Cary, North Carolina

Cary is a town in Wake, Chatham, and Durham counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina and is part of the Raleigh-Cary, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area.^[1] According to the 2020 census, its population was 174,721, making it the seventh-most populous municipality in North Carolina, and the 146th-most populous in the United States.^[3] In 2023, the town's population had increased to 180,010.^[3]

Cary began as a railroad village and became known as an educational center in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.^[4] In April 1907, Cary High School became the first state-funded public high school in North Carolina.^[5][6][7] The creation of the nearby Research Triangle Park in 1959 resulted in Cary's population doubling in a few years, tripling in the 1970s, and doubling in both the 1980s and 1990s.^[8][9] Cary is now the location of technology companies, including SAS Institute, the world's largest privately held software company.^[10][11]

In Cary, 68.4% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, which is higher than the state average.^[12] In 2021, it was identified as the safest mid-sized place to live in the United States, based on 2019 FBI data.^[13] It also has a median household income of $113,782, higher than the county average of $88,471 or the state average of $60,516.^[14][15][3]