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Largest community colleges in North Carolina

Community colleges in North Carolina ranked by total student enrollment, largest first. Bigger institutions generally offer broader program catalogs, more sections per term, more transfer agreements, and deeper student-services staffing — but smaller colleges often win on advisor attention, classroom intimacy, and faculty access.

  1. Cape Fear Community CollegeWilmington, NC9,764
  2. Guilford Technical Community CollegeJamestown, NC9,260
  3. Forsyth Technical Community CollegeWinston-Salem, NC7,113
  4. Pitt Community CollegeWinterville, NC5,317
  5. Durham Technical Community CollegeDurham, NC3,890
  6. Central Carolina Community CollegeSanford, NC3,237
  7. Catawba Valley Community CollegeHickory, NC2,741
  8. Coastal Carolina Community CollegeJacksonville, NC2,724
  9. Sandhills Community CollegePinehurst, NC2,539
  10. Caldwell Community College and Technical InstituteHudson, NC2,393
  11. College of the AlbemarleElizabeth City, NC2,001
  12. Craven Community CollegeNew Bern, NC1,989
  13. South Piedmont Community CollegePolkton, NC1,833
  14. Vance-Granville Community CollegeHenderson, NC1,665
  15. Robeson Community CollegeLumberton, NC1,551
  16. Wilson Community CollegeWilson, NC1,373
  17. NASCAR Technical InstituteMooresville, NC1,345
  18. Western Piedmont Community CollegeMorganton, NC1,339
  19. Brunswick Community CollegeBolivia, NC1,211
  20. Johnson & Wales University-CharlotteCharlotte, NC1,184
  21. Cleveland Community CollegeShelby, NC1,097
  22. Rockingham Community CollegeWentworth, NC1,065
  23. Bladen Community CollegeDublin, NC1,030
  24. Haywood Community CollegeClyde, NC849
  25. Sampson Community CollegeClinton, NC846
  26. Southeastern Community CollegeWhiteville, NC820
  27. Halifax Community CollegeWeldon, NC723
  28. Cabarrus College of Health SciencesConcord, NC712
  29. McDowell Technical Community CollegeMarion, NC608
  30. Carolinas College of Health SciencesCharlotte, NC533
  31. Tri-County Community CollegeMurphy, NC472
  32. Piedmont Community CollegeRoxboro, NC457
  33. Louisburg CollegeLouisburg, NC402
  34. Mayland Community CollegeSpruce Pine, NC362
  35. Roanoke-Chowan Community CollegeAhoskie, NC309
  36. Galen Health Institutes-AshevilleAsheville, NC253
  37. South University-High PointHigh Point, NC67

Why size matters

Enrollment scale shapes nearly every aspect of the student experience at a community college. The largest North Carolina community colleges typically offer multiple sections of every general-education course, robust evening and weekend schedules for working students, full-service career centers and transfer advising offices, and deep portfolios of articulation agreements with four-year institutions across North Carolina and beyond. They also tend to operate multiple campuses or learning centers, which can put a community college within commuting distance of more residents.

Smaller community colleges in North Carolina compete on attention. Smaller cohorts mean a single academic advisor sees you across multiple semesters and can write a substantive recommendation when you transfer or apply for a job. Faculty teach more sections of fewer courses, which means the same instructor often guides you through a sequence rather than handing you off term to term. For students who thrive on relationship and continuity, the smaller institutions on this list can be the better choice even when the larger one offers more programs.

Use this list alongside the state's transfer-outcomes guide and the state's cost-and-aid guide. Together they let you triangulate fit on the three dimensions that matter most for community-college choice: program availability, total cost after aid, and how reliably the institution moves students on to the next step.