Durham ( ) is a
city
A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...
in the
U.S. state of
North Carolina
North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...
and the
county seat
A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...
of
Durham County.
Small portions of the city limits extend into
Orange County and
Wake County. With a population of 283,506 in the
2020 census, Durham is the
fourth-most populous city in North Carolina and the
70th-most populous city in the United States.
The city is located in the east-central part of the
Piedmont
Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...
region along the
Eno River. Durham is the core of the four-county Durham–
Chapel Hill metropolitan area, which had an estimated population of 608,879 in 2023. The
Office of Management and Budget
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is the largest office within the Executive Office of the President of the United States (EOP). The office's most prominent function is to produce the president's budget, while it also examines agency pro ...
also includes Durham as a part of the Raleigh–Durham–Cary, NC Combined Statistical Area, commonly known as the
Research Triangle, which had an estimated population of 2,368,947 in 2023.
A railway depot was established in 1849 on land donated by
Bartlett S. Durham, the namesake of the city. Following the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
, the community of Durham Station expanded rapidly, in part due to the
tobacco industry
The tobacco industry comprises those persons and companies who are engaged in the growth, preparation for sale, shipment, advertisement, and distribution of tobacco and tobacco-related products. It is a global industry; tobacco can grow in any ...
. The town was incorporated by act of the
North Carolina General Assembly
The North Carolina General Assembly is the Bicameralism, bicameral legislature of the Government of North Carolina, state government of North Carolina. The legislature consists of two chambers: the North Carolina Senate, Senate and the North Ca ...
, in April 1869. The establishment of
Durham County was ratified by the General Assembly 12 years later, in 1881. It became known as the founding place and headquarters of the
American Tobacco Company.
Textile
Textile is an Hyponymy and hypernymy, umbrella term that includes various Fiber, fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, Staple (textiles)#Filament fiber, filaments, Thread (yarn), threads, and different types of #Fabric, fabric. ...
and
electric power
Electric power is the rate of transfer of electrical energy within a electric circuit, circuit. Its SI unit is the watt, the general unit of power (physics), power, defined as one joule per second. Standard prefixes apply to watts as with oth ...
industries also played an important role. While these industries have declined, Durham underwent revitalization and population growth to become an educational, medical, and research center.
Durham is home to several recognized institutions of higher education, most notably
Duke University
Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...
and
North Carolina Central University. Durham is also a national leader in health-related activities, which are focused on the
Duke University Hospital and many private companies. Duke and its
Duke University Health System are the largest employers in the city. North Carolina Central University is a
historically black university that is part of the
University of North Carolina System. Together, the two universities make Durham one of the vertices of the
Research Triangle area; central to this is the
Research Triangle Park[ '' The Herald Sun'' reports that it is the 4th-smartest city in the US.] south of Durham, which encompasses an area of 11 square miles and is devoted to research facilities.
On the Duke University campus are the
neo-Gothic Duke Chapel and the
Nasher Museum of Art. Other notable sites in the city include the
Museum of Life and Science,
Durham Performing Arts Center,
Carolina Theatre, and
Duke Homestead and Tobacco Factory.
Bennett Place commemorates the location where
Joseph E. Johnston surrendered to
William T. Sherman in the American Civil War. The city is served, along with Raleigh, by
Raleigh–Durham International Airport.
History
Pre-establishment
The
Eno and the
Occoneechi, related to the
Sioux and the
Shakori, lived in the area and may have established a village named Adshusheer (or Ajusher) in the area which became Durham.
The Occaneechi Path, a corridor of trading roads and trails, went through the area. Native Americans expanded the region by establishing settlements and commercial transportation routes.
In 1701, English explorer
John Lawson, documented the area and would later call it "the flower of the Carolinas". Lawson claimed that Ajusher was situated from Occaneechi Town. In the mid-1700s, Scots, Irish, and English colonists settled on land granted to
George Carteret by
King Charles I, a grant that had by then been inherited by his great-grandson
John. Early settlers built settlements as well as farms and mills, like
West Point Mill.
Frontiersmen in the area, prior to the
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...
, participated in the
Regulator Movement. Loyalist militia used Cornwallis Road to cut through the area in 1771 to quell the rebellion. William Johnston, a local a farmer and shopkeeper, made munitions for the
Continental Army
The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies representing the Thirteen Colonies and later the United States during the American Revolutionary War. It was formed on June 14, 1775, by a resolution passed by the Second Continental Co ...
, served in the
Provincial Congress in 1775, and financially supported
Daniel Boone
Daniel Boone (, 1734September 26, 1820) was an American pioneer and frontiersman whose exploits made him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. He became famous for his exploration and settlement of Kentucky, which was then beyo ...
on his westward explorations.
Antebellum and Civil War
Prior to the arrival of the railroad, the area now known as Durham was the eastern part of present-day Orange County and was almost entirely agricultural, with a few businesses catering to travelers (particularly livestock drivers) along the Hillsborough Road. This road, eventually followed by US Route 70, was the major east–west route in North Carolina from colonial times until the construction of interstate highways. Steady population growth and an intersection with the road connecting Roxboro and Fayetteville made the area near this site suitable for a US Post Office. Roxboro, Fayetteville and Hillsborough Roads remain major thoroughfares in Durham, although they no longer exactly follow their early 19th century rights-of-way.
Large plantations,
Hardscrabble,
Fairntosh,
Lipscomb,
Walnut Hall,
Patterson, and
Leigh
Leigh may refer to:
Places In England
Pronounced :
* Leigh, Greater Manchester, Borough of Wigan
** Leigh (UK Parliament constituency)
* Leigh-on-Sea, Essex
Pronounced :
* Leigh, Dorset
* Leigh, Gloucestershire
* Leigh, Kent
* Leigh, Staffor ...
among them, were established in the antebellum period. By 1860,
Stagville Plantation lay at the center of one of the largest plantation holdings in the South. African slaves were brought to labor on these farms and plantations, and slave quarters became the hearth of distinctively Southern cultural traditions involving crafts, social relations, life rituals, music, and dance. There were free
African-American
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...
s in the area as well, including several who fought in the Revolutionary War.
Durham's location is a result of the needs of the 19th century railroad industry. The wood-burning steam locomotives of the time had to stop frequently for wood and water and the new
North Carolina Railroad needed a depot between the settled towns of Raleigh and Hillsborough. The residents of what is now downtown Durham thought their businesses catering to livestock drivers had a better future than "a new-fangled nonsense like a railroad" and refused to sell or lease land for a depot. In 1849, a North Carolina Railroad depot was established on a four-acre tract of land donated by
Dr. Bartlett S. Durham; the station was named after him in recognition of his gift.
A
U.S. post office was established there on April 26, 1853, now recognized as the city's official birthday.
Durham Station, as it was known for its first 20 years, was a depot for the occasional passenger or express package until early April 1865, when the Federal Army commanded by Major General
William T. Sherman occupied the nearby state capital of Raleigh during the American Civil War. The last formidable Confederate Army in the South, commanded by General
Joseph E. Johnston, was headquartered in
Greensboro to the west. After the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia by Gen.
