Raleigh, NC (population: 421,938) has three jewelry schools within a 100-mile radius of its city center. Danville Community College, the highest ranked school in this group with a jewelry program, has a total student population of 4,387. It is the 4650th highest ranked school in the USA and the 94th highest in the state of Virginia (#1 is Washington and Lee University).
Jewelry students from Raleigh schools who go on to become jewelers, jewelry designers, jewelry makers, jewelry repairers, etc. have a good chance at finding employment. For example, there are 23,410 people working as jewelers and precious stone and metal workers alone in the US, and their average annual salary is $36,620. Also, Craft artists make on average $33,070 per year and there are about 5,380 of them employed in the US today.
Raleigh lies in Wake county, which is one of the 64 counties in North Carolina. Overall, the Raleigh-Cary area has 499,330 total employed workers according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, with a 0.6% unemployment rate, $20.85/hr average worker wage, and a $43,370 average annual salary.
Of the 3 jewelry schools with a 100-mile radius of Raleigh, none have a student population over 10k. After taking into account tuition, living expenses, and financial aid, Patrick Henry Community College comes out as the most expensive ($5,363/yr) for jewelry students, with Montgomery Community College as the lowest, reported at only $2,315/yr.
| Name | State | Population | # of Schools | Avg School Rank | Total Programs | Distance from Raleigh |
| Cary | NC | 145,939 | 1 | 22.8054 | 14 | 8.3 miles |
| Durham | NC | 235,337 | 9 | 27.0185 | 371 | 17.9 miles |
| Chapel Hill | NC | 53,800 | 1 | 88.0971 | 148 | 22.6 miles |
| Wilson | NC | 49,786 | 3 | 25.177 | 101 | 42.0 miles |
| Burlington | NC | 53,389 | 3 | 40.9051 | 223 | 47.8 miles |
| Rocky Mount | NC | 57,428 | 2 | 10.9274 | 84 | 48.6 miles |
| Fayetteville | NC | 177,632 | 7 | 29.3341 | 376 | 53.6 miles |
| Tarboro | NC | - | 1 | 20.0774 | 40 | 63.2 miles |
| Greensboro | NC | 259,523 | 7 | 44.9987 | 387 | 67.9 miles |
| Weldon | NC | - | 1 | 13.6824 | 51 | 72.8 miles |
| Greenville | NC | 85,963 | 10 | 31.6955 | 630 | 74.0 miles |
| Wentworth | NC | - | 1 | 11.7821 | 42 | 74.1 miles |
| High Point | NC | 105,064 | 3 | 31.8326 | 88 | 75.9 miles |
| Alberta | VA | - | 1 | 15.5248 | 32 | 84.2 miles |
| Pembroke | NC | - | 1 | 53.5737 | 73 | 84.4 miles |
| Laurinburg | NC | - | 1 | 18.8047 | 40 | 85.4 miles |
| Martinsville | VA | - | 1 | 12.8903 | 37 | 90.6 miles |
| Winston Salem | NC | - | 7 | 32.3218 | 230 | 90.8 miles |
| Misenheimer | NC | - | 1 | 21.9215 | 70 | 94.4 miles |