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Hickory, North Carolina has 11 accredited schools offering substance abuse counseling programs, with tuition ranging from $1,980 to $67,642 per year for indexed programs. Hickory has a population of about 43,747. Median household income is $63,361 (Census ACS 2023, 5-year). About 35.9% of adults 25+ hold a bachelor’s degree or higher. In the Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC metro area, the top-earning substance abuse counseling-related role is Social and Community Service Manager at a median $77,030 annually (BLS OEWS, May 2025).
The accredited institutions listed below are the closest in our directory that offer substance abuse counseling programs near Hickory, ranked by BOC Score and straight-line distance from Hickory 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 Hickory. Advertising never affects these rankings. Read the full methodology.
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:Accreditor: Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on CollegesIPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:Accreditor: Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on CollegesIPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:Accreditor: Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on CollegesIPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source: IPEDS / College Scorecard (2023 cohort). Browse all North Carolina schools on the North Carolina substance abuse counseling page.
Hickory is part of the Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC metro area (BLS area code 25860). 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) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselor | $51,060 | Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC | $57,695 |
| Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Worker | $57,150 | Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC | $64,576 |
| Social and Community Service Manager | $77,030 | Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC | $87,040 |
| Social and Human Service Assistant | $40,250 | Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC | $45,480 |
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 | 43,747 | Census ACS 2023 5-yr (B01003) |
| Median household income | $63,361 | Census ACS 2023 5-yr (B19013) |
| Adults 25+ with bachelor’s+ | 35.9% | Census ACS 2023 5-yr (B15003) |
| Regional Price Parity (US=100) | 88.5 (below U.S. average) | BEA RPP 2024 |
Our directory has 11 accredited schools offering substance abuse counseling programs near Hickory. The closest is Western Piedmont Community College in Morganton, NC (20.5 miles), and the farthest of the schools shown is Randolph Community College (84.0 miles). 10 of the highlighted schools are flagged as offering distance education.
Based on BLS OEWS May 2025 wage data, the top-paying substance abuse counseling-related roles near Hickory are: Social and Community Service Manager ($77,030), Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Worker ($57,150), Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselor ($51,060). These reflect MSA-level medians where published, with North Carolina statewide fallback for occupations not reported at the metro level.
Lincolnton, NC is 19.1 miles from Hickory and has its own set of local substance abuse counseling programs – see the city’s page. For online programs, distance matters less; for hybrid or in-person formats, comparing both can help.
Hickory’s median household income of $63,361 (Census ACS 2023) is one input. Online programs let students stay in Hickory 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 Hickory:
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 Substance Abuse Counseling Schools in North Carolina (2026)
