Is there anything really wrong with being called a North Carolina redneck? Most rednecks would say, “I don’t care what you call me, as long as you call me for supper.”
Rednecks are a part of our culture. They are hailed as being great in our song lyrics. They’re prominently featured in reality television. There are even video games about rednecks.
So, you’d think people who are rednecks would be proud to be called a redneck.
Wait. What is a redneck anyways? Well, according to the official bible of literature, the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a redneck is:
“ a white person who lives in a small town or in the country especially in the southern U.S., who typically has a working-class job, and who is seen by others as being uneducated and having opinions and attitudes that are offensive”
Plus, we thought why not add in a few stereotypes? Cause, you know, rednecks live in mobile home parks and they like to hunt, drink, smoke and shoot things. And shop at Bass Pro Shops, Walmart and Dollar General.
Using that criteria, it’s not hard to scrape the internet, run some scientific data on where rednecks might live in North Carolina, and then put out a list.
Because, the data never lies, does it? So hold our beers and watch while we run some rankings!
After analyzing 146 of cities between 5,000 and 70,000 people in the Tar Heel State, we came up with this list as The Most Redneck Cities in North Carolina:
- Mocksville (Photos)
- Mooresville (Photos)
- Gastonia (Photos)
- Aberdeen (Photos)
- Pineville (Photos)
- Asheboro
- Lincolnton (Photos)
- Hendersonville
- Monroe (Photos)
- Smithfield
Read on below to see how we crunched the numbers and how your town ranked.
For more North Carolina reading, check out:
- Worst Cities in North Carolina
- Most Dangerous Cities in North Carolina
- Safest Cities in North Carolina
What redneck criteria did we use?
In order to rank the most redneck cities in North Carolina, we had to determine what criteria makes a redneck.
We threw a lot of criteria at this one in order to get the best, most complete results possible. Using Yelp and Google Maps, this is the criteria we used:
The dictionary definition categories
- Small towns
- Least amount of high school graduates
- Lives in the south
And the stereotypical categories
- Number of dive bars per city
- Number of mobile home parks per capita
- Number of tobacco stores per city
- Number of guns and ammo stores per city
- Walmarts, Bass Pro Shops, and Dollar Generals nearby
Note: For the sake of getting reliable numbers, we counted places within a city’s border, as well as within a short driving distance.
If you’d like to see the complete list of cities, from most to least redneck, we put in a list of the top 150 cities in a chart at the bottom. Hope you’re on there if you want to be.
1. Mocksville
Population: 5,034
Gun stores per capita: 1st in North Carolina
Fishing shops per capita: 1st in the state
Tobacco stores per capita: 1st in NC
High school graduation rate: 74%
Congratulations, Mocksville. You have the official bragging rights as being named the most redneck city in the entire state of North Carolina. You may now brag to your friends and share this endlessly on your Facebook walls.
Lets see why. Before we even look at the numbers, did you know Mocksville is the burial place for Daniel Boone’s parents? He’s probably the most famous and influential redneck of them all.
Mocksville has more tobacco shops, gun stores and fishing shops in the general area, per capita, in the entire state. That’s redneck heaven!
Located along I-40 between Statesville and Winston-Salem, a redneck could have a great time here, too. There are plenty of small rivers, creeks and lakes/ponds to get your fishing on. Some may be private, but when did a ‘No Fishing’ sign ever stop a redneck?
Plus, they have a Walmart Supercenter all to their very own. You can understand why so many rednecks live here.
2. Mooresville
Population: 32,462
Bars per capita and the area: 16th most in North Carolina
Gun stores per capita: 7th in the state
Tobacco stores per capita: 17th in the state
Mobile home parks in area: 10th most
Welcome to “Race City, USA”. Not only do the numbers indicate that Mooresville is an absolute haven for rednecks, you might have some of the best fishing in inland North Carolina. Plus, it’s pretty much NASCAR central for the entire state.
There are just a sheer high concentration of rednecks here. It’s 81% white. For a larger city, that’s quite a lot.
Here’s a list of rednecks who live here: Dale Jr. Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch, Joey Logano, Jeff Gordon, Kasey Kahne, Greg Biffle and Brad Keselowski.
Basically, unless you’re black, if you live in Mooresville, you’re a redneck. Simple as that.
3. Gastonia
Population: 71,866
Walmarts per capita: 1st
Gun and ammo shops per capita: 11th in the state
Tobacco shops in the area: 4th
Bars in the area:4th in the state, per capita
High school graduation rate: 75%
The internet seems to agree that Gastonia is the redneck capital of the western side of Charlotte. Between the sheer number of mobile home parks, tobacco stores and places to buy your guns, Gastonia has it goin’ on for rednecks.
You have a grand total of 5 Walmarts with a short drive. That’s right. 5. And, rednecks can fire up the truck and head into Charlotte when there’s a sale on camo at either Cabela’s or Bass Pro Shops.
And, you can bet lots of rednecks are taking their prey home from the bar to one of the many mobile home parks in the area.
4. Aberdeen
Population: 6,311
Gun stores per capita: 11th in the state
Bars per capita: 6th in North Carolina
Fishing/bait shops per capita: 3rd
You might not think Aberdeen is very rednecky, but when you look at the numbers, it’s clear that a lot of rednecks make Aberdeen home. While you might consider them ‘preppy rednecks’, they’re still part of the North Carolina redneck family tree.
