Everything you need to know about Living in Hillsborough, NC!
Is Hillsborough a good place to live? Are you moving to Hillsborough? Lots of people call me asking that question so I’m going to share with you the things that are most important to people who are thinking about moving to Hillsborough, NC. These are the things that most frequently come up in conversations I have with people who call me. You can click on the topics to read about the things that are most important to you. If you have questions about moving to Hillsborough, don’t hesitate to give us a call. We’re always happy to talk with you!
Living in Hillsborough NC: Contents
Living in Hillsborough NC: Personality
I like to think of living in Hillsborough NC as Chapel Hill LIGHT.
It’s a small town, with only 9000 people, but for the size, it probably has the most well developed community and amenities available of any small town in the Triangle.
Some of that has to do with the natural resources, but it’s also the way the town has made the natural resources accessible, like the Eno River. You don’t tend to see that kind of development in such a small town.
If you’re the type of person who loves the outdoors, and loves small locally owned businesses that are central to the town’s success, Hillsborough might be for you.
Living in Hillsborough, NC: Location
Hillsborough is located northwest of Raleigh, about 45 minutes from downtown Raleigh and 15 minutes from both Downtown Durham and Chapel Hill.
It’s accessible to all these cities via I-85 and I40.
25 minutes (21 miles) will get you to Research Triangle Park. With traffic you can expect to add at least another 10 minutes to your drive. It’s about 30 minutes to Raleigh Durham International Airport (RDU)
The other bonus to living in Hillsborough is it’s about halfway between the Triangle and the Triad.
Greensboro is about 45 minutes west of Hillsborough and Winston Salem is about an hour. That gives you a whole different metro area to explore.
Being on the west side of the Triangle, Hillsborough is exactly halfway between the mountains and the beach. Wrightsville Beach is 2.5 hours drive and Boone, the closest mountain town is 2.5 hours west. You can get to Charlotte in under 2 hours, Washington DC in 4, Savannah Georgia in 5 and New York City in 8 hours drive.
The truth is, you’re a morning cooler packing away from an unlimited number of day trips. And access to RDU airport offers 37 non-stop flights both nationally and internationally.
Moving to Hillsborough, NC: Cost of Living
Check out Homes Currently For Sale in Hillsborough here.
Hillsborough is relatively affordable for the Triangle. The median home price is about 1% lower than Raleigh, the capital city.
According to Bestplaces.net, overall cost of living in Hillsborough is about 8% higher than the US average and 18% higher than North Carolina.
Groceries are 1% cheaper than the national average and transportation is 13% cheaper than the national average.
Interestingly, healthcare is a little more expensive than the national average if you’re living in Hillsborough NC, which is not typical for the Triangle area in general. We have a lot of healthcare options in the Triangle, which in many places makes it cheaper here.
Someone asked us about the crime rate in Hillsborough so we did a video about it. When you watch it, please don’t judge! 🙂 It was Covid and the hairdressers were closed!
Jobs & Economy in Hillsboro NC
In 2022, the median household income in Hillsborough was $86,000, according to the US Census Bureau.
If you’re living in Hillsborough NC you’re going to be commuting for work.
It’s a really great spot to commute to RTP (25 minutes) Duke University or UNC Chapel Hill (15 minutes). If you’ll be working at the new Apple Campus, it’s about a 30 minute commute and Hillsborough is about the best small town living you’ll find that is an easy drive to Apple.
Hillsborough does have one national corporation headquartered in town… eh-hem. This is a little embarrassing. Adam & Eve, the largest mail order distributor of sex toys, condoms, and erotica in the United States is Hillsborough’s largest employer. Unlike other small towns, I haven’t heard a single person complain about the nightlife.
Culture and Community
Hillsborough is a haven for artists and writers.
If you’re an artist and you’re considering moving to Hillsborough, you won’t be alone.
New York Times best selling author Lee Smith said, “Hillsborough has always attracted writers and artists, oddballs and intellectuals, and storytellers of all kinds.”
The Hillsborough Arts Council is located in a restored historic mill, the Eno River Mill, and offers classes, camps and galleries for artists to display their work. The arts council hosts a variety of annual markets and events like the solstice market and lantern walk, Artcycle and the Handmade Parade.
Downtown Hillsborough
If you’re living in Hillsborough, NC, you’ll be surrounded by history. Hillsborough is on the National Register of Historic Places, with over 100 homes, churches and buildings registered. This feeling of history and creativity really embodies the whole town.
Downtown Hillsborough has quite a few unique and interesting shops and restaurants. Hillsborough Yarn Store, Purple Crow Bookstore (every small town needs a good bookstore!!) and Dwell Hillsborough are all popular shopping spots. Spiral Studios Jewelry designer is a really cool spot to find unique jewelry.
For a full list of festivals and events hosted by the town of Hillsborough, Click Here.
