Everything you need to know about Living in Wendell, NC!
Are you moving to Wendell, NC, or just asking yourself, “Is Wendell a good place to live? Is Wendell right for me?” The historic downtown has been revitalized with the growth of nearby Wendell Falls. So if you’re looking for a convenient up and coming area with both new homes and small town life, you just might find it here in Wendell.
Of course, we’ll also tell you the town’s downsides so you can make the best decision for you!
Living in Wendell NC Contents
Wendell’s Personality
Living in Wendell NC used to be a quiet country experience on the east side of Raleigh. The east side was a lot slower to develop than the west side because of it’s further distance from Research Triangle Park, which is our largest employment hub in the region.
But then something happened.
Newland Communities is a national real estate developer that specializes in resort style master planned communities, that incorporate social, commercial and lifestyle development within the community.
Newland looks for rural areas on the cusp of major growth and in 2015, they discovered Wendell, North Carolina.
At that time, Wendell was only about 6000 people. It has since doubled in size, in large part due to the development of Wendell Falls and subsequent communities developed nearby.
The growth of Wendell Falls has influenced the town quite a bit, and the town and the Falls have developed a very symbiotic relationship. Without the quaint downtown and cheerful personality of the town of Wendell, the Falls wouldn’t be as enticing as it is. And without the population growth brought about by the Falls development, Wendell would still be a historic town with mostly shuttered store fronts.
Living in Wendell NC: Location
Living in Wendell NC, you’ll be about 20 minutes east of Downtown Raleigh, amid a cluster of little towns. It’s directly between Knightdale (about 10 minutes away) and Zebulon (about 8 minutes the other direction), which provides lots of opportunities for shopping and activities.
Wendell is located in Wake County although some homes are located in neighboring Johnston County. For many outlying towns in the Triangle, you will often see the majority of homes in Wake county with a few in a neighboring county.
Even though it’s a bit removed, Wendell has pretty good access to major shopping and employment opportunities, given it’s close proximity to downtown Raleigh. If you’re commuting into RTP, that could take you anywhere from 35-50 minutes, depending on traffic. It’s about the same to Raleigh Durham International Airport (RDU)
The good news about Wendell’s location is, if you’re a beach person, it’s one of the much closer locations to the beach while living in the Triangle. It’s a flat 2 hours to Wrightsville, which is the closest beach. If you’re looking for a charming, historic coastal town, check out Beaufort, NC, about a 2-hour and 20-minute drive.
The closest mountains are about 3 hours in Boone, NC, and Blowing Rock. Want to explore another city? Charlotte is about 2 hours and 30 minutes, Asheville is about 4 hours away. Washington DC is between 4-5 hours, depending on traffic and Savannah Georgia is the same. There’s just ton to do in a short drive from the Triangle.
Moving to Wendell, NC: Cost of Living
Check out Homes Currently For Sale in Wendell here.
Wendell is one of the more affordable towns in the Triangle.
The median home price is around $400,000 and it is the second least expensive in Wake County.
Depending on where you’re coming from, this might seem terribly cheap or terribly expensive. According to Bestplaces.net, overall cost of living in Wendell is about 6% higher than the US average.
Although groceries, healthcare and housing are all cheaper than the US average. The majority of disparity in cost, tended to be in “miscellaneous” expenses, which includes clothing, restaurants, repairs and entertainment. I’ve also heard people who relocate to the Triangle say that services like hairstylists and other personal services are more expensive here.
Want to Compare Wendell to Knightdale? Check out our comparison here.
Living in Wendell NC: Jobs
In 2022, the median household income in Wendell was 91,000, according to the US Census Bureau.
While most people in Wendell commute to jobs in downtown Raleigh or Research Triangle Park, there are some jobs in Wendell.
Siemens AG is a leader in industrial and building automation. It provides technologies for automated factories, intelligent infrastructure, and drive systems. Their headquarters are located in Munich Germany and they have several locations in North Carolina including the Wendell location.
Living in Wendell NC: Culture and Community
Wendell still exudes a small town charm and it’s still small enough to really know people within the town. The historic downtown is very quaint and growing. There is a town square with a gazebo and outdoor stage where they often have concerts and events.
Living in Wendell NC: Parks
Wendell is still a small town and while there is still quite a bit of farmland, it currently doesn’t have a lot of preserved parks. However, as part of Wake County, Wendell is part of the Wake County Open Space program, dedicated to preserving 30% of it’s land to greenspaces.
