2025 Best Nursing Bachelor's Degree Schools in North Carolina

Ranked #2 in popularity, nursing is one of the most sought-after bachelor's degree programs in the nation. This means there are lots of options to choose from when you decide to get your degree.

College Factual looked at 28 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Nursing Bachelor's Degree Schools in North Carolina ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 3,279 bachelor's degrees in nursing during the 2022-2023 academic year.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

• Best Bachelor’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Nursing School for Your Bachelor's Degree

Your choice of nursing for getting your bachelor's degree school matters. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.

A Great Overall School

The overall quality of a bachelor's degree school is important to ensure a quality education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To account for this we include a school's overall Best Colleges ranking which itself looks at a host of different factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.

Early-Career Earnings

One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of bachelor's graduates during the early years of their career. That is, everyone wants their bachelor's degree to be worth something, and salaries are one measure of determining that.

Other Factors We Consider

The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.

• Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to nursing students as compared to other majors.
• Major Demand - How many other nursing students want to attend this school to pursue a bachelor's degree.
• Educational Resources - How many resources are allocated to students. These resources may include educational expenditures per student, number of students per instructor, and graduation rate among other things.
• Student Debt - How much debt nursing students go into to obtain their bachelor's degree and how well they are able to pay back that debt.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized nursing related body.

Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for nursing students working on their bachelor's degree.

More Ways to Rank Nursing Schools

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Nursing Bachelor's Degree Schools in North Carolina ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

In addition to our rankings, you can take two colleges and compare them based on the criteria that matters most to you in our unique tool, College Combat. Test it out when you get a chance! You may also want to bookmark the link and share it with others who are trying to make the college decision.

Best Schools for Bachelor’s Students to Study Nursing in North Carolina

Explore the top ranked colleges and universities for nursing students seeking a a bachelor's degree.

10 Top North Carolina Schools for a Bachelor's in Nursing

1

Duke University
Durham, NC

224 Annual Graduates

$77,288 Median Starting Salary

Duke University is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a bachelor's degree in nursing. Duke is a large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Durham.

Those nursing students who get their bachelor's degree from Duke University earn $5,152 more than the average nursing student.

More information about a bachelor’s in nursing from Duke University

2

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC

199 Annual Graduates

$71,594 Median Starting Salary

Any student who is interested in a bachelor's degree in nursing needs to look into University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Located in the small city of Chapel Hill, UNC Chapel Hill is a public university with a very large student population.

Bachelor's students who receive their degree from the nursing program earn around $71,594 in the first couple years of their career.

More information about a bachelor’s in nursing from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

3

East Carolina University
Greenville, NC

351 Annual Graduates

$72,051 Median Starting Salary

$31,992 Median Student Debt

East Carolina University is a great choice for students interested in a bachelor's degree in nursing. Located in the small city of Greenville, ECU is a public university with a fairly large student population.

Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the nursing program report average early career income of $72,051.

More information about a bachelor’s in nursing from East Carolina University

4

University of North Carolina at Wilmington
Wilmington, NC

789 Annual Graduates

$74,463 Median Starting Salary

$18,624 Median Student Debt

University of North Carolina at Wilmington is one of the best schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in nursing. UNCW is a large public university located in the medium-sized city of Wilmington.

Bachelor's recipients from the nursing degree program at University of North Carolina at Wilmington get $2,327 above the standard graduate in this field shortly after graduation.

More information about a bachelor’s in nursing from University of North Carolina at Wilmington

5

University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Charlotte, NC

135 Annual Graduates

$73,445 Median Starting Salary

$15,476 Median Student Debt

UNC Charlotte is a fairly large public university located in the large city of Charlotte.

Soon after graduation, nursing bachelor's recipients generally earn an average of $73,445 at the beginning of their careers.

More information about a bachelor’s in nursing from University of North Carolina at Charlotte

6

University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Greensboro, NC

184 Annual Graduates

$68,115 Median Starting Salary

$15,331 Median Student Debt

Located in the large city of Greensboro, UNC Greensboro is a public university with a fairly large student population.

Bachelor's students who receive their degree from the nursing program earn about $68,115 in their early career salary.

More information about a bachelor’s in nursing from University of North Carolina at Greensboro

7

Gardner - Webb University
Boiling Springs, NC

74 Annual Graduates

$71,337 Median Starting Salary

$33,142 Median Student Debt

Located in the rural area of Boiling Springs, Gardner - Webb is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population.

Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the nursing program report average early career income of $71,337.

More information about a bachelor’s in nursing from Gardner - Webb University

8

Appalachian State University
Boone, NC

100 Annual Graduates

$69,420 Median Starting Salary

$13,939 Median Student Debt

Appalachian State is a very large public university located in the town of Boone.

Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the nursing program state that they receive average early career income of $69,420.

More information about a bachelor’s in nursing from Appalachian State University

9

Winston - Salem State University
Winston-Salem, NC

158 Annual Graduates

$72,639 Median Starting Salary

$12,707 Median Student Debt

WSSU is a small public university located in the large city of Winston-Salem.

Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the nursing program state that they receive average early career earnings of $72,639.

More information about a bachelor’s in nursing from Winston - Salem State University

10

Queens University of Charlotte
Charlotte, NC

88 Annual Graduates

$73,479 Median Starting Salary

Queens is a small private not-for-profit university located in the city of Charlotte.

Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the nursing program report average early career earnings of $73,479.

More information about a bachelor’s in nursing from Queens University of Charlotte

Best Nursing Colleges in the Southeast Region

Explore all the Best Nursing Schools in the Southeast Area or other specific states within that region.

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Florida	225	9,015
Georgia	224	3,954
Tennessee	220	3,180
Virginia	213	3,096
South Carolina	195	1,605
Kentucky	187	2,530
Alabama	184	2,607
Louisiana	171	1,963
Mississippi	169	1,307
Arkansas	167	1,371
West Virginia	147	774

View All Rankings >

Rankings in Majors Related to Nursing

Nursing is one of 34 different types of Health Professions programs to choose from.

Nursing Concentrations

Major	Annual Graduates
Registered Nursing	3,264
Adult Health Nurse/Nursing	15

Majors Similar to Nursing

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Public Health	841
Health & Medical Administrative Services	724
Health Sciences & Services	205
Rehabilitation & Therapeutic Professions	200
Communication Sciences	198
Allied Health Professions	131
Dietetics & Clinical Nutrition Services	99
Clinical/Medical Laboratory Science	72
Other Health Professions	69
Health/Medical Prep Programs	23

Notes and References

• The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
• The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
• Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
• Credit for the banner image above goes to Aleksahgabrielle. More about our data sources and methodologies.