The 10 Worst Raleigh Suburbs

The 10 Worst Raleigh Suburbs To Live For 2024

We’ll get the ball rolling with Wilson’s Mills, the absolute worst place to live around Raleigh according to the data.

And in the world of worst rankings, Wilson’s Mills beat the competition pretty handily thanks to scoring in the bottom 15% in three major categories. Income is the 7th worst in the Raleigh area, and to make matters worse, the city ranks 4th worst when it comes to home values.

But hey, at least it’s cheap to live there. But there’s a reason for that… it’s Wilson’s Mills.

You won’t feel bad about not having a great income for the area. There aren’t a bunch of places to spend your money anyway.

Welcome to Smithfield. Home to KMart, Big Lots, and a lot of gas stations.

This city is 26.6 miles to Raleigh. Income levels here are the 2nd lowest in the metro area, where families bring in about $37,000 a year, which only goes so far even on a shoestring budget.

But on the bright side, there are a lot of fast food joints in the area.

Back up the highway we go for the third worst Raleigh suburb you can live in. You might have expected to see Butner on here. While the cost of living is low, your entertainment and work options are limited. And that’s an understatement.

In terms of numbers, it’s in the worst 15% for insurance, and the adult high school dropout rate is poor compared to other Raleigh suburbs.

But at least there are lovely parks to bring the kids during the day.

If you live in Selma, most likely you struggle to make ends meet every month. It ranks as the lowest Raleigh suburb for median household incomes.

Not only that, but this is the 11th worst unemployed suburb you can live in if you choose to live near Raleigh. Remember, we looked at 27 cities for this study.

Selma is about 27.8 miles to downtown.

Louisburg has the distinction of being a Raleigh suburb. Which means that’s about all it has going for it.

All snarkiness aside, Louisburg has the 7th lowest home values in the metro Raleigh area, where the median price is $298,160. The median income is $145,166.

Louisburg has an unemployment rate of 28.34% which ranks worst.

Coats has 2,324 residents that probably know it’s a pretty crummy place to live when you look at the data. (Or, if you’ve ever been there, you don’t need to look at the data.)

Incomes are towards the bottom, and the poverty rate sits at 20.51724137931034%.

Ah, Zebulon. You rank as the 7th worst place to live around Raleigh.

It’s the place with the 4th most out of work residents in the Raleigh metro area (9.02%).

Four Oaks is a city about 29.1 miles from Raleigh, but Raleigh probably wishes it was further away. It ranks as the 8th worst burb for 2018.

You’d be hard-pressed to find a worse place to live. Four Oaks has the 2nd most uninsured people, 9th worst incomes, and has the 8th highest unemployment rate (5.85%) in the entire Raleigh metro area.

Homes only cost $275,597 for a reason. That’s cheap for Raleigh standards.

If you absolutely have to live near Raleigh, then Franklinton might be a place for you to consider as it’s only the 9th worst Raleigh suburb.

About 14.68% of residents are out of work.

Rounding out the ten worst Raleigh suburbs to call home is Angier.

Located 23.0 miles outside the city, Angiers is a real pit when you look at the data. Its residents have the 23rd highest unemployment rate (3.37%), and poverty is far above the area average.