Robert E. Lee
Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was a general officers in the Confederate States Army, Confederate general during the American Civil War, who was appointed the General in Chief of the Armies of the Confederate ...
at
Appomattox, Virginia on April 9, 1865, Gen. Johnston sought surrender terms, which were negotiated on April 17, 18 and 26 at
Bennett Place, the small farm of James and Nancy Bennett, located halfway between the army's lines about west of Durham Station.
As both armies passed through Durham, Hillsborough, and surrounding Piedmont communities, they enjoyed the mild flavor of the area's
Brightleaf tobacco, which was considered more pleasant to smoke or chew than was available back home after the war. Some began sending letters to Durham to get more.
Reconstruction and the rise of Durham tobacco

The community of Durham Station grew slowly before the Civil War, but expanded rapidly following the war. Much of this growth attributed to the establishment of a thriving
tobacco
Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...
industry. Veterans returned home after the war with an interest in acquiring more of the tobacco they had sampled in North Carolina. Numerous orders were mailed to John Ruffin Green's tobacco company requesting more of the Durham tobacco. W.T. Blackwell partnered with Green and renamed the company as the "
Bull Durham Tobacco Factory".
The name "Bull Durham" is said to have been taken from the bull on the British
Colman's
Colman's is an English manufacturer of mustard and other sauces, formerly based and produced for 160 years at Carrow, in Norwich, Norfolk. Owned by Unilever since 1995, Colman's is one of the oldest existing food brands, famous for a limited ra ...
Mustard, which Mr. Blackwell mistakenly believed was manufactured in
Durham, England. Mustard known as Durham Mustard was originally produced in
Durham, England, by Mrs Clements and later by Ainsley during the eighteenth century. However, production of the original Durham Mustard has now been passed into the hands of
Colman's
Colman's is an English manufacturer of mustard and other sauces, formerly based and produced for 160 years at Carrow, in Norwich, Norfolk. Owned by Unilever since 1995, Colman's is one of the oldest existing food brands, famous for a limited ra ...
of
Norwich
Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...
, England.
Incorporation
As Durham Station's population rapidly increased, the station became a town and was incorporated by act of the
North Carolina General Assembly
The North Carolina General Assembly is the Bicameralism, bicameral legislature of the Government of North Carolina, state government of North Carolina. The legislature consists of two chambers: the North Carolina Senate, Senate and the North Ca ...
, on April 10, 1869. It was named for the man who provided the land on which the station was built, Dr. Bartlett Durham. At the time of its incorporation by the General Assembly, Durham was located in Orange County. The increase in business activity, land transfers etc., made the day long trip back and forth to the county seat in Hillsborough untenable, so twelve years later, on April 17, 1881, a bill for the establishment of
Durham County was ratified by the General Assembly, having been introduced by Caleb B.Green, creating Durham County from the eastern portion of Orange County and the western portion of
Wake County. In 1911, parts of
Cedar Fork Township of
Wake County was transferred to Durham County and became
Carr Township.
Early growth (1900–1970)

The rapid growth and prosperity of the Bull Durham Tobacco Company, and
Washington Duke's W. Duke & Sons Tobacco Company, resulted in the rapid growth of the city of Durham. Throughout the
Gilded Age and into the early twentieth century, Durham industrialists, including
George Washington Watts,
John Sprunt Hill, and
Julian S. Carr, built large mansions such as
Somerset Villa,
Harwood Hall, the
John Sprunt Hill House, and
Greystone Manor. Washington Duke was a good businessman, but his sons were brilliant and established what amounted to a monopoly of the smoking and chewing tobacco business in the United States by 1900. In the early 1910s, the Federal Government forced a breakup of the Duke's business under the antitrust laws. The Dukes retained what became known as
American Tobacco, a major corporation in its own right, with manufacturing based in Durham. American Tobacco's ubiquitous advertisements on radio shows beginning in the 1930s and television shows up to 1970 was the nation's image of Durham until Duke University supplanted it in the late 20th century.

Prevented from further investment in the tobacco industry, the Dukes turned to the then new industry of electric power generation, which they had been investing in since the early 1890s.
Duke Power (now Duke Energy) brought in electricity from hydroelectric dams in the western mountains of North Carolina through the newly invented technology of high voltage power lines. At this time (1910–1920), the few towns and cities in North Carolina that had electricity depended on local "powerhouses". These were large, noisy, and smoky coal-fired plants located next to the railroad tracks. Duke Power quickly took over the electricity franchises in these towns and then electrified all the other towns of central and western North Carolina, making even more money than they ever made from tobacco. Duke Power also had a significant business in local franchises for public transit (buses and trolleys) before local government took over this responsibility in the mid- to late 20th century. Duke Power ran Durham's public bus system (now
GoDurham) until 1991.
The success of the tobacco industry in the late 19th and early 20th century encouraged the then-growing textile industry to locate just outside Durham. The early electrification of Durham was also a large incentive. Drawing a labor force from the economic demise of single-family farms in the region at the time, these textile mills doubled the population of Durham. These areas were known as East Durham and West Durham until they were eventually annexed by the City of Durham.
Much of the early city
architecture
Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...
, both commercial and residential, dates from the period of 1890–1930. Durham recorded its worst fire in history on March 23, 1914. The multimillion-dollar blaze destroyed a large portion of the downtown business district. The fire department's water source failed during the blaze, prompting voters to establish a city-owned water system in place of the private systems that had served the city since 1887.
Durham quickly developed a black community, the center of which was an area known as ''
Hayti'', (pronounced HAY-tie), just south of the center of town, where some of the most prominent and successful black-owned businesses in the country during the early 20th century were established. These businesses — the best known of which are
North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company and
Mechanics & Farmers Bank — were centered on Parrish St., which would come to be known as "Black Wall Street". In 1910,
Dr. James E. Shepard founded
North Carolina Central University, the nation's first publicly supported liberal arts college for African-Americans.
In 1924,
James Buchanan Duke established a philanthropic foundation in honor of his father
Washington Duke to support Trinity College in Durham. The college changed its name to
Duke University
Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...
and built a large campus and hospital a mile west of Trinity College (the original site of Trinity College is now known as the
Duke East Campus).
Durham's manufacturing fortunes declined during the mid-20th century.
Textile
Textile is an Hyponymy and hypernymy, umbrella term that includes various Fiber, fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, Staple (textiles)#Filament fiber, filaments, Thread (yarn), threads, and different types of #Fabric, fabric. ...
mills began to close during the 1930s. Competition from other tobacco companies (as well as a decrease in smoking after the 1960s) reduced revenues from Durham's tobacco industry.
In a far-sighted move in the late 1950s, Duke University, along with the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University in Raleigh, persuaded the North Carolina Legislature to purchase a large tract of sparsely settled land in southern Durham County and create the nation's first "science park" for industry. Cheap land and a steady supply of trained workers from the local universities made the
Research Triangle Park an enormous success which, along with the expansion resulting from the clinical and scientific advances of Duke Medical Center and Duke University, more than made up for the decline of Durham's tobacco and textile industries.