For a list of festivals and events hosted by the arts council, Click Here.
Living in Hillsborough: Parks & Outdoors
Hillsborough is a haven for outdoorsy people. It’s pretty unbelievable for such a small town, really.
Fairview Park: Fairview is a 41 acre park, 25 of which are owned by the Town of Hillsborough, and 16 which are owned and maintained by Orange County. Currently, the park includes natural areas, a kids playground, and restroom facilities.
Gold Park: a 24 acre park only ½ a mile from the riverwalk. Includes playground, fenced dog park, picnic area and multi purpose field.
Cates Creek Park: a 16 acre community park with soccer fields, picnic tables, trails and a playground.
Occoneechee Indian Village: Hillsborough was once the capital of colonial North Carolina, but it was also the home of the Occoneechi who moved into this area from the Virginia colony following Bacon’s Rebellion. A replica village began its construction next to downtown in 2017.
Historic Occoneechee Speedway: Back in the day, this dirt track was an early NASCAR venue for people living in Hillsborough NC. Today it is a pedestrian path used by residents living in Hillsborough. Some old race cars, the stone bleachers, and some outbuildings from its time in the sun still remain.
Occoneechee State Mountain Area: This is in Hillsborough, but it’s a North Carolina State Park. The Triangle is a bit hilly, but our hills aren’t generally high enough to have overlooks. Occonneechee is the exception to that rule. The park is 190 acres, with 3 miles of hiking trails. It is the highest point in Orange County.
Hillsborough River Walk: This is a 2 mile trail along the Eno River. It begins in downtown Hillsborough right next to the Weaver Street Market. There is a nice sized parking garage for easy access to the trail.
Religion in Hillsborough
Hillsborough is a smaller town and most of the religious life centers around many denominations of Christian churches throughout the area.
Additionally, there is a Hare Krishna Hindu temple in Hillsborough. For those in need of Buddhist, Islamic, or Jewish houses of worship, those are a very short drive away (about 15 minutes) in both Chapel Hill and Durham.
Living in Hillsborough, NC: Weather
Hillsborough has a moderate climate with mild winters and warm, humid summers.
The town gets about 46 inches of rain each year, more than the national average of 38 inches.
Hillsborough gets about 4 inches of snow. (The national average is 28 inches.)
It’s not a lot, but if you’re living in Hillsborough NC, you’ll notice that often the snowline falls in the middle of or just northwest of Durham. So towns that are north or west of Durham are more likely to see snow when the rest of the Triangle gets rain.
Most people here love snow. You stock up on bread and milk and wait for everything to shut down for a vacation day. Snow rarely happens. We might see it once every few years.
Hillsborough also has 217 sunshine days per year, much higher than the national average of 205 days.
Living in Hillsborough, NC: Education
Public Schools
Hillsborough is part of the Orange County School district. According to Niche.com, Orange County spends about $15,000 per student, and has a 14:1 student teacher ratio. 35% of students are proficient in math and 44% are proficient in reading.
If you have children and are considering moving to Hillsborough, I always encourage people to call the school and talk to the principal. They are your best resource for really understanding the school
Hillsborough Elementary: Hillsborough Elementary is a year-round school. This means that students attend school for the same number of days as traditional schools, but the breaks are distributed differently throughout the year. Specifically, students at Hillsborough Elementary go to school for nine weeks and then have a three-week break (intersession), with a shorter summer break.
River Park Elementary: River Park Elementary School is located in the historic district of Hillsborough and is known for its focus on environmental and science education. The school utilizes its beautiful, wooded campus for educational purposes.
In collaboration with the Historic Tree Society, River Park Elementary has identified rare or historic trees on its grounds and placed identifying markers on them. These features are integrated into the school’s environmental and science lessons, emphasizing hands-on, applied learning.
Grady Brown Elementary: From their website: “Based on our beliefs that every child is gifted, has strengths, and needs to be successful, our Grady A. Brown Elementary family will promote an atmosphere in which students will be nurtured academically, emotionally, physically and socially. At GAB, we believe that behavior must be taught just like reading, writing, and math.”
A L Stanback Middle School: A L Stanback has a strong athletics program and offers career and technical education in addition to academics.
Private & Charter Schools:
(Charter schools are publicly funded schools, run similar to the way a private school is run.)
Eno River Academy: Eno River was founded in 1997 as one of the original 100 public charters in North Carolina. They use a STEAM educational philosophy (Science, Technology, Engineering, ARTS and Mathematics) as well as project based learning methods. They offer grades K-12.
