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Smithfield, North Carolina has 7 accredited schools offering recreation management programs, with tuition ranging from $2,040 to $46,958 per year for indexed programs. Smithfield has a population of about 11,798. Median household income is $37,827 (Census ACS 2023, 5-year). About 26.0% of adults 25+ hold a bachelor’s degree or higher. In the Raleigh-Cary, NC metro area, the top-earning recreation management-related role is Entertainment and Recreation Manager at a median $81,620 annually (BLS OEWS, May 2025).
The accredited institutions listed below are the closest in our directory that offer recreation management programs near Smithfield, ranked by BOC Score and straight-line distance from Smithfield city center. The list is rebuilt from federal IPEDS data on every site update.
Every school list on this site is ordered by the BOC Score, computed from the most recent school-level data published by the U.S. Department of Education (College Scorecard and IPEDS). To qualify, a school must be currently operating and accredited by an agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Each eligible school is then scored on five measures, percentile-ranked against schools at the same credential level:
Schools without enough outcome data appear after ranked schools, without a score. On this page, schools are ordered by distance from Smithfield. Advertising never affects these rankings. Read the full methodology.
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source: IPEDS / College Scorecard (2023 cohort). Browse all North Carolina schools on the North Carolina recreation management page.
Smithfield is part of the Raleigh-Cary, NC metro area (BLS area code 39580). Where MSA-level wages are published, the table below shows MSA medians; otherwise it falls back to North Carolina statewide.
| Occupation | Median Wage | Source | COL-Adjusted (US=100) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entertainment and Recreation Manager | $81,620 | Raleigh-Cary, NC | $83,116 |
| Recreation Worker | $30,160 | Raleigh-Cary, NC | $30,713 |
| Lodging Manager | $72,500 | Raleigh-Cary, NC | $73,829 |
Source: BLS, May 2025 Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes wage data at the metro (MSA) and state level – not by individual city.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Population | 11,798 | Census ACS 2023 5-yr (B01003) |
| Median household income | $37,827 | Census ACS 2023 5-yr (B19013) |
| Adults 25+ with bachelor’s+ | 26.0% | Census ACS 2023 5-yr (B15003) |
| Regional Price Parity (US=100) | 98.2 (below U.S. average) | BEA RPP 2024 |
Our directory has 7 accredited schools offering recreation management programs near Smithfield. The closest is North Carolina State University at Raleigh in Raleigh, NC (26.2 miles), and the farthest of the schools shown is Chowan University (94.6 miles). 6 of the highlighted schools are flagged as offering distance education.
Based on BLS OEWS May 2025 wage data, the top-paying recreation management-related roles near Smithfield are: Entertainment and Recreation Manager ($81,620), Lodging Manager ($72,500), Recreation Worker ($30,160). These reflect MSA-level medians where published, with North Carolina statewide fallback for occupations not reported at the metro level.
Clayton, NC is 11.4 miles from Smithfield and has its own set of local recreation management programs – see the city’s page. For online programs, distance matters less; for hybrid or in-person formats, comparing both can help.
Smithfield’s median household income of $37,827 (Census ACS 2023) is one input. Online programs let students stay in Smithfield while attending lower-cost out-of-state schools, and North Carolina public universities often offer reduced in-state online tuition.
Confirm institutional accreditation via the U.S. Department of Education database (U.S. Dept. of Education database), and check for any program-specific accreditation listed by the school.
Compare every accredited online degree program with city-level data for Smithfield:
Data verified: August 11, 2026. Salary, employment, and tuition figures on this page are sourced from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (OEWS May 2025; Employment Projections 2024–2034) and the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard (2023 cohort). The source agency and data year are cited inline with every statistic.
Back to Best Recreation Management Schools in North Carolina (2026)
