $2,432
Wayne Community College $2,432

Colleges and Universities in North Carolina

Among these schools are over 60 public colleges and universities, including the state’s largest school, North Carolina State University, which serves almost 30,000 students. Tuition costs average about $9,000, just below the national average, and students also have the option to enroll in over 1,000 online courses. Another notable public school is the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, which is one of the country’s oldest universities.

Find college admissions consultants in your state.

The 25,000 students who attend UNC will walk the same halls as Francis Collins, Thomas Wolfe, and former president James K. Polk. North Carolina’s private schools have also made a name for themselves, including the well-known Duke University located in Durham. Here, students can earn degrees in some of the top programs, like nursing, political science, and business. Additionally, students can attend one of the many small schools which serve less than 5,000 students, like Campbell University in Buies Creek, or a religiously affiliated school, like Mid-Atlantic Christian University in Elizabeth City.

From its coastal beaches to its lush forests, it’s no wonder the Wright Brothers dreamed of taking flight over North Carolina. This state is rich with history, scenic views, and famous people who once called it home, like John Coltrane and Nicholas Sparks. Students hoping to earn their associate, bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral degree also have the option of choosing from over 100 schools in the Tar Heel State.

Whether you prefer ocean views or wooded forests, North Carolina has something for everyone. Discover more about the state’s higher learning options.

What are North Carolina’s Colleges & Universities?

North Carolina’s Best Overall

How do we determine North Carolina's best community colleges?

Methodology

The people affiliated with a school are ultimately what make it great! If you are serious about finding the best colleges and universities for a bachelor’s degree, you should be asking where the most influential professors are teaching and whether their graduates are themselves advancing the school’s reputation for academic excellence in their fields of study.

Most ranking sites rely on an opaque combination of reputation surveys and arbitrary performance metrics. Concentrated Influence provides a ranking that is freer from bias, insulated from manipulation, and reflective of real-world educational outcomes.

To rank the influence of schools, we first determine the influence of scholars and professionals based on the number of citations and publications they have had over the past 10 years. In addition to publications and citations, we consider the web links to and from these sources, and the page views of those sources. We then match the influential people to their alma maters and institutions of employment, so that their influence is attributed to those schools. Our machine-learning Influence Ranking algorithm produces a numerical score of academic achievements, merits, and citations across Wikipedia, wikidata, Crossref, Semantic Scholar and an ever-growing body of data. If you are interested in exploring how and why we rank by influence, explore our methodology in more depth.

We’ve identified 48 community colleges in North Carolina. The following list shows the best community colleges and primarily associate degree granting colleges in North Carolina.