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Place dossier plate
SheetNC-BATH-NC · Bath, NC 229 pop · income 52nd pct
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around Bath
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Bath on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Holy Cross · lowest
22,917
Holy Cross · lowest
22,917 median HH income
25.6% of the leader · rank #1
Bath · this city
72,000
Bath · this city
72,000 median HH income
80.4% of the leader · rank #2
Brinson · near
72,000
Brinson · near
72,000 median HH income
80.4% of the leader · rank #3
Burtons Bridge · near
72,000
Burtons Bridge · near
72,000 median HH income
80.4% of the leader · rank #4
Canton · near
72,000
Canton · near
72,000 median HH income
80.4% of the leader · rank #5
Boys Town · near
72,000
Boys Town · near
72,000 median HH income
80.4% of the leader · rank #6
Indian Beach · highest
89,583
Indian Beach · highest
89,583 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Bath on ACS population and median household income
. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 229.
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Bath lands in the 52nd percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
52nd
percentile, household income
77th
percentile, home value
48th
percentile, median rent
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: Bath, NC
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 229 residents in Bath, a small town within North Carolina. The typical household in Bath brings in $72,000 a year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 11.1%. Home values in Bath run a median of $401,600, and the median resident age is 66.0 years. 39.9% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 37.6% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The city is served by 1 public schools according to NCES Common Core of Data.
Living costs in North Carolina run below the national norm: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, North Carolina scores 94.3 (Below Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,161 per month. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts North Carolina's average monthly utility costs around $215 (state average). FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 66.7 out of 100 (Moderate).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Bath's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from work and mobility to schools and households to comparison shortlist to housing and income to population change; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Bath, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, annual population history, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
What does the journey to work look like in Bath?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 77.9%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. No single mode completely explains the work trip here. The mix is more useful than a one-number commute grade, especially when comparing places where transit, walking, and remote work divide the non-driving share differently.
The matched institution count is small, so district boundaries and schools outside the city line may matter more than the municipal count suggests. Use the number as a coverage cue, then verify attendance zones with the district before making a household decision.
The NCES join finds 1 public school within the city match. 39.9% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
Which cities make useful reference points for Bath?
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching.
Within North Carolina, the closest population matches are Indian Beach (229 residents, $89,583 income); Belvoir (228 residents); Engelhard (230 residents, $52,775 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Holy Cross, AK (229 residents); Orange Grove Mobile Manor, AZ (229 residents); Norwood, GA (229 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
How far does income reach against housing in Bath?
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median. That flags a question for comparison, not a verdict: tenure, household composition, financing costs, and the age of the ACS estimate can all change what a resident actually pays.
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 5.6 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 11.1%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Population change
Is Bath growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -2 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -0.8% change. No comparable local building-permit series is available here, so population change should not be read as a housing-supply measure. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
The recent population line is broadly flat. That makes the composition of change more important than the headline count: housing turnover, household size, and age structure can shift even when the total barely moves.
2020 estimate
245
2025 estimate
243
Period change
-0.8%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
Above median income · poverty 11.1% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
94.3 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, North Carolina average
C
City profile score · Bath, NC
56/100
4 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Bachelor's+ share B+
39.9%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Cost of living B-
94.3 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Household income C-
$72,000
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
11.1%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Bath profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 75/100 (B+) · 39.9%
Cost of living: 67/100 (B-) · 94.3 index
Household income: 52/100 (C-) · $72,000
Poverty rate: 35/100 (F) · 11.1%
How does Bath compare to other US cities?
Where Bath sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income52% higher than other cities
Home value77% pricier than other cities
Median rent48% pricier than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Bath against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to North Carolina only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
North Carolina-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Bath near the bottom of North Carolina's cities
Among the 746 North Carolina cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Bath ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Bath only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#225 of 700
68th percentile in North Carolina
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 746
0th percentile in North Carolina
Median Home Value
#76 of 708
89th percentile in North Carolina
Poverty Rate
#333 of 746
55th percentile in North Carolina
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#148 of 746
80th percentile in North Carolina
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within North Carolina only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
52nd percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Bath's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$401,60023rd percentilemore affordable than 23% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
Bath's home-value-to-income ratio: 5.6×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#13,675 of 15,516
More affordable than 12% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#10,215 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 5.6×, Bath sits in the pressured band:
national rank #13,675 of 15,516 and #10,215 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median, a comparison flag, not a verdict on any household.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$72,000Bath, NC median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Bath, NC median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Bath, NC.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)39.9%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)11.1%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)37.6%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
229
Median Income
$72,000
Median Home Value
$401,600
Median Age
66.0
Poverty Rate
11.1%
Labor force participation
37.6%
Bachelor's Degree+
39.9%
Schools
Total Schools
1
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Bath's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
245 residents
2021
244 residents
2022
244 residents
2023
244 residents
2024
244 residents
2025
243 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
77.9%
Carpool
5.2%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
2.6%
Work from Home
14.3%
Based on 77 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
North Carolina statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $215
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across North Carolina at $215 (electricity about $115 , water and sewer about $45 ).
These are North Carolina statewide averages, not a meter reading for Bath. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
North Carolina's BEA cost-of-living index is 94.3 (Below Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Bath is $1,161/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to North Carolina statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 66.7 / 100 (Moderate).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a North Carolina statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Bath sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Bath compares to similar-size North Carolina cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, NCES CCD, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.