Quick answer:7 colleges within 100 miles of Forest City, North Carolina award a physician assistant degree, the nearest about 13 miles away (IPEDS Completions, 2024). Physician Assistants in North Carolina earn a median $129,360 per year against $135,880 nationally (BLS OEWS, May 2025).
Physician Assistant Program Access Near Forest City, North Carolina
Distance from Forest City
Colleges awarding this degree
Within 25 miles
1
Within 50 miles
2
Within 100 miles
7
Within 250 miles
31
Source: IPEDS Completions, 2024, counting institutions that reported awarding this degree, joined to IPEDS institution coordinates. Distances are straight-line.
Access around Forest City is thinner than in the larger North Carolina metros. The nearest college awarding this degree is roughly 13 miles away and 7 sit within 100 miles, which is the case where an online or low-residency program earns its keep.
Colleges Near Forest City
How we rank schools – graduation rate, graduate earnings, cost and retention.
Advertising plays no part.
This page lists 9 schools
within 176 miles, closest group first, then ordered by
BOC Score with the highest at the top.
9 of them carry a score.
LOCAL RANK
Location / proximity to this page
Defines the local group
Graduation rate how often students finish
30%
Median earnings, 10 years after entry whether it paid off
25%
Average net price what students actually pay after aid; lower ranks higher
20%
Retention rate how many come back for year two
15%
Fully online availability whether you can study while working
10%
Scores come from IPEDS (2024) and the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard.
Earnings are for all graduates of a school, not one program, so treat them as a signal
about the institution rather than about this subject.
Sponsored listings are paid placements and are labelled as such; they are separate from
this ranking and never change it. Read the full methodology.
#1
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
📍
Chapel Hill, NC
•163.3 miles away•BOC Score
91.9
The North Carolina median for physician assistants is $129,360 per year, below the national median of $135,880, on state employment of 7,490 (BLS OEWS, May 2025).
These are statewide figures. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish wages at city level, so no page can tell you what this job pays in Forest City specifically. For the metro-level picture where it is published, and the full percentile spread, see the North Carolina page.
Choosing a Physician Assistant Program From Forest City
The subject matter does not change by location: clinical medicine, pharmacology, anatomy and physiology, and supervised clinical rotations across family medicine, surgery, emergency medicine and behavioral health. What changes is how you take it. Ask each college whether the program holds accreditation from ARC-PA, the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant, how much of the coursework is delivered online, and which components require you on campus. Credit transfer is decided by the receiving institution and genuinely varies, so request a written transfer evaluation before you enroll.
U.S. Department of Education, IPEDS Completions, 2024 - institutions awarding this degree, with IPEDS institution coordinates
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 - Physician Assistants (SOC 29-1071)
About this guide: Researched and written by the TradeCareerPath Editorial Team. Our editorial team researches and sources every trade school and career guide using federal labor and education data, including BLS OEWS and Employment Projections, DOL apprenticeship records, IPEDS, College Scorecard, and state licensing boards. We follow the editorial standards documented at /editorial-policy/.