Civil rights movement
As a result of its substantial African-American community, including many activists, a prominent
civil rights movement developed in Durham. Multiple sit-ins were held, and
Martin Luther King Jr., visited the city during the struggle for equal rights. The Durham Committee on Negro Affairs, organized in 1935 by C.C. Spaulding, Louis Austin, Conrad Pearson, and
James E. Shepard, has been cited nationally for its role in fighting for black voting rights. The committee also has used its voting strength to pursue social and economic rights for African-Americans and other ethnic groups. In 1957,
Douglas E. Moore, minister of Durham's
Asbury Temple Methodist Church, along with other religious and community leaders, pioneered sit-ins throughout North Carolina to protest discrimination at lunch counters that served only whites.
Widely credited as the
first sit-in of the civil rights movement in North Carolina, on June 23, 1957, Moore and six others assembled at the church to plan the protest. The young African Americans moved over to the
segregated Royal Ice Cream Parlor and took up whites-only booths. When they refused to budge, the manager called the police who charged them with trespassing. Unlike the
Greensboro Four, three years later, the Royal Seven were arrested and ultimately found guilty of trespassing.
The six-month-long sit-in at a
Woolworth's counter in
Greensboro, North Carolina
Greensboro (; ) is a city in Guilford County, North Carolina, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 299,035; it was estimated to be 307,381 in 2024. It is the List of municipalitie ...
, captured the nation's attention. Within a week, students from North Carolina College at Durham and Duke University staged a sit-in in Durham. About a week later, Martin Luther King Jr. met Moore in Durham, where King coined his famous rallying cry "Fill up the jails," during a speech at
White Rock Baptist Church. Advocating non-violent confrontation with segregation laws for the first time, King said, "Let us not fear going to jail. If the officials threaten to arrest us for standing up for our rights, we must answer by saying that we are willing and prepared to fill up the jails of the South."
This community was not enough to prevent the demolition of portions of the Hayti district for the construction of the Durham Freeway during the late 1960s. The freeway construction resulted in losses to other historic neighborhoods, including
Morehead Hill, West End, and
West Durham. Combined with large-scale demolition using Urban Renewal funds, Durham suffered significant losses to its historic architectural base.
1970s–present

In 1970, the Census Bureau reported city's population as 38.8% black and 60.8% white. Durham's growth began to rekindle during the 1970s and 1980s, with the construction of multiple housing developments in the southern part of the city, nearest
Research Triangle Park, and the beginnings of downtown revitalization. In 1975, the St. Joseph's Historical Foundation at the
Hayti Heritage Center was incorporated to "preserve the heritage of the old Hayti community, and to promote the understanding of and appreciation for the African American experience and African Americans' contributions to world culture."
In 1987, the American Tobacco Factory in Durham closed, leading to an economic downturn and a decline in the city's reputation. A new downtown baseball stadium was constructed for the
Durham Bulls in 1994. The
Durham Performing Arts Center now ranks in the top ten in theater ticket sales in the US according to Pollstar magazine. Many famous people have performed there including
B.B. King and
Willie Nelson
Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, actor and activist. He was one of the main figures of the outlaw country subgenre that developed in the late 1960s as a reaction to the conservative restr ...
. After the departure of the tobacco industry, large-scale renovations of the historic factories into offices, condominiums, and restaurants began to reshape downtown. While these efforts continue, the large majority of Durham's residential and retail growth since 1990 has been along the I-40 corridor in southern Durham County.
Major employers in Durham are Duke University and Duke Medical Center (39,000 employees, 14,000 students), about west of the original downtown area, and companies in the Research Triangle Park (49,000 employees), about southeast. These centers are connected by the Durham Freeway (
NC 147).
Downtown revitalization

In recent years the city of Durham has stepped up revitalization of its downtown and undergone an economic and cultural renaissance of sorts. Partnering with developers from around the world, the city continues to promote the redevelopment of many of its former tobacco districts, projects supplemented by the earlier construction of the
Durham Performing Arts Center and new
Durham Bulls Athletic Park. The
American Tobacco Historic District, adjacent to both the athletic park and performing arts center, is one such project, having successfully lured a number of restaurants, entertainment venues, and office space geared toward hi-tech entrepreneurs, investors, and startups. Many other companies have purchased and renovated historic buildings, such as
Measurement Incorporated and
Capitol Broadcasting Company
The Capitol Broadcasting Company, Inc. (CBC) is an American media company based in Raleigh, North Carolina. Capitol owns three television stations and nine radio stations in the Raleigh–Durham and Wilmington, North Carolina, Wilmington areas o ...
.
The American Underground section of the American Tobacco Campus, home to successful small software firms including
Red Hat
Red Hat, Inc. (formerly Red Hat Software, Inc.) is an American software company that provides open source software products to enterprises and is a subsidiary of IBM. Founded in 1993, Red Hat has its corporate headquarters in Raleigh, North ...
, was selected by
Google
Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...
to host its launch of the
Google Glass Road show in October 2013. The district is also slated for expansion featuring 158,000 square feet of offices, retail, residential or hotel space The
Durham County Justice Center, a major addition to downtown Durham, was completed in early 2013.
Many of the historic tobacco buildings elsewhere in the city have been converted into loft-style apartment complexes. The downtown corridor along West Main St. has seen significant redevelopment including bars, entertainment venues, art studios, and
co-working
Coworking is an arrangement in which workers for different companies share an office space. It allows cost savings and convenience through the use of common infrastructures, such as equipment, utilities and receptionist and custodial services, a ...
spaces, in addition to shopping and dining in nearby
Brightleaf Square, another former tobacco warehouse in the
Bright Leaf Historic District. Other current and future projects include expansion of the open-space surrounding the
American Tobacco Trail, new hotels and apartment complexes, a $6.35-million facelift of Durham City Hall, and ongoing redevelopment of the Duke University Central Campus.
In 2013,
21c Museum Hotels announced plans to fully renovate the
Hill Building. The renovations added a contemporary art museum and upscale restaurant to the historic building. Additionally, a boutique hotel was built in this major renovation effort in downtown Durham.
Skanska is responsible for managing this project.
In 2014, it was announced that downtown Durham would be the site of a brand new 27 story high building, tentatively named "City Center Tower," but now called "
One City Center". Along with other new buildings in downtown Durham, it was under construction in 2018.
It was built on the corner of Main St. and Corcoran St. Upon its completion, it was the tallest building in downtown Durham and the 4th largest building in the Triangle. Originally scheduled for a 2016 opening, the building opening was delayed to May 2018. The building was an $80 million project.
In October 2014, a major new development, the Durham Innovation District, was announced. The development will span 15 acres and comprise over 1.7 million square feet of office, residential, and retail space.
On April 10, 2019, a
gas explosion rocked Kaffeinate, a coffee shop in
Bright Leaf Historic District. The blast destroyed a city block and killed Kong Lee, the owner, as well as injuring 25 others.
Geography
Durham is located in the east–central part of the
Piedmont
Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...
region at (35.99, -78.9).
Like much of the region, its topography is generally flat with some rolling hills.
As of 2022, the city had a total area of , of which was land and (0.71%) was water.
The soil is predominantly clay, making it poor for agriculture. The
Eno River, a tributary of the
Neuse River, passes through the northern part of Durham, along with several other small creeks. The center of Durham is on a ridge that forms the divide between the Neuse River watershed, flowing east to
Pamlico Sound, and the
Cape Fear River watershed, flowing south to the Atlantic near
Wilmington. A small portion of the city is in
Wake County.