The Expedition School: The Expedition school is a K-8 school also offering a STEM curriculum using Project Based Learning. From their website: “While allowing for some degree of student “voice and choice,” rigorous projects are carefully planned, managed, and assessed at TES in order to help students learn key academic content, practice 21st Century Skills (such as collaboration, communication & critical thinking)”
Hillsborough Christian Academy: From their website, “Academic excellence, strong Christian worldview foundations and unparalleled character and leadership development. These are the key tenets that define the Hillsborough Christian Academy experience. It’s an approach that ensures our students are given the best opportunity to discover their full potential both spiritually and intellectually.”
Pinewoods Montessori: A Montessori education for students aged 18 months through 12 years old. Pinewoods Montessori offers mixed age classrooms in a beautiful, light filled environment.
Crime in Hillsborough NC
According to bestplaces.net, crime in Hillsborough is about twice as high as the national average both for violent crime and property crime.
Does living in Hillsborough NC really mean that you’re going to be a victim of crime?
This is one of those situations that really makes no sense.
I’ve never seen anything in Hillsborough that makes me think crime is high.
I have seen things in other parts of the Triangle that are concerning to me, but never in Hillsborough. So I called the police to ask why the crime stats look so high online. They told me that whoever gathered the crime statistics online were not gathering them from the local police station because they have not released those statistics to anyone.
They also told me that they do not believe the crime rates are accurate at all. If you have further questions about crime in Hillsborough, I suggest you call the Hillsborough Police Department.
Sports & Recreation
Even though the town of Hillsborough is the county seat, its population is only 9000 people. So the recreation is run at the county level, rather than the city level.
If you move to Hillsborough, NC or are living there now, There are two recreation centers in Hillsborough that you can make use of: The Orange County Sportsplex and the Central Recreation Center.
For a small town, they have a ton of recreational options.
- Ice Rink, offering adult, youth and preschool hockey leagues, figure skating as well as groups, field trips and public skating.
- Community Pool with recreation pool, baby/wading pool and competition pool, swim team and homeschool programs.
- Multiple sports courts and turf including: basketball, volleyball, futsal, pickleball, soccer, lacrosse, flag football and field hockey.
- A Fitness Center with group fitness, personal trainers, small group training, tots program and homeschool programs.
- Classes and camps for kids including summer camp, preschool, after school camps and more.
The Sportsplex is a North Carolina Board of Massage & Bodywork Therapy licensed establishment. They offer quality massage at an affordable price. The Sportsplex is also a UNC Physical therapy clinic and offers on-site physical therapy. They are also a UNC Audiology clinic, offering on site hearing services.
Food & Shopping in Hillsborough
Hillsborough is small and has pretty limited shopping options.
Don’t move to Hillsborough for big box stores. There is a SuperWalmart, a Home Depot and a Habitat Re-Store.
Most shopping in Hillsborough consists of locally owned shops in the historic district downtown. There is a Tanger Outlet Mall about 10 minutes away in Mebane.
Any other big box shopping is accessible about 15 minutes away in Durham or Chapel Hill, where you can find Target, Marshalls, Best Buy, Barnes and Noble and many other familiar stores.
Grocery Stores
Grocery stores in Hillsborough include Walmart, Food Lion. But most people living in Hillsborough are very supportive of the grocery co-op, Weaver Street Market.
Weaver Street is a local grocery co-op with primarily natural, organic and whole foods. You don’t have to be a member to shop there, but members get a discount. And they have an adorable little coffee shop with outdoor seating.
Costco is 15 minutes away in Durham. Wegmans, Trader Joes and Whole Foods are 15 minutes away in Chapel Hill.
Popular Restaurants
I you’re living in Hillsborough NC you’ll have access to some fantastic local restaurants, and quite a big variety for such a small town. There were way more than this, but you should definitely walk around downtown and discover many of them on foot. It’s an experience.
- The Nomad at Osbun: Nomad offers cross cultural global cuisine, with a fusion of flavors from around the world. A truly unique menu.
- Wooden Nickel Pub: This is the local hangout. Wings, burgers, craft beer and all their beef comes from their own local farm.
- Hillsborough Bake Shop & Pasta Co: This used to be a farm to table Italian place, but he got tired of just serving Italian and added a bakery to the pasta menu. Creative people work this way sometimes. Baked goods made from scratch daily. Handmade pasta. It doesn’t get better than this.
- Hot Tin Roof: Largest Bourbon collection in Hillsborough. Craft Beers. Corn hole, dominoes, pet & kid friendly.
- Hillsborough Barbecue Company: traditional barbecue with some unconventional twists thrown in. Good, honest soul food. Catfish, Brunswick stew and hush puppies are favorites.
- The Village Diner: Classic Americana, looks unassuming, but high quality prepared classics. Meatloaf, banana pudding, locally stone-ground grits.
Hillsborough Fun Fact
Hillsborough is one of those places you can find some unique properties. As much as 25% of homes that sold in Hillsborough in 2023, were not in a subdivision. And 33% of homes that sold had over an acre of land.
