Growing central North Carolina city with family-friendly vibes
Resting roughly 20 miles west of Durham and 30 miles east of Greensboro, the small Alamance County city of Mebane sits between North Carolina’s booming Research Triangle and Piedmont Triad regions. Marketed as “positively charming,” this city, established in the late 1880s, features a walkable downtown historic district of art galleries, cafes and vintage boutiques. Many families here live in oak tree-shaded subdivisions, and a sense of community is fostered through an array of holiday and seasonal events where folks jam out to live music, enjoy good food and give back through charity fundraisers.
Mebane “feels like an old town even though it’s so progressive,” says Valerie Beausoleil, a Realtor with Beausoleil Realty Group and president of Mebane Business Association. “Because we are located in a sweet spot between Greensboro and Raleigh, we’ve had an influx of people moving here.” According to U.S. Census Bureau data, Mebane is the fastest-growing city in the Piedmont Triad area. Its population has increased by over 10% since 2020, with around 20,000 people calling it home.
The railroad slicing through town hearkens back to the city’s initial industrial growth. Manufacturing remains a top industry, with ABB Industrial Solutions and Walmart Distribution being some of the city's largest employers. Healthcare is another top industry. Cone Health MedCenter sits along I-40 about a mile south of downtown, offering urgent care, primary care, surgical and lab services and specialists. Commuting roughly 30 miles to Research Triangle Park is also common. It’s the nation’s largest research park, hosting hundreds of companies such as Lenovo and Cisco Systems.
The City of Mebane is known for its small city charm with access to bigger cities close by.
Mill Creek residents have the Mebane Tanger Outlet mall just minutes away for shopping.
You can find restaurants, coffee and so much more in Downtown Mebane.
There are shops, restaurants and the train all centrally located in downtown Mebane.
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Cheaper home prices compared to larger, nearby cities
According to the National Association of Realtors September 2024 data, Mebane’s median sales price of $380,000 sits below the national median of $404,500. Beausoleil says properties here cost about half as much as those in Raleigh. Prices range from $190,000 for manufactured homes and townhouses to more than $2.5 million for historic homes and custom builds.
A mixture of midcentury ranch-style homes and early 20th-century bungalows dot the city’s northern and far southern points. Further north, near the city’s border, two-story brick and vinyl New Traditional homes built in the 2010s sit on windy residential roads within walking distance to community parks, pools and Millcreek Golf Club. Victorians and Colonial Revivals sit along Fifth Street near downtown.
The city has approved several new housing developments over the last few years, including Summerhaven and Cambridge Park. These neighborhoods south of downtown offer two-story ranch-style homes and New Traditional homes, community pools and nearby walking trails. In October 2023, Mebane City Council approved the Deep River mixed-use development, which will be built at the intersection of Old Hillsborough and Mebane Oaks roads. Once complete, it will include 90 townhomes and five parcels for commercial use.
You can find Colonial Revival style homes within the city of Mebane.
Beautiful two-story brick homes are commonplace in the Mill Creek neighborhood.
You can find a variety of newer homes within the Mill Creek neighborhood.
You can find a selection of ranch homes within the Woodlawn neighborhood.
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Clay Street, model trains and the Tanger Outlets
Historic red brick buildings adorned with vintage awnings and colorful murals sit in a row along Clay Street, Mebane’s downtown strip filled with locally owned boutiques, bars and restaurants. The city is particularly known for its antique shops, including Mebane Antique Auction Gallery, which attracts collectors nationwide for weekly auctions. Downtown Mebane is an official Social District, allowing shoppers and bar hoppers to walk around the area with open alcoholic drinks during designated hours from Thursday through Sunday.
For over 30 years, the weekend-long Mebane Dogwood Festival has drawn crowds to this quaint downtown each April for carnival rides, craft vendors, a model car show and musical performances. The first day includes the Dogwood Golf Tournament at Mill Creek Golf Club, about 2 miles north. Downtown is also the setting for the Alamance Arts and Mebane Business Association’s Musical Chairs, a summer concert series where folks gather along 4th Street to enjoy rock and classic soul sounds from well-known regional bands.
South of downtown, across the railroad tracks, is the Mebane Historical Museum. Its exhibits explore the city's history and culture. The institution is home to a collection of model trains. Visitors can pay $5 to watch these locomotives loop around a miniature version of Mebane.
A city surrounded by rural communities, Mebane is a shopping destination for many in this part of North Carolina. Tanger Outlets, off Interstate 40, hosts dozens of name-brand and luxury stores such as Coach and Talbots. More national retailers and grocers, including Walmart Supercenter and Lowes Foods, sit nearby along Mebane Oaks Road.
There is so much to love about the fun streets of Downtown Mebane.
You can enjoy shopping on Clay St in Downtown Mebane.
You can stop by Filament Coffee + Tea near Mill Creek for your favorite drink.
Shop for the latest fashion at the Tanger Outlet Mall in Mebane which is only 15 miles away.