Durham is located 10 miles northeast of
Chapel Hill, 21 miles northwest of
Raleigh, 50 miles east of
Greensboro, 121 miles northeast of
Charlotte and 134 miles southwest of
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. Incorporated in 1742, Richmond has been an independent city (United States), independent city since 1871. ...
.
Climate
The climate of Durham is
humid subtropical (''Cfa'' according to the
Köppen classification system), with hot and humid summers, cool winters, and warm to mild spring and autumn. Durham receives abundant precipitation, with thunderstorms common in the summer and high temperatures from 80 to 100 degrees F. The region sees an average of of snow per year, with any snowfall usually melting within a few days.
The Durham area consistently ranks in the top 10 most challenging places to live with seasonal allergies.
Climate change is expected to increase the number of days of extreme precipitation in Durham as well as moderately increase temperature within the region. The number of days of inland flooding within the Piedmont is also expected to increase, which puts Durham at higher risk of future flooding. High-intensity short-duration storms are predicted to grow in frequency to upwards of 9 days a year by 2100. Inland flooding is anticipated to have a greater impact on the elderly and other at-risk groups.
Demographics
Durham's population, as of July 1, 2019 and according to the 2019 U.S. census data estimate, had grown to 278,993,
making it the 50th-fastest-growing city in the US, and the 2nd-fastest-growing city in North Carolina, behind Cary but ahead of Charlotte, Raleigh and Greensboro.
As of the
2020 census, there were 283,506 people, 114,726 households, and 64,982 families residing in the city.
American Community Survey
The American Community Survey (ACS) is an annual demographics survey program conducted by the United States Census Bureau. It regularly gathers information previously contained only in the long form of the United States census, decennial census ...
estimates, there were people and households.
The
population density
Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...
was . There were housing units at an average density of .
[To calculate density we use the land area figure from the places file in ] The racial makeup of the city was 41.1% White, 34.7% Black or African American, 9.9% some other race, 6.7% Asian, and 0.6% Native American or Alaskan Native, with 7.1% from two or more races.[ Hispanics or Latinos of any race were 14.1% of the population.][
Of the households, 24.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 23.2% had seniors 65 years or older living with them, 36.4% were married couples living together, 8.4% were couples cohabitating, 20.2% had a male householder with no partner present, and 35.1% had a female householder with no partner present.][ The median household size was and the median family size was .][
The age distribution was 19.7% under 18, 12.0% from 18 to 24, 33.2% from 25 to 44, 21.3% from 45 to 64, and 13.8% who were 65 or older. The median age was years.] For every 100 females, there were males.[
The median income for a household was $, with family households having a median income of $ and non-family households $. The ]per capita income
Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year.
In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...
was $. Out of the people with a determined poverty status, 11.2% were below the poverty line
The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...
. Further, 17.7% of minors and 7.3% of seniors were below the poverty line.
In the survey, residents self-identified with various ethnic ancestries. People of English descent made up 9.3% of the population of the town, followed by German at 7.7%, Irish at 6.8%, Italian at 3.0%, American at 3.0%, Sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa is the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lie south of the Sahara. These include Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, and West Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the list of sovereign states and ...
n at 2.6%, Polish at 2.0%, Scottish at 1.9%, French at 1.4%, Scotch-Irish at 1.3%, Caribbean (excluding Hispanics) at 0.9%, Dutch at 0.8%, Norwegian at 0.8%, Swedish at 0.8%, Russian at 0.7%, and Welsh at 0.6%.[
]
Economy
Duke University and Duke University Health System are Durham's largest employers. Below is a list of Durham's largest employers.
Healthcare and pharmaceuticals continue to grow in importance with many companies based in Durham including GlaxoSmithKline
GSK plc (an acronym from its former name GlaxoSmithKline plc) is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Pharmaceutics, pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with headquarters in London. It was established in 2000 by a Mergers an ...
, IQVIA, Aerie Pharmaceuticals, Parexel International, Chimerix, BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Bio Products Laboratory USA, bioMérieux USA and North Carolina Biotechnology Center.
Other prominent companies based in Durham include Center for Community Self-Help, Liggett Group, North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company, American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) is the national professional organization of Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) in the United States, with more than 428,000 members in 130 countries. Founded in 1887 as the Americ ...
, Bronto Software, Counter Culture Coffee, Burt's Bees, McKinney (advertising agency), Sugar Hill Records, Mechanics and Farmers Bank, Southern Express.
Arts and culture
Durham is the venue for the annual Bull Durham Blues Festival and the OUTsouth Queer Film Festival, the 2nd largest LGBTQ+ film festival in the Southeast. Other events include jazz festivals, plays, symphony concerts, art exhibitions, and a multitude of cultural expositions, including the American Dance Festival, Tobacco Road Dance, the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival and the Better Cities Film Festival. A center of Durham's culture is its Carolina Theatre, which presents concerts, comedy and arts in historic Fletcher Hall and Independent and repertory film in its cinemas. There is a resurgence of restaurants in and around the downtown area, including several new restaurants in the American Tobacco District. The Nasher Museum of Art opened in October 2005 and has produced nationally recognized traveling exhibitions of global, contemporary art.
Durham also has a history museum, the Museum of Durham History. In 2019, the museum hosted several exhibits, including one on journalist and civil rights activist Louis Austin, and in conjunction with the 150th anniversary of the city of Durham, an exhibit titled, "150 Faces of Durham", which highlighted many of the women and men who influenced the history of Durham.
The Durham Association for Downtown Arts (DADA) is a non-profit arts organization located in the downtown area. Incorporated in 2000, the organization's mission is a commitment to the development, presentation and fiscal sponsorship of original art and performance in Durham. DADA supports local artists working in a diversity of artistic media. DADA also helps local residents gain access to these artists by providing free or low-cost venue admission.
Movies such as '' Bull Durham'' (1988) and '' The Handmaid's Tale'' (1989) have been shot in Durham.
Music
Durham has an active and diverse local music culture. Artists' styles range from jazz, hip-hop, soul, folk, Americana, blues, bluegrass, punk, metal and rock. Popular bands and musicians include Branford Marsalis, Iron & Wine, Carolina Chocolate Drops, The Mountain Goats
The Mountain Goats are a United States band formed in Claremont, California, Claremont, California, by singer-songwriter John Darnielle. The band is currently based in Durham, North Carolina, Durham, North Carolina. For many years, the sole me ...
, John Dee Holeman, 9th Wonder, Red Clay Ramblers, The Old Ceremony, Megafaun, Curtis Eller, Mount Moriah, Hiss Golden Messenger, Sylvan Esso, Mel Melton, Hammer No More the Fingers, Yahzarah, G Yamazawa, and Jim Mills. Members of The Butchies, Superchunk, Chatham County Line, Alice Donut
Alice Donut is a punk rock band from New York City formed in 1986. The band released six albums before splitting up in 1996. They reformed in 2001.
History 1986–1996: Formation to split
Alice Donut formed in 1986 after the demise of the Sea B ...
, and the Avett Brothers live in Durham.