Let’s call them white collar rednecks.
In terms of fishing/bait shops per capita, Aberdeen has the 3rd most in the state. There are also a lot of options for elbowing up to the bar in the general area, where locals can talk about when rut is gonna hit.
A bonus for having a Dick’s Sporting Goods here. You can bet rednecks in Aberdeen constantly compare the prices between the rods and reels at Dick’s and Aberdeen Bait & Tackle before heading down to Aberdeen Lake Park to troll all afternoon.
5. Pineville
Population: 7,652
Bars per capita: 7th in North Carolina
Fishing/tackle per capita: 2nd in the state
Mobile home parks per capita: 16th
Pineville is only 20 minutes south of Charlotte, right on the South Carolina border. You can bet there are a lot of city-slicker rednecks who live down here.
There are a ton of fishing opportunities here, as is evident by the number of fishing/bait shops in the general area. NCAngler.com says Sugar Creek has some great bream fishing.
There are also plenty of chances to sit down and have a Bud with the locals and talk about the big one that got away. Cause rednecks like to tell each other where their favorite fishing spots are, right?
6. Asheboro
Population: 25,109
Gun stores per capita: 11th most in the state
Mobile home parks per capita: 11th in the state
Walmarts: 2
High school graduation rate: 69%
Wow, Asheboro. Just think it even more of you had ditched class as a redneck teen. You might have won this whole thing!
But we admire your ability to see the more important things in life. Instead of sitting in a boring math class Monday morning, you guys were out doing more important things such as blowing stuff up and getting stuck in the mud.
They have two Walmarts within a short driving distance here as well. You know what you do when one Walmart is out of bait? You go to the other one!
Nearby is Randleman Lake, where you can take the boat out and catch your crappie and bass. Locals like to head down to Freddie’s and listen to some country tunes.
7. Lincolnton
Population: 10,536
High school graduation rate: 75%
Mobile home parks per capita in area: 11th most in North Carolina
Tobacco shops per capita: 5th most
Fishing stores per capita:14th most in the state
Lincolnton is on Route 321, north of Gastonia. It’s a smaller town where the rednecks live who don’t want to live in a big city like Gastonia.
There are also lots of trailer park options here, and plenty of places to buy your chew. It’s basically a rural version of Gastonia, where the trucks are probably louder and bigger.
Just past Walmart on the north end in town is a Redneck Trailer Supplies branch location, too.
8. Hendersonville
Population: 13,122
High school graduation rate: 79%
Tobacco stores per capita: 12th in the state
Gun stores per capita: 9th in North Carolina
Bars per capita: 17th in the state
South of Asheville, near the South Carolina border is the small city of Hendersonville. You have lots of places to get your smokes and chew here, and there are several more bars per capita than most other places in the state.
Hunting is undoubtedly one reason so many rednecks make Hendersonville their home. Nearby is the Green River Game Lands, where rednecks can target practice on deer and bear. There’s also great fishing throughout the area, too.
The Southern Appalachian Brewery is a redneck local fave.
9. Monroe
Population: 33,101
High school graduation rate: 70%
Gun stores per capita: 5th in the state
Fishing shops per person: 7th in NC
Monroe is well known for its outright segregation, and was the center of activities in the 50s and 60s related to the civil rights movement. Apparently, many thousands of members of the Ku Klux Klan live here.
If that’s not redneck, we don’t know what is.
Plus, you know things are redneck when a forum post about Kmart closing in Monroe drew in over 50 comments.
Monroe is a short drive south of Charlotte.
10. Smithfield
Population: 11,118
Gun stores: 5h most per capita in North Carolina
Bars per capita and in area: 7th most in the state
Tobacco stores per capita: 10th in NC
Smithfield is the only eastern North Carolina city to make this list. But eastside rednecks need not worry, you’re highly represented in the cities that follow. In fact, a majority of the cities after Smithfield are in eastern NC.
Smithfield has lots of places to buy guns, chew and beer. And, if you’ve ever driven through Smithfield, or any of the other cities along Route 70, you’d agree this area should be called Redneck Alley. You’ve got Selma, Goldsboro, Eloy…the list goes on and on down here.
There You Have It
According to the official dictionary definition of a redneck, and based on stereotypes that the internet says are true, using science to determine the most redneck cities in a state can’t be too far off. If you’re analyzing smaller cities in North Carolina with blue collar workers, where people have lots of options for drinking, smoking, hunting and Walmarting, this is an accurate list.
If you’re curious enough, here are the least redneck cities in North Carolina, according to science.
- Seven Lakes (Pop. 5,553)
- Porters Neck (Pop. 5,873)
- Marvin (Pop. 5,484)
- Ogden (Pop. 6,688)
- Half Moon (Pop. 8,374)
We published a story on the 10 snobbiest cities to live in North Carolina, that might be more ‘stimulating’ reading for your day. Click here to read it.
Or, you can read our breaking news: We have the list of cities in North Carolina with the most Ashley Madison accounts. This is the site where people go to cheat on their spouses. Click here to read that one.