Existing Parks
Wendell Town Park sits in the recreation complex with the community center. It has a large playground, baseball fields, tennis courts, disc golf course, and walking trails.
Turnipseed Nature Preserve: The newest Wake County park located near Wendell, offers around 3 miles of easy gravel trails, picnic areas, and views of the wetlands along Gin Branch Creek. There are beautiful rock outcroppings and gardens at this park.
Future Greenspace Plans
In 2002, the town of Wendell created a Master Greenspace plan. A study was done in conjunction with the town of Zebulon
According to the plan, several corridors will serve as the Open Space and Greenway System, forming a green necklace around Wendell & Zebulon and providing the foundation of the core system of trails and Open Space lands.
Additional corridors will serve neighborhoods, functioning as connectors to enhance the primary system. The Little River Reservoir Park is planned to be the central greenway hub,
1. Little river will provide a major north-south greenway corridor,
2. Development of Zebulon-Wendell greenway,
3. Marks Creek Greenway to connect Wendell with Knightdale and provide access to Carver Elementary School,
4. Buffalo Creek Greenway to connect Wendell with Knightdale and provide access to East Wake High School.
Living in Wendell NC: Festivals and Events
Wendell is bubbling with activities year round, including many popular events! Here are a few popular ones!
Wendell Harvest Festival: Celebrated in early October, this festival includes a live auction, bingo, a pumpkin derby, a downtown parade, crafts, rides, music, food, and a Beer Garden. It’s a family-friendly event that celebrates the fall holidays. More info
Wendell Wonderland: This family friendly event happens yearly during the holiday season, supporting the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation. It typically begins on the evening of the first Friday in December. More info
Protown BMX: If bike stunts are your thing, don’t miss this annual event in March! This tour of professional BMX stunt riders offers bike clinics, shows and autographs!
International Food Festival: Foodie love!! This is a fantastic festival with foods from Honduras to, Poland to Nigeria. Come hungry the third Saturday in September!
For a full list of festivals in Wendell, Click Here.
Living in Wendell, NC: Weather
Wendell, NC, has a humid subtropical climate. Summers here are pretty hot, with highs usually hitting the mid to upper 80s. Winters are mild, with lows typically in the mid-30s to low 40s.
We get our fair share of rain, about 46 inches annually, which is more than the US average of 38 inches. Thunderstorms are pretty common in late spring and summer, sometimes bringing hail and even tornadoes.
Snow is rare in winter, and honestly we’re usually pretty excited to see it. We average about 3 inches a year, which means most years we get none at all. And it doesn’t stick around long.
On the bright side, Wendell boasts around 219 sunny days each year, beating the US average of 205. And as for precipitation, which includes rain, snow, sleet, or hail, we see it on about 104 days a year. To count as precipitation, there needs to be at least .01 inches on the ground.
Education
Public Schools
Wendell is part of the Wake County Public School System. Here is more information about how the school system works in Wake County. Public schools that serve Wendell:
Wendell Magnet Elementary: received Magnet Schools of America’s 2015 Elementary Magnet School of Merit Award, given to the nation’s top elementary magnet school. Wendell offers the creative arts and science magnet theme, which works to integrate arts and science in all classes.
Lake Myra Elementary: Lake Myra is an award winning school for the implementation of Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports. Programming offers students the opportunities to strive in Art, Music, PE, Guidance, and STEM. Lake Myra offers a R.O.M.P chorus, leadership clubs, and dance ensemble.
Carver Elementary: Carver is home to the Ready to Learn Center a free program which serves students and their parents from birth to Kindergarten. Carver has a wonderful teaching staff which includes special area teachers, a counselor, social worker, speech/language teacher, ESL teacher, and a part time AIG teacher.
Wendell Middle School: Wendell Middle collaborates with staff, students and families to foster a supportive, respectful, and organized environment.
East Wake High School: East Wake offers a variety of Advanced Placement courses as well as Career & Technical Education (CTE) courses. East Wake has the second-largest CTE program in the WCPSS by offering programs from Automotive Technology, Construction Technology, Agriculture, Family Consumer Sciences, Business, Technology, Computer Science, Project Lead the Way, and Health Sciences. Students may choose to join our Academy of Life Sciences to experience a deeper dive into a medical or veterinary science career.