Merge Records
Merge Records is an independent record label based in Durham, North Carolina. It was founded in 1989 by Laura Ballance and Mac McCaughan. It began as an outlet for music from their band Superchunk and music created by friends, and has expand ...
, a successful independent record label, has its headquarters in downtown Durham. Other independent record labels include Jamla, 307 Knox, Churchkey Records, and Paradise of Bachelors. Roots label Sugar Hill Records was founded in Durham, by Barry Lyle Poss, before it moved to Nashville in 1998. In 1996, the feminist
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...
/ queer
''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are non-heterosexual or non- cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against LGBTQ people in the late 19th century. From the late 1980s, queer activists began to ...
record label Mr. Lady Records was founded and operated in Durham until its demise in 2004.
Duke University's radio station WXDU is an active participant in the community. WNCU, which is supported in part by NPR, is a jazz focused FM radio station, with broadcast studios on the campus of NCCU.
The music album Sandham: Symphony Meets Classical Tamil by composer Rajan Somasundaram made in association with Academy nominated singer Bombay Jayashri and Durham Symphony (led by William Henry Curry) became Amazon's Top#10 bestseller under 'International Music album' category in 2020.
Durham has a rich history of African American rhythm and blues, soul, and funk music. In the 1960s and 1970s, more than 40 R&B, soul, and funk groups—including The Modulations, The Black Experience Band, The Communicators, and Duralcha—recorded over 30 singles and three full-length albums. Durham was also home to ten recording labels that released soul music, though most of them only released one or two records apiece. A few successful local soul groups from Durham also recorded on national labels like United Artists or on regional labels in the mid-Atlantic and Northeast.
Since 1980, the Eno River Festival has been held annually at the West Point on the Eno park in Durham, hosting a wide variety of musical acts.
Visual arts
Durham is home to the Nasher Museum of Art and smaller visual arts galleries and studios. Downtown Durham sponsors a celebration of culture and arts on display every third Friday of the month, year round. The event has come to be known as 3rd Friday.
A selection of locally renowned galleries remain in business throughout the city. Galleries include but are not limited to local spots such as the Pleiades Gallery, the Carrack Modern Art, and Golden Belt Studios. Supporting a variety of local, nationwide, and worldwide talent, these galleries often host weekly events and art shows. The Durham Art Walk is another annual arts festival hosted in May each year in downtown Durham. The Durham Art Walk features a variety of artists that come together each year for a large showcase of work in the streets of Durham. A secondary magnet school, Durham School of the Arts, is also located in downtown Durham. It focuses on providing education in various forms of art ranging from visual to the performing arts.
Sports
Collegiate athletics are a primary focus in Durham. Duke University's men's basketball team draws a large following, selling out every home game at Cameron Indoor Stadium since 1990. The fans are known as the Cameron Crazies and are known nationwide for their chants and rowdiness. The team has won the NCAA Division I
NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...
championship three times since 2001 and five times overall. Duke competes in a total of 27 sports in the Atlantic Coast Conference
The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the ACC's eighteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athlet ...
.
Durham's professional sports team is the Durham Bulls International League
The International League (IL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the United States. Along with the Pacific Coast League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major ...
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...
team. A movie involving an earlier Carolina League
The Carolina League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated along the Atlantic Coast of the United States since 1945. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 unti ...
team of that name, '' Bull Durham'', was produced in 1988. Today's Bulls play in the Durham Bulls Athletic Park, on the southern end of downtown, constructed in 1994. One of the more successful teams in the minor leagues, the Bulls usually generate an annual attendance of around 500,000. Previously Durham Athletic Park (DAP), located on the northern end of downtown, had served as the Bull's ballpark. Historically, many players for the current and former Durham Bulls teams have transferred to the big leagues after several years in the minor leagues. DAP has been preserved for the use of other teams as well as for concerts sponsored by the City of Durham and other events. The Durham Dragons, a women's fast pitch softball
Softball is a Variations of baseball, variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand pitches (where the ball is released while the hand is primarily below the ball) ...
team, played in the Durham Athletic Park from 1998 to 2000. The DAP recently went through a $5 million renovation.
Government and politics
Government
Durham operates under a council–manager form of government. The city is led by a city council and a mayor. Council members are chosen in staggered elections to serve four year terms, while mayoral elections are held every two years. The mayor presides over meetings of the city council and makes some committee appointments, while much of the regular management of the city's administration falls to the city manager
A city manager is an official appointed as the administrative manager of a city in the council–manager form of city government. Local officials serving in this position are referred to as the chief executive officer (CEO) or chief administ ...
. In November 2021, Elaine O'Neal was elected mayor of Durham, becoming the first black
Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...
female mayor in the city. The current mayor is Leonardo Williams, who was elected in November 2023.
Federally, Durham is in North Carolina's 4th congressional district, which is represented by Democrat Valerie Foushee.
The new Durham County Justice Center was completed in early 2013.
Politics
The area is predominantly Democratic, and has voted for the Democratic Party's presidential candidate in every election since the city's founding in 1869. Durham County is the most liberal-leaning county in North Carolina, with over 80% of the county voting for Democratic candidate Joe Biden
Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...
in the 2020 presidential election. The city's politics have long been dominated by the activities of two local political action committee
In the United States, a political action committee (PAC) is a tax-exempt 527 organization that pools campaign contributions from members and donates those funds to campaigns for or against candidates, ballot initiatives, or legislation. The l ...
s, the People's Alliance (PA) and the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People (DCABP). PA is a mostly-white progressive organization, while the DCABP is a black moderate group.
Key political issues have been the redevelopment of Downtown Durham and revival of other historic neighborhoods and commercial districts, ending cash bail, ending mandatory sentencing minimums, decriminalization of marijuana, raising minimum wage for city employees to $15, the fluoridation of public drinking water, a 45% reduction of crime, a 10-year plan to end homelessness, initiatives to reduce truancy, and growth and development. A merger of Durham City Schools (several inner city
The term inner city (also called the hood) has been used, especially in the United States, as a euphemism for majority-minority lower-income residential districts that often refer to rundown neighborhoods, in a downtown or city centre area. Soc ...
neighborhoods) and Durham County Schools in the early 1990s ignited controversy. More recently, the Durham City Council's 2018 statement opposing militarized policing that mentioned Israel has drawn its third lawsuit. In 2018, Durham appointed its first Latino council member Javiera Caballero
Javiera Caballero (born 1978) is a Chilean-born American politician and former educator. She is the first Latina member of the Durham City Council, having been appointed to the council in 2018. In 2021, she had an unsuccessful campaign to run for ...
. In 2023, Durham elected Nate Baker to the city council, its first candidate endorsed by the Triangle chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America.
Education
Primary and secondary schools
Public schools in Durham are run by the Durham Public Schools, the eighth-largest school district in North Carolina. The district runs 46 public schools, consisting of 30 elementary, 10 middle, 2 secondary, and 12 high schools. Several magnet high schools focus on distinct subject areas, such as the Durham School of the Arts and the City of Medicine Academy. Public schools in Durham were partially segregated until 1970.
The North Carolina School for Science and Mathematics is a boarding high school operated by the University of North Carolina System in central Durham. The residential school accepts rising juniors living in North Carolina, with a focus on science, mathematics, and technology.
