Morrisville Ranked as Fifth-Best Town for Young Families in North Carolina

Cary, NC – Morrisville is a rapidly growing town, expanding in population by nearly 10,000 people in the past ten years. A new study may show why, as Morrisville ranks as the fifth-best town for young families in North Carolina.

Fifth in the State

The study by NerdWallet ranks Morrisville fifth in North Carolina, using criteria such as home affordability, growth and prosperity, quality of local schools and family friendliness to decide what cities and towns in North Carolina were best for young families.

“We’ve used this criteria before. We are trying to capture the things that matter to young families,” said writer Andrew Wang.

Using data from the U.S. Census and school ranking website GreatSchools, the study looked at 145 municipalities across the state. Waxhaw came in at number one, with Cary coming in 27th in addition to Morrisville’s high ranking.

Wang said all towns in the top 10 did well across the board in the study’s rankings but Morrisville stood out in two categories.

“Morrisville did particularly well in education, scoring eight out of 10 for schools,” Wang said.

Morrisville also did well in terms of family friendliness, Wang said. This meant Morrisville had a low percentage of families with children under the age of five who were in poverty, as well as a high percentage of families with children under the age of 18.

What Makes a Town Family Friendly

Throughout the study, Wang said high rankings towns and cities tended to be around the Raleigh-Durham area or Charlotte. While the presence of an employer was not factored into the study, Wang said the correlation is there when comparing maps of large employers and the highest ranking places.

“It’s not much of a leap to say people move where jobs are,” Wang said.

But Wang added that a decade or so before, Morrisville would not have done as well in this study, which he said points to the “eye-opening” population increase here.

“It’s an indicator of how fast Morrisville is growing,” Wang said. “Up until relatively recently, it was not as populous.”

Story by Michael Papich. Photo by Hal Goodtree. Community coverage sponsored in part by the Morrisville Chamber of Commerce.