Eastern Cary Gateway: homes, schools, parks and commute

Last checked Oct. 12, 2026. Sources: the Town of Cary’s Eastern Cary Gateway Special Planning Area plan in the Imagine Cary Community Plan, its residential boundaries data and parks map data, the Wake County Public School System’s 2026-27 attendance areas and base school lookup, the N.C. Department of Public Instruction’s 2025-26 accountability data, GoCary schedule data, OpenStreetMap and Zillow Research.

The Eastern Cary Gateway is the area along Interstate 40 on Cary’s eastern border, between downtown and Raleigh. The town’s Eastern Cary Gateway Special Planning Area plan describes it as “an area of approximately 800 acres” reached by “two Interstate 40 interchanges located on the Town’s eastern border,” and says “nearly 50% of commuters entering and leaving Cary each day for work travel through this area.” Homes here include apartments, townhomes and mobile home parks, according to the plan, in ZIP code 27511.

What this means for you

• Zoned high school: Cary High, 64.1% of state tests at grade level in 2025-26, according to the state’s accountability data. Check an address with the district’s base school lookup.
• Home value: $496,081 in ZIP code 27511 in August 2026, according to the Zillow Home Value Index.
• Nearest freeway exit: Interstate 40 Exit 291 at Cary Towne Boulevard, about 0.6 mile by road.

Part of our Cary neighborhoods guide.

Where it is

The plan lists WakeMed Soccer Park, the Triangle Aquatic Center campus, Adams Elementary, “multi-family complexes, townhomes, mobile home parks, light industrial facilities, heavy commercial uses” and the historic WPTF Transmitter and State Lab of Hygiene buildings in the area. It names the Mobile Estates mobile home park, “approximately 250 homes” in the northwest quadrant, as a source of “a sizable amount of affordable housing in Cary today” that “may be redeveloped over the horizon of this plan.” The plan’s vision is a high-density, transit-oriented mixed-use center focused on jobs. Check the town’s current plans before relying on any part of that vision.

For schools and ZIP codes, we took the 12 neighborhoods in the Town of Cary’s residential boundaries data whose centers lie within about 0.8 mile of the middle of the area, near Southeast Maynard Road and Walnut Street. They include Walnut Hills, Irongate, Ivy Meadows, Glenpark, Mobile Estates and apartment communities such as Oxford Square and Merriwood. All 12 are in ZIP code 27511.

Schools

The area is in the Wake County Public School System. All 12 neighborhoods we checked against the district’s 2026-27 attendance areas were zoned for Cary High, and 10 for Adams Elementary. Middle schools split: five were zoned for Lufkin Road Middle, five for East Cary Middle, one for Dillard Drive Middle and one for Alston Ridge Middle. One neighborhood was zoned for Cary Elementary and one for Carpenter Elementary. Check your own address in the district’s base school lookup.

Scores are the share of state tests at grade level or above in 2025-26 and the state’s growth rating, from the accountability data.

The district average was 68.2%. More in our schools guide.

Home values

Zillow publishes no figure for the Eastern Cary Gateway alone. The Zillow Home Value Index is a modeled typical value for the middle third of homes, not a sale price.

Trends are on our home prices page.

Parks and trails

• WakeMed Soccer Park, about 163 acres in the town’s parks map data, is a town soccer facility, less than a mile north of the middle of the area.
• Walnut Street Park, 1420 Walnut St., is about a mile south.
• The Pirates Cove and Walnut Creek greenways pass through, according to OpenStreetMap.

More in our parks and trails guide.

Getting around

• Interstate 40: Exit 291 at Cary Towne Boulevard is about 0.6 mile by road from the middle of the area; Exit 290 at N.C. 54 is about 1.5 miles.
• Downtown Cary (316 N. Academy St.): about 2.2 miles by road.
• Raleigh-Durham International Airport: about 9.4 miles by road.
• Buses: GoCary Route 1 (Crossroads) stops on Southeast Maynard Road at Cary Towne Boulevard, about half a mile from the middle of the area, and Route 6 (Buck Jones) runs on Walnut Street, according to GoCary’s published schedule data. See GoCary.

Distances were measured with the OSRM routing engine on OpenStreetMap roads. They are distances, not drive times. More in our getting around guide.

Groceries and everyday stores

OpenStreetMap lists these within about a mile:

• Supermarkets: Harris Teeter, 885 Walnut St.; Harmony Mediterranean Market, 663 Cary Towne Blvd.; Casablanca Market, 1365 SE Maynard Road.
• Shopping centers: Cary Village Square, 681 Cary Towne Blvd.; Cary Commons; Freeman Center.

How we built this page

The area and its history come from the town’s Eastern Cary Gateway Special Planning Area plan; the neighborhood list comes from the town’s residential boundaries data near the middle of the area. School zones come from the district’s attendance-area map for 2026-27, checked at the middle of each neighborhood; a home near a zone line can differ. We found no town or county registry of homeowners associations for the area, so this page does not describe them.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Eastern Cary Gateway?

It is one of the town’s special planning areas, about 800 acres on Cary’s eastern border reached by two Interstate 40 interchanges. The plan says nearly half of commuters entering and leaving Cary each day travel through it.

What high school serves the Eastern Cary Gateway?

All 12 neighborhoods we checked in the area were zoned for Cary High in the Wake County Public School System’s 2026-27 attendance areas, and 10 of the 12 for Adams Elementary.

What ZIP code is the Eastern Cary Gateway in?

All 12 neighborhoods we checked are in ZIP code 27511, where Zillow’s Home Value Index was $496,081 in August 2026.

Where is WakeMed Soccer Park?

WakeMed Soccer Park, a town facility of about 163 acres in the town’s parks map data, is in the Eastern Cary Gateway near I-40.