There are several charter school
A charter school is a school that receives government funding but operates independently of the established state school system in which it is located. It is independent in the sense that it operates according to the basic principle of autono ...
options as well, including Research Triangle High School (a STEM school in Research Triangle Park), Voyager Academy (K–12), Kestrel Heights School (K–12), Maureen Joy Charter School (K–8), and most recently Excelsior Classical Academy (K–12).
Several private schools operate in Durham, such as Durham Academy, Triangle Day School, and The Duke School. There are also religious schools, including Carolina Friends School, Trinity School of Durham and Chapel Hill, Cristo Rey Research Triangle High School, Immaculata Catholic School, and Durham Nativity School.
Colleges and universities
Duke University
Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...
has approximately 14,000 students, split evenly between graduates and undergraduates. Duke's 8600-acre campus and Medical Center are located in western Durham, about from downtown. Duke forms one of the three vertices of the Research Triangle, along with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC–Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina) is a public university, public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolli ...
and North Carolina State University
North Carolina State University (NC State, North Carolina State, NC State University, or NCSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1887 and p ...
.
North Carolina Central University is a public historically black university located in southeastern Durham. The university was founded by James E. Shepard in 1910 as the National Religious Training School and Chautauqua to address the needs of the region's black population, and now grants baccalaureate, master's, professional and doctoral degrees. NCCU became a university in 1969 and joined the University of North Carolina System in 1972.
Durham Technical Community College is a two-year public institution that grants associate degrees.
Media
The major daily newspaper in Durham is '' The Herald-Sun'', which began publication in 1893. The Durham-based '' Independent Weekly'', noted for its progressive/liberal perspective, provides political and entertainment news for the greater Research Triangle; it began publication in 1983. Duke's independent student newspaper, '' The Chronicle'', also provides local coverage.
Durham is part of the Raleigh–Durham–Fayetteville designated market area, the 24th-largest broadcast television market in the United States. ABC-owned and -operated WTVD is licensed to and based in Durham, while the studios for statewide public television service UNC-TV are based in Research Triangle Park. All major U.S. television networks have affiliates serving the region.
The city is part of the Raleigh–Durham Arbitron radio market, ranked No. 37 nationally. National Public Radio affiliate WUNC, based in Chapel Hill, has significant operations in Durham.
Infrastructure
Transportation
Most travel in Durham is by private motor vehicle on its network of public streets and highways. Important arteries for traffic include NC 147, which connects Duke University, downtown, and Research Triangle Park, U.S. 15-501 between Durham and Chapel Hill, I-85, connecting Durham to Virginia and western North Carolina cities, and I-40 running across southern Durham County between the Research Triangle Park and Chapel Hill. The I-40 corridor has been the main site of commercial and residential development in Durham since its opening in the early 1990s. Over 95% of commuters use a car to get to work, with 14% of those people in carpools.
Durham maintains an extensive network of bicycle routes and trails and has been recognized with a Bicycle Friendly Community Award. The American Tobacco Trail begins in downtown and continues south through Research Triangle Park and ends in Wake County. The city is also considering furthering the progress on the Triangle Greenway System.
Air travel is provided by Raleigh–Durham International Airport, 12 miles southeast of Durham, which enplanes about 4.5 million passengers per year. Frequent service (five flights a day or more) is available to Boston, Charlotte, Philadelphia, New York LaGuardia, New York Kennedy, Newark, Washington Reagan, Washington Dulles, Chicago O'Hare, Dallas, Houston, and Atlanta, GA. Non-stop daily service is provided to approximately 30 destinations in the United States and daily international service is also available to London Heathrow, Toronto-Pearson and Paris Charles de Gaulle.
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...
operates the daily '' Carolinian'' train between Charlotte and New York City, which stops in downtown Durham. The State of North Carolina, in cooperation with Amtrak, operates four additional daily ''Piedmont
Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...
'' trains between Raleigh and Charlotte which also stop in Durham. A new Amtrak station was built in 2011 in a former tobacco warehouse. Some of the downtown streets cross the tracks at grade level, while other intersections have grade separation. One downtown railroad underpass has attracted national media coverage because it provided only 11 feet 8 inches of clearance, damaging the roofs of many trucks. On October 26, 2019, the underpass was temporarily closed to both automotive and train traffic so that the track could be raised to improve the railway grade in that location and increase the clearance underneath to 12 feet 4 inches. Nonetheless, a few accidents still occur.
National bus service is provided by Greyhound
The English Greyhound, or simply the Greyhound, is a dog breed, breed of dog, a sighthound which has been bred for coursing, greyhound racing and hunting. Some are kept as show dogs or pets.
Greyhounds are defined as a tall, muscular, smooth-c ...
and Megabus at the Durham Transit Station in downtown Durham, which opened in 2009. GoDurham provides municipal bus service.
GoTriangle offers scheduled, fixed-route regional and commuter bus service between Raleigh and the region's other principal cities of Durham, Cary and Chapel Hill, as well as to and from the Raleigh–Durham International Airport, Research Triangle Park and several of the region's larger suburban communities. GoTriangle also coordinates an extensive vanpool
Vanpools or vanpooling is an element of the transit system that allow groups of people to share the ride similar to a carpool, but on a larger scale with concurrent savings in fuel and vehicle operating costs and thus usually a lower cost to the ...
and rideshare program that serves the region's larger employers and commute destinations.
From 1995, the cornerstone of GoTriangle's long-term plan was a rail corridor from northeast Raleigh, through downtown Raleigh, Cary, and Research Triangle Park, to Durham using DMU technology. There were proposals to extend this corridor to Chapel Hill with light rail
Light rail (or light rail transit, abbreviated to LRT) is a form of passenger urban rail transit that uses rolling stock derived from tram technology National Conference of the Transportation Research Board while also having some features from ...
technology. However, in 2006 Triangle Transit deferred implementation indefinitely when the Federal Transit Administration declined to fund the program. Government agencies throughout the Raleigh–Durham metropolitan area have struggled to determine the best means of providing fixed-rail transit service for the region. The project was cancelled 2019 with costs more than $157 million.
The region's two metropolitan planning organizations appointed a group of local citizens in 2007 to reexamine options for future transit development in light of Triangle Transit's problems. The Special Transit Advisory Commission (STAC) retained many of the provisions of Triangle Transit's original plan, but recommended adding new bus services and raising additional revenues by adding a new local half-cent sales tax to fund the project.
Duke University
Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...
also maintains its own transit system. Duke Transit operates more than 30 buses, with routes throughout the campus and health system. Duke campus buses and vans have alternate schedules or do not operate during breaks and holidays.
To help create safer roadways for vehicles, bicyclists, and pedestrians, drivers can enroll in Durham's Pace Car Program, agreeing to drive the speed limit, stop at all stop signs, stop at all red lights, and stop to let pedestrians cross the street.