Need a home in Hillsborough?
Popular Neighborhoods in Hillsborough, NC
These are some of the most popular neighborhoods for people living in Hillsborough NC:
Churton Grove- $600s-$800k
- Housing Types: Predominantly single-family homes.
- House Sizes: Typically range from 2700 to 4,000 sq ft.
- Lot Sizes: Ranging from 0.5 to 0.6 acres.
- Amenities: Pool, clubhouse, tennis courts, 2 playgrounds, basketball court, gaga ball court, miles of walking trails.
- HOA Fees: $80/month
- Age of Homes: Mostly built from 2003 through 2012.
- Remodeling: Some homes have seen updates, especially in older sections.
- Walkability: walkable to a small shopping center with a grocery store and a couple small restaurants.
Waterstone- $300s – $700s
- Housing Types: A mix of single-family homes and townhomes.
- House Sizes: Single-family homes range from 2,600 to 4,500 sq ft; townhomes are typically around 1,700 to 2,300 sq ft.
- Lot Sizes: Typically around 0.15 to 0.2 acres.
- Amenities: Swimming pool, playgrounds, walking paths.
- HOA Fees: Varies, depending on the property and amenities. Estimated $115/month per townhome, plus $800+ per year for both townhomes and single family homes.
- Age of Homes: Most homes built from 2015 – 2020.
- Remodeling: Not yet.
- Walkability: Poor
Hardscrabble – $500k – $800k
- Housing Types: Single Family Homes.
- House Sizes: Vary from 2,500 to 4,000 sq ft.
- Lot Sizes: Majority of homes have 1 acre or more.
- Amenities: tennis, pickleball, soccer fields, swimming pool, outdoor fitness station, community garden, sand volleyball courts, walking trails, doggy waste stations, kids playgrounds, picnic tables, fishing ponds, clubhouse.
- HOA Fees: $119/month
- Age of Homes: Most homes built from the early 1990’s through mid-2000’s.
- Remodeling: Some
- Walkability: Not walkable at all. This neighborhood has a rural farm-like feel with beautiful white board fencing.
Cons of Living in Hillsborough
Not every place is perfect and not every place is a good fit for everyone.
- Hillsborough is far from a lot of things. It’s on the northwesternmost side of the Triangle, so access to Raleigh is not easy. And the traffic on 40 getting there is miserable. If you need to be in Raleigh regularly, I wouldn’t choose living in Hillsborough NC. It could take well over an hour during rush hour.
- The police station did say the crime stats were not accurate. However, living near I-85 probably does result in a little more crime.
FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)
What is Hillsborough, NC known for?
Hillsborough is known for its rich history, picturesque landscapes, and a vibrant arts scene. It’s a small town with a strong sense of community and a deep appreciation for its historic roots, including significant sites from the Revolutionary and Civil War eras.
How is the climate in Hillsborough?
Hillsborough experiences a temperate climate with four distinct seasons. Summers are warm and humid, while winters are generally mild. Spring and autumn offer pleasant temperatures and are popular times for outdoor activities.
What are the top attractions in Hillsborough?
Popular attractions include the Historic Occoneechee Speedway Trail, Ayr Mount Historic Site, Riverwalk, Eno Gallery, and the Orange County Historical Museum. The town also hosts various cultural events and festivals.
How is the local economy in Hillsborough?
The local economy is diverse, with a mix of small businesses, arts and crafts, tourism, and some light industry. The proximity to the Research Triangle Park also influences employment and economic opportunities.
What is the cost of living in Hillsborough compared to other North Carolina cities?
The cost of living in Hillsborough NC is generally moderate, though it can be slightly higher than some other small towns in North Carolina, mainly due to its desirable location and quality of life.
What are the education opportunities in Hillsborough?
Hillsborough has several public schools under the Orange County School District, known for their strong academic programs. There are also private school options, and nearby universities and colleges in the Research Triangle area.
Is Hillsborough a family-friendly town?
Yes, Hillsborough is considered very family-friendly, with its safe neighborhoods, community events, parks, and recreational facilities. Its schools and local activities cater well to families.
What kind of housing is available in Hillsborough?
Housing in Hillsborough ranges from historic homes in the downtown area to newer developments on the outskirts. There’s a mix of single-family homes, townhouses, and apartments catering to different budgets.
How is the transportation in and around Hillsborough?
Transportation options include local bus services and major highways for easy access to nearby cities. However, having a car is beneficial for more flexibility and convenience.
What are the dining and shopping options like in Hillsborough?
Hillsborough offers a variety of dining options, from casual eateries to upscale restaurants, many of which focus on local and seasonal cuisine. Shopping includes unique local boutiques, arts and crafts stores, and essential retail shops.
If you’re still wondering: Is moving to Hillsborough worth it? Then, you can check out my video where I investigate Hillsborough.
