Wendell crowned Wake County's fastest-growing town amid growth concerns

Wendell’s new Census crown comes with a familiar suburban price tag: more traffic, tighter housing supply and a town of just 5.5 square miles trying to absorb a 71.2% population jump in four years.

The U.S. Census Bureau’s Vintage 2024 estimates put Wendell at 16,845 people on July 1, 2024, up from a 2020 estimates base of 9,837 and well above the 9,793 counted in the April 1, 2020 Census. The bureau says Vintage 2024 is its most recent completed, consistent set of city and town estimates, and its latest release places Wendell among the nation’s fastest-growing towns.

That growth is already reshaping the local housing market. CBS 17 reported that Wendell issued 1,291 single-family home permits in the previous fiscal year, up from 636 the year before, a pace that reflects heavy demand across eastern Wake County. Realtor Gretchen Coley said the area is “really in demand right now.” The affordability gap helps explain why: Wake County’s median home sales price was close to $510,000, while Wendell’s was $375,000. Census QuickFacts lists Wendell’s median owner-occupied home value at $330,500 and median gross rent at $1,457, with 78.2% of homes owner-occupied.

The town’s rise is also tied to transportation. The North Carolina Department of Transportation says Complete 540 is scheduled for completion in 2028, with Phase 1 opening on Sept. 25, 2024. That first segment extended the Triangle Expressway 18 miles from N.C. 55 to I-40 and U.S. 70, and the larger project is meant to connect and relieve pressure across Apex, Cary, Clayton, Fuquay-Varina, Garner, Holly Springs, Raleigh and the corridors around I-87. Better access along U.S. 64 and I-87 has helped make Wendell more attractive to new buyers.

Public services are feeling the strain too. In January 2024, Police Chief John Slaughter said Wendell had about 15,000 residents then, compared with about 6,500 when he joined the force a decade earlier, and town officials were projecting about 30,000 residents within five years. CBS 17 also reported that the Wendell Police Department had 22 officers and expected to reach 40 within five years.

Wake County has started to treat that pace of change as a policy issue, launching a Housing Data Dashboard to track population growth, affordability, supply and demand. For Wendell, the question now is not whether growth is coming. It is whether roads, homes and public services can keep up before the town loses the smaller-scale feel that made it a draw in the first place.