Private & Charter Schools:
(Charter schools are publicly funded schools, run similar to the way a private school is run.)
Cardinal Charter Academy at Wendell Falls: This K-8 school offers a new school design from Charter Schools USA that consists of a single-story building, with a new and improved layout and interior design, based on research about how students learn best. The school will also offer a new style of teaching, as the school’s core is built upon a strong foundation of collaboration, differentiation, and Future Ready skills. The collaborative environment provides space and opportunities where inquiry learning and innovation can occur. All rooms are housed in a grade-level “community.”
Crime
Before moving to Wendell, NC, you may ask: Is Wendell, NC a safe place to live?
Wendell, North Carolina’s crime rate for violent crime is 30% less than the US average (16.0 to 22.7 on a 100-point scale).
Property crime in Wendell, NC, is 20% less, rated as 28.5 compared to the national average of 35.4.
Comparing the numbers to Raleigh proper, we see that, once again, Wendells’s crime is less than what is seen in Raleigh. (Wendell’s violent crime = 16.0; Raleigh’s violent crime = 20.3 / Wendell’s property crime = 28.5; Raleigh’s property crime = 44.4). In summary, Wendell is a safe and secure town.
Sports & Recreation
The town of Wendell offers sports for adults, children and seniors. For children, they offer: soccer, baseball, softball, t-ball, volleyball and tennis. For adults they offer softball, volleyball, basketball, and tennis.
The town also offers some fitness classes at the community center, as well as track out camps for students.
Food & Shopping in Wendell
Downtown Wendell Shopping & Restaurants
Bearded Bee Brewery – This is the local hangout. It’s a super cool and has some incredible architecture. Look at the honeycomb light fixture!
Everest Kitchen – you get Thai, Indian and Chinese, all in one spot!
Whistlestop Bottle Shop – beer & wine retail store
Carters Baking Company – scratch made cookies, cakes, pies and holiday treats.
Greytree Boutique – women’s clothing store.
Wendell General Store – I think this is the best general store in the area. So many great local products! It’s fun to see kids drop by to play checkers on the oversized games set up in the store.
Wendell Falls Shopping & Restaurants:
Grocery Stores
There are two chain grocery stores in Wendell: Food Lion and Publix. Publix is relatively new to the Triangle area and this store recently opened.
If you’re looking for more upscale and organic options, Publix is the spot for that. The closest Costco is 23 minutes away in North Raleigh. There’s also a Trader Joe’s and a Wegmans right near that Costco. And it’s a little less than 30 minutes to either of the Whole Foods in Raleigh.
There are two sections in Wendell where you’re going to find most of your shops and restaurants. The first is in the historic downtown. The second is in all the new shops going in around Wendell Falls.
As I said earlier, Wendell Falls development kind of jump started the growth of the town. And with that development came commercial growth designed to meet the needs of the growing population. This area is anchored by Publix and there are a bunch of new medical offices as well as some new restaurants.
Big Box Stores
If you need bigger shopping like Target, Best Buy, Home Depot or TJ Maxx, you can find all that and more in the Midtown Commons Shopping Center in neighboring Knightdale. It’s about 15-20 minutes drive from Wendell.
If you need a mall, Triangle Town Center is 24 minutes away in Northeast Raleigh. And if you’re looking for more upscale shopping, you can find that about 20 minutes away in North Hills.
Local History
The town of Wendell was formed when farmers moved from Granville County, looking for better conditions for their crops. As the more families joined the growing village, they commissioned a school teacher to come teach their kids.
The school teacher suggested naming the town Wendell, after his favorite poet, Oliver Wendell Holmes. Everyone agreed and the name stuck. It should be noted, though, that the pronunciation of Wendell has the emphasis on the second syllable, not the first, the way the poet’s name is pronounced.
Cons of Living in Wendell
There’s a downside to everywhere. If there were anything that would bug me about living in Wendell, it would be these things:
- It’s a bit removed from a lot of the larger amenities of the Triangle. You really do have to drive most places outside of mom and pop shops and grocery stores. And it’s generally 20-30 minutes, not 10-15.
- I love small towns. And Wendell is still a very small town. Because of that it does lack the variety of greenways and green spaces that you can find in many other places.
- Wendell is quiet. If you need variety or hustle and bustle, move to Raleigh. 🙂
If you’re still wondering: Is moving to Wendell, NC worth it? Then, you can check out my video where I compare Knightdale to Wendell.