Notable people
* Kate Lee Harris Adams, aviator and member of the Women Airforce Service Pilots
The Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) (also Women's Army Service Pilots or Women's Auxiliary Service Pilots) was a civilian women pilots' organization, whose members were United States federal civil service employees. Members of WASP became t ...
during World War II
* Blind Boy Fuller (Fulton Allen), musician
* Louis Austin (1898–1971), journalist, civil rights leader
* Ernie Barnes, artist/painter
* Kara Medoff Barnett, theater producer, arts director
* Samuel Beam, singer/songwriter from Iron & Wine, current resident
* Ben Brantley, ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' theater critic
* Joseph Penn Breedlove, first Duke University
Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...
librarian
* Andrew Britton, novelist
* Mic'hael Brooks, NFL player
* Little Brother, hip-hop group
* Kelly Bruno, world-record–holding amputee runner and athlete; contestant on reality TV show '' Survivor: Nicaragua''
* Dan Bryk, singer, rock star
* Shirley Caesar
Shirley Ann Caesar-Williams (Birth name, née Caesar; born October 13, 1938), known professionally as Shirley Caesar, is an American Gospel music, gospel singer. Her career began in 1951, when she signed to Federal Records at the age of 12. Thro ...
, pastor and gospel recording artist
* Carolina Chocolate Drops, folk band who cite their hometown as Durham
* Anthony Roth Costanzo, countertenor known for his performance as the title role of the opera Akhnaten (opera)
* Crystal Cox, track and field athlete; member of national team for the 2004 Athens Summer Olympics; contestant on reality TV show '' Survivor: Gabon''
* Roger Lee Craig, Major League Baseball pitcher and manager
* John Darnielle, musician and novelist best known as the primary (and often solitary) member of the American band the Mountain Goats
The Mountain Goats are a United States band formed in Claremont, California, Claremont, California, by singer-songwriter John Darnielle. The band is currently based in Durham, North Carolina, Durham, North Carolina. For many years, the sole me ...
, for which he is the writer, composer, guitarist, pianist, and vocalist
* Betty Davis
Betty Davis (born Betty Gray Mabry; July 26, 1944 – February 9, 2022) was an American singer, songwriter, and model. She was known for her controversial sexually oriented lyrics and performance style, and was the second wife of trumpeter ...
, funk and soul singer
* Reverend Gary Davis, musician
* The Duffer Brothers, creators of the Netflix
Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...
series ''Stranger Things
''Stranger Things'' is an American television series created by the Duffer brothers, Duffer Brothers for Netflix. Produced by Monkey Massacre Productions and 21 Laps Entertainment, the Stranger Things season 1, first season was released on N ...
''
* Benjamin Newton Duke, tobacco, textile, and energy industrialist and philanthropist
Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...
* James Buchanan Duke, industrialist, founder of The Duke Endowment and Duke University
Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...
* Tempest DuJour, drag performer and professor, known for competing on RuPaul's Drag Race season 7
* Victor Dzau, scientist and academic
* Sylvan Esso, grammy-nominated dance and electronic music duo
* Rapsody (Marlanna Evans), Grammy-nominated female rapper
* Pura Fé, Native American singer
* Rick Ferrell, Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...
catcher; member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame
* John Wesley Fletcher, pastor
* Tate Fogleman
Tate Fogleman (born March 8, 2000) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, driving the No. 30 Toyota Tundra for On Point Motorsports and the No. 26 Chevrolet Sil ...
, NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...
driver
* Nnenna Freelon, jazz singer/composer
* Philip Freelon (1953–2019), architect, designer of the National Museum of African American History and Culture
* Penny Fuller, award-winning actress in numerous Broadway, film, and television productions
* Julian Gamble (born 1989), basketball player in the Israeli Basketball Premier League
Ligat HaAl (, lit., ''Supreme League or Premier League''), or the Israeli Basketball Premier League, is a professional basketball league in Israel and the highest level of basketball in the country. The league's name is abbreviated as either BSL ...
* David Garrard, NFL quarterback from 2002 to 2013
* David Gergen, advisor to presidents Ford, Reagan, and Clinton
* Heather Gordon (born 1967), artist
* Lisa Grabarek, teacher and Baptist preacher
* John H. Hager, former Virginia lieutenant governor (1998–2002) and the father-in-law of former First Daughter Jenna Bush Hager
* Mary Katharine Ham, Conservative journalist; grew up in Durham
* Michael Hardt, philosopher and theorist of globalization, politics and culture
* Jay Huff, professional basketball player for the Memphis Grizzlies
* Brandon Hargest, singer for Jump5
* Brittany Hargest, singer for Jump5
* Heather Havrilesky, author, essayist, and humorist raised in Durham
* Biff Henderson, ''Late Show with David Letterman
''Late Show with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS, the first iteration of the ''Late Show'' franchise. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and was produced by Letterman's production com ...
'' comedian and television personality
* Wilbur Hobby, labor leader and former president of the North Carolina AFL-CIO
* Alexander Isley, designer and educator
* Fredric Jameson
Fredric Ruff Jameson (April 14, 1934 – September 22, 2024) was an American literary critic, philosopher and Marxist political theorist. He was best known for his analysis of contemporary cultural trends, particularly his analysis of postmode ...
, literary critic and Marxist political theorist
* Big Daddy Kane
Antonio Hardy (born September 10, 1968), better known by his stage name Big Daddy Kane, is an American Rapping, rapper, producer and actor who began his career in 1986 as a member of the Juice Crew. He is widely regarded as one of the most influe ...
, hip-hop artist and actor
* John P. Kee, pastor and gospel recording artist
* Stuart Krohn (born 1962), professional rugby union
Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...
player
* Mike Krzyzewski
Michael William Krzyzewski ( , ; born February 13, 1947), nicknamed "Coach K", is an American former college basketball coach. He served as the head coach at Duke University from 1980–81 Duke Blue Devils men's basketball team, 1980 to 2021� ...
, former head coach of the Duke men's basketball team and former head coach of Team USA
* Patrick Kypson, professional tennis
Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...
player
* Mur Lafferty, podcaster and writer
* James G. Leyburn, sociologist, professor, author
* Caitlin Linney, singer/songwriter
* John D. Loudermilk, songwriter ( "Tobacco Road", "Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye")
* John Lucas II, NBA player and coach
* David Lynch
David Keith Lynch (January 20, 1946 – January 16, 2025) was an American filmmaker, visual artist, musician, and actor. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, Lynch was often called a "visionary" and received acclaim f ...
, film and TV director; lived in Durham as a child; parents met at Duke University
* John Malachi, jazz pianist
* Crystal Mangum, accuser in the 2006 Duke lacrosse case, who was later found guilty of fatally stabbing her boyfriend
* Leo Mangum, Major League Baseball pitcher
* John H. Manning, lawyer, officer and Adjutant General of North Carolina
* Pigmeat Markham, comic actor and novelty musician
* Doug Marlette, Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...
-winning cartoonist; lived in Durham as a child
* Branford Marsalis, resident of Durham for several years. The Branford Marsalis Quartet's 2006 album
An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...
'' Braggtown'' was titled after Braggtown Baptist Church, located in northeastern Durham, just north of Highways 70/85.
