Wendell, North Carolina

Wendell ( ) is a town in Wake County, North Carolina, United States. It is a satellite town of Raleigh, the state capital. The population was 9,793 at the 2020 census and estimated at 19,687 as of July 2025.

History

Incorporated in 1903, Wendell was settled in the 1850s, when farmers in Granville County were victims of a blight that came to be known as the Granville County Wilt. Their tobacco crops failed, and they chose to move to a new location with more fertile land for their crops.

As settlement increased, a small village took form. The villagers asked the local schoolteacher, M.A. Griffin, to choose a name. Griffin suggested they call it Wendell, in honor of his favorite poet, Oliver Wendell Holmes. However, the townspeople pronounce each syllable with equal emphasis, not as the poet's middle name is said. The Town seal was adopted on April 4, 1963.

The first post office was built in 1891, and has been restored by the Wendell Historical Society. The oldest institution in Wendell is Hephzibah Baptist Church, founded in 1809. The first newspaper was the Wendell Clarion, founded in 1911, which was succeeded by the Gold Leaf Farmer and currently the Eastern Wake News.

Wendell has four buildings and two districts that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. These are the Dr. Thomas H. Avera House, Harmony Plantation, Riley Hill School, Sunnyside, Wendell Boulevard Historic District, and the Wendell Commercial Historic District.

In the 2020s, the town began experiencing a population surge due to proximity to Raleigh and increased demand for housing in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. This growth has led to numerous infrastructure and municipal projects, private developments and expansion of services across Wendell to keep up with the influx of people. The town was the fastest growing municipality in North Carolina in 2023 and one of the fastest in the United States.

Wendell is located in the northeast-central region of North Carolina, where the Piedmont and Atlantic Coastal Plain regions meet. This area is known as the "Fall Line" because it marks the elevation inland at which rapids and small waterfalls begin to appear in creeks and rivers. Its central Piedmont location situates Wendell approximately two hours (via car) north of Wilmington, two hours south of Richmond, two and a half hours west of Atlantic Beach and Nags Head and four hours east of the Great Smoky Mountains.

Adjacent to Wendell is the Lizard Lick community, which has a Wendell zip code and addresses and became notable for the Lizard Lick Towing reality series.

Climate

Wendell enjoys a moderate subtropical climate, with moderate temperatures in the spring, fall, and winter. Summers are typically hot with high humidity. Winter highs generally range in the low 50s°F (10 to 13.2°C) with lows in the low-to-mid 30s°F (-2 to 2 °C), although an occasional 60 °F (15 °C) or warmer winter day is not uncommon. Spring and fall days usually reach the low-to-mid 70s°F (low 20s°C), with lows at night in the lower 50s°F (10 to 14 °C). Summer daytime highs often reach the upper 80s to low 90s°F (29 to 35 °C). The rainiest months are July and August.

Demographics

2020 census

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:right"

|+Wendell racial composition

!scope="col"| Race

!scope="col"| Number

!scope="col"| Percentage

!scope="row"| White (non-Hispanic)

| 4,925

| 50.29%

!scope="row"| Black or African American (non-Hispanic)

| 2,564

| 26.18%

!scope="row"| Native American

| 37

| 0.38%

!scope="row"| Asian

| 224

| 2.29%

!scope="row"| Pacific Islander

| 8

| 0.08%

!scope="row"| Other/Mixed

| 493

| 5.03%

!scope="row"| Hispanic or Latino

| 1,542

| 15.75%

As of the 2020 census, Wendell had a population of 9,793. The median age was 35.0 years. 26.4% of residents were under the age of 18 and 11.5% were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 88.9 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 84.1 males.

98.3% of residents lived in urban areas, while 1.7% lived in rural areas.

There were 3,644 households in Wendell, of which 38.3% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 51.6% were married-couple households, 12.3% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 30.2% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 23.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. There were 1,941 families residing in the town. There were 3,868 housing units, of which 5.8% were vacant. The homeowner vacancy rate was 2.5% and the rental vacancy rate was 5.0%.

2010 census

As of the census

Economy

Notable Wendell businesses include the Bearded Bee Brewing Company and the North American headquarters of Daedong-USA, the maker of Kioti tractors. Siemens houses a 272,000 square foot manufacturing facility bordering city limits that serves as the company's US headquarters for its Electrification and Automation (EA) business and employs local residents. The town's growth in the 2020s has spurred rapid commercial development in the Wendell Falls area and along the Wendell Falls Parkway and Wendell Boulevard corridors.

In 2025, work broke ground on the Wendell Commerce Center, a complex of multi-tenant warehouse buildings totaling nearly 1.8 million square feet of industrial space near the interchange of Interstate 87, Wendell Boulevard and Rolesville Road similar to existing properties in western Wake County and in Research Triangle Park.

Transportation

Passenger

Air: Wendell is served by Raleigh-Durham International Airport, which is located in northwestern Wake County on I-40, about 25 minutes from the town.
Rail: Wendell was served by a passenger line between Raleigh and Wilson with stops in Knightdale, Zebulon, and Wendell, but was terminated in 1943. The railroad (Carolina Coastal Railway) still runs through downtown Wendell and is owned by Regional Rail LLC. Wendell is not served directly by passenger trains. The nearest Amtrak stations are in Raleigh and Selma.
Local bus: GoTriangle operates the ZWX (Zebulon-Wendell Express) line that serves the area during rush hour for park and ride commuters, and connects to municipal bus systems in Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill. GoRaleigh operates Route 33 that connects the New Hope area of Raleigh to Knightdale and Wendell's campus of Wake Tech (weekdays only to the campus) hourly.

Roads

runs through the western portions of Wendell and has three exits serving the town: Wendell Falls Parkway (Exit 11), Wendell Boulevard/Knightdale Boulevard (Exit 13) and Rolesville Road (Exit 14, southbound only).
and run concurrently along the Interstate 87 route and take over as the primary highway designations at Interstate 87's terminus at Rolesville Road, continuing east as an expressway towards Zebulon and serving Wendell via Exit 432 (Lizard Lick Road).
US 64 Business (Wendell Boulevard) runs through Wendell from east to west as the main non-expressway arterial road between Raleigh and Zebulon.
Other highways in the area include , and .
Wendell Falls Parkway is the main arterial route for southwestern Wendell, running from the I-87 interchange to downtown Wendell, terminating at Wendell Boulevard. A portion of Wendell Falls Parkway was formerly the final few miles of Poole Road, a longstanding road between Wendell and Raleigh. The road serves the Wendell Falls community, one of the largest planned communities in North Carolina.

Parks and recreation

The town is served by several recreational parks and facilities. They include Wendell Park, Hollybrook Park (opened in 2025), Wendell Community Center and J. Ashley Wall Town Square. Future additions include the Buffalo Creek Greenway, Main Street Greenway, Main Street Park, Carver Community Center at Pleasant Grove and smaller parks as part of neighborhood or commercial developments.

Greg Ellis, NFL defensive end (born in town)
Fred Marshall Henry "Snake", MLB first baseman (moved to town, possibly born)
Lawson B. Knott Jr., administrator of the General Services Administration (born in town)
George J. Laurer, inventor of the Universal Product Code (moved to town)
Brian McGinnis, US Senate candidate, pro-Palestine activist (moved to town)
Charlie Leland Rowland "Chuck", MLB catcher (moved to town)
Gregory Walcott, film and television actor (born in town)