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Trails, lakes and ballfields in Mebane’s city parks
The over 350 acres of city-owned green space includes nine parks, such as the popular Mebane Community Park, where people walk their dogs on well-paved trails or cool off in the splash pad in the summer. The park also includes the county's only municipality-operated artificial turf ball fields, which the Mebane Youth Soccer Association regularly uses. During the spring, Mebane puts on Movies in the Park, and families bring chairs and blankets and enjoy the local food trucks parked nearby. The 200-acre Lake Michael Park is one of the city’s big attractions, featuring hiking trails shaded by towering pine trees, fishing piers and gentle waters for kayaking. The city’s newest green space, Cates Farm Park, opened in 2021. Initially a pickle farm, it’s now cultivating mindfulness with scenic views, walking trails, a butterfly garden and a wildflower meadow. It also has a new ADA-inclusive wooden playground fixed with wide, interconnecting bridges and a wheelchair swing.
Improvements and additions are on the way for the park system, according to the city’s Recreation & Parks Comprehensive Master Plan adopted in 2023. The city plans to expand the trail system around Lake Michael and add basketball and volleyball courts and more playground space to the Old Rec and Youth Walker Field area. The city is also considering a proposal to build a new community center, pool facility, multipurpose fields and pickleball courts next to Mebane Community Park.
You can enjoy the peace and serenity of the water at Lake Michael Park near Mill Creek.
You can enjoy fishing at Lake Michael Park near the Mill Creek neighborhood.
Mebane Community Park has amazing soccer fields to practice your skills.
You can take a boat out for leisure or fishing on Graham-Mebane Lake in Woodlawn.
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Quick access to U.S. Route 70 and Interstate 40
U.S. Route 70 cuts through the center of Mebane, leading to the larger city of Burlington to the west and Hillsborough, a Research Triangle bedroom community to the east. Interstate 40 passes through the city’s south side to reach destinations across the state, including Durham International Airport, about 36 miles away. “You can access the highway in about 10 minutes from anywhere in the city,” says Beausoleil, who adds that traffic gets congested getting on and off the highway, but it’s not too heavy around the city. The area offers a few public transit options, including the Go Triangle Orange-Durham Connector or ODX. The bus service travels to Hillsborough, Durham and Chapel Hill. Residents can also schedule a ride with Alamance County Transportation Authority. ACTA vans feature wheelchair lifts and other specialized transportation needs.
The Mebane Bicycle and Pedestrian Transportation Plan, adopted in 2015, details the city’s effort to add more pedestrian and bike infrastructure. Sidewalks line one side of most streets, and red-brick crosswalks are marked downtown, but the city has a dearth of bike lanes and paved shoulders. In recent years, the city has added marked crosswalks and sidewalks to several railroad crossings to make them more pedestrian-friendly. New lane markings and signage on downtown streets urge drivers to share the road with cyclists, and two greenways are in the works. The Lake Michael Connector will be a multi-use path connecting several neighborhoods to Lake Michael Park. The Holt Street Greenway will be built in the forest between the Mebane Arts & Community Center and Holt Street Park.
Two school districts and the new Southeast Alamance High
Mebane is served by Orange County Schools, which scores an overall B-plus from Niche, and Alamance-Burlington Schools, earning a B overall. Eastern Alamance High, one of the largest in the area, receives a B rating and offers an extensive career and technical education department where students can take courses focused on hospitality, agriculture and business marketing. In the summer of 2023, the county opened a new high school, Southeast Alamance High, to relieve overcrowding. The school, which is not yet rated, features safety measures like electronic doors, a vestibule visitors must pass through and a network of security cameras. Bradford Academy is the city’s sole private school. The Christian school earns an A overall from Niche and offers transitional kindergarten through 12th grade. Alamance Community College sits west of town. With less than 7,800 students, the college has a 17:1 student-to-faculty ratio. Popular programs include business, heating, ventilation and refrigeration maintenance technology and welding.
E.M. Yoder Elementary School
Woodlawn Middle School
Eastern Alamance High School
Alamance Community College is a popular destination for the students of Mebane.
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A focus on community-oriented policing
According to FBI data, Mebane Police reported a slight increase in violent crimes and a 29% rise in property crimes from 2022 to 2023. In 2023, Mebane's property crime rate was higher than state and national figures. Beausoleil says car break-ins can be an issue at times, but the Mebane Police Department has created several programs to keep community relationships strong in all areas of the city. Children can visit the department for tours and rides in a patrol car. The department also participates in National Night Out, a community policing awareness event, and regularly partners with the city organizations for charity events. For Thanksgiving in 2024, the department helped distribute meals to 100 families in need.
Four distinct seasons and Mebane’s Flood Mitigation Plan
Mebane experiences all four seasons. Summers are humid, with temperatures often above 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Cold winters bring several inches of snowfall each year. Homeowners are encouraged to have flood insurance as some homes sit in flood zones and the Piedmont region can be impacted by hurricanes, tropical storms and heavy summer rains. The city’s Flood Mitigation Plan includes monitoring flood-prone areas and discouraging developers from building properties in flood zones.
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