* Frank Matthews, drug trafficker during the late 1960s and early 1970s
* Tracy McGrady, attended Mount Zion Christian Academy his senior year, NBA player
* Clyde McPhatter, singer/songwriter, founding member of The Drifters
* LeRoi Moore of the Dave Matthews Band, contemporary jazz musician
* Anita Morris, actress ('' Ruthless People,'' '' The Hotel New Hampshire'', nominated for a Tony for her work in '' Nine'')
* The Mountain Goats
The Mountain Goats are a United States band formed in Claremont, California, Claremont, California, by singer-songwriter John Darnielle. The band is currently based in Durham, North Carolina, Durham, North Carolina. For many years, the sole me ...
, indie rock
Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...
band
* Pauli Murray (1910–1985), civil rights and women's activist, attorney, author, poet and priest, lived here as a child with grandparents; in 1977 was the first black woman to be ordained as an Episcopal priest; in 2012 was named as an Episcopal saint (one of its "Holy Women, Holy Men")
* Link Neal, YouTuber with Rhett McLaughlin for the channels Rhett & Link & Good Mythical Morning
* Mike Nifong, Durham County district attorney
In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, county prosecutor, state attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or solicitor is the chief prosecutor or chief law enforcement officer represen ...
disbarred in 2006 for actions in Duke University lacrosse case that year
* David Noel, NBA player for the Milwaukee Bucks
The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), East ...
* Wye Oak
The Wye Oak was the largest Quercus alba, white oak tree in the United States and the State Tree of Maryland from 1941 until its demise in 2002. Wye Oak State Park preserves the site where the revered tree stood for more than 400 years in the ...
, musical duo composed of Jenn Wasner and Andy Stack
* Ike Opara, Major League Soccer
Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...
defender for Sporting Kansas City
Sporting Kansas City is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Kansas City metropolitan area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The ad ...
* Robert Martin Patterson, United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...
soldier and Medal of Honor
The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest Awards and decorations of the United States Armed Forces, military decoration and is awarded to recognize American United States Army, soldiers, United States Navy, sailors, Un ...
recipient
* Sidney Powell, prosecutor and attorney
* Brian Roberts, Major League Baseball player, second baseman for the Baltimore Orioles
The Baltimore Orioles (also known as the O's) are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East Division. As one of the America ...
* Leah Roberts, former North Carolina State University
North Carolina State University (NC State, North Carolina State, NC State University, or NCSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1887 and p ...
student who abruptly left Durham in March 2000 and has remained missing ever since
* Rodney Rogers, NBA power forward from 1993 to 2005
* Ben Ruffin, civil rights activist, educator, and businessman
* Don Schlitz, songwriter (Kenny Rogers
Kenneth Ray Rogers (born Kenneth Donald Rogers) (August 21, 1938 – March 20, 2020) was an American singer and songwriter. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013. Rogers was particul ...
's " The Gambler")
* James E. Shepard (1875–1947), educator, founder and president of North Carolina College for Negroes (now North Carolina Central University)
* Robert K. Steel, former Undersecretary of the Treasury
* Jamie Stewart, art-pop musician best known as the frontman of Xiu Xiu
* Andre Leon Talley (1948–2022), '' Vogue'' editor, fashion luminary, and judge on ''America's Next Top Model
''America's Next Top Model'' (abbreviated ''ANTM'' and ''Top Model'') is an American reality television series and interactive competition in which a number of aspiring models compete for the title of "America's Next Top Model" and a chance to b ...
''
* Grady Tate, American musician and singer
* Justin Tornow, dancer and choreographer
* Emilie Townes, dean of Vanderbilt Divinity School, former president of the American Academy of Religion
The American Academy of Religion (AAR) is the world's largest association of scholarly method, scholars in the List of academic disciplines, field of religious studies and related topics. It is a nonprofit member association,
serving as a profess ...
* Jeff Tremaine
Jeff Tremaine (born September 4, 1966) is an American film and television director, producer, and screenwriter. He is best known for co-creating the MTV reality stunt show ''Jackass (TV series), Jackass'' with Spike Jonze and Johnny Knoxville.
...
, filmmaker known for '' Jackass''
* Teresa Trull, singer, songwriter, and record producer
* LeRoy T. Walker (1918–2012), former United States Olympic president; former chancellor of North Carolina Central University (NCCU)
* Dewayne Washington, NFL cornerback from 1994 to 2005
* Seth Wescott, Olympic champion snowboarder
* Josh Whitesell, Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...
first baseman of the Arizona Diamondbacks
The Arizona Diamondbacks are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West Division. The franchise was established ...
* T. J. Warren, NBA player for the Indiana Pacers
The Indiana Pacers are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis. The Pacers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Ea ...
* Bull City Red (birth name George Washington), blues musician
* George Washington Watts, financier and philanthropist
* Sara Virginia Ecker Watts Morrison, nurse, philanthropist, and First Lady of North Carolina
* Harvey D. Williams (1930–2020), African American U.S. Army major general
* Walter Lee Williams, one of the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives
* Morgan Wootten, head basketball coach at DeMatha Catholic High School and member of the Basketball Hall of Fame
* James B. Wyngaarden, American physician, researcher, and academic administrator
* Freekey Zekey
Ezekiel Jiles (born October 13, 1975), better known by his stage name Freekey Zekey, is an American rapper best known as a founding member of now-defunct hip-hop group the Diplomats, which he helped form in Harlem in 1997 alongside his childhoo ...
(Ezekiel Giles), rapper; spent almost three years in jail at Durham Correctional Center on drug charges before being released on November 20, 2006
Sister cities
Durham's sister cities
A sister city or a twin town relationship is International relations, a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties.
While there ar ...
are:
* Arusha
Arusha is a city in Tanzania. The city is the Capital city, capital of the Arusha Region. It has a population of 617,631 people. , Tanzania
* Celaya, Mexico
* Durham, County Durham
County Durham, officially simply Durham, is a ceremonial county in North East England.UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. The county borders Northumberland and Tyne an ...
, England, United Kingdom
* Kavala, Greece
* Sibiu
Sibiu ( , , , Hungarian: ''Nagyszeben'', , Transylvanian Saxon: ''Härmeschtat'' or ''Hermestatt'') is a city in central Romania, situated in the historical region of Transylvania. Located some north-west of Bucharest, the city straddles th ...
, Romania
* Tilarán, Costa Rica
* Toyama, Japan
* Zhuzhou
Zhuzhou ( zh, c=株洲, p=Zhūzhōu, ), formerly Jianning (建宁), is a prefecture-level city of Hunan Province, China, straddling the Xiang River southeast of the provincial capital, Changsha, and bordering Jiangxi province to the east. It is ...
, China
Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Durham County council revoked the twinning arrangements with Kostroma, which had been in place since 1968.
See also
* List of municipalities in North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the Southern United States. According to the 2020 United States census, North Carolina is the 9th-most populous state with inhabitants, but the 28th-largest by land area spanning of land. North Caroli ...
* Norfolk Southern–Gregson Street Overpass
* Triangle J Council of Governments
* List of U.S. cities with large Black populations
This list of U.S. cities by black population covers all incorporated cities and Census-designated places with a population over 100,000 and a proportion of black residents over 30% in the 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and the te ...
Notes
References
Further reading
*
*
External links
*
*
Durham Convention and Visitors Bureau
Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce
{{Authority control
Duke family
Planned communities in the United States
Populated places established in 1853