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Engaging North Carolina

Forsyth County

Quick Facts

Students: 926
Applicants: 809
Alumni: 4594
Park Scholars: 7
Goodnight Scholars: 13
Caldwell Fellows: 3

Forsyth County, established in the North Carolina’s Piedmont on Jan. 16, 1849, has a population of 376,320 and a total employment of 186,785 (49.6%). It is the state’s fourth most populous county and part of the Greensboro-Winston-Salem-High Point Combined Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Winston-Salem, about 100 miles east of Raleigh, serves as the county seat.

The county’s most profitable agricultural product is nursery/floriculture, while the largest product by acreage is forage land for grain production/soybeans.

By total number, the largest livestock produced is cattle and calves. The largest manufacturer is Hanesbrands (seventh-largest employer), which manufactures products for its Champion-brand line of clothing, and employs over 1,000 people.

The county is home to multiple higher education institutions, including two constituent members with NC State of the 17-institution University of North Carolina system: Winston-Salem State University and the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, a residential high school program for arts-focused students from around the state.

Wake Forest University, located in Wake County until 1956, now calls Winston-Salem home, along with Salem College, the oldest continuously operating educational institution for women in America, and Piedmont International University.

Forsyth Technical Community College is a member of the 58-school North Carolina Community College System, which has 12 locations in Forsyth and Stokes counties and serves some 35,000 degree and continuing education students.