Side-by-side metrics and state or size-class ranks use the same Census and FBI fields shown on this profile. Results stay in the URL so you can bookmark or share them.
Place dossier plate
SheetNC-BENT-CREEK-NC · Bent Creek, NC 1,854 pop · income 23rd 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 Bent Creek
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Bent Creek on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Jefferson · lowest
35,938
Jefferson · lowest
35,938 median HH income
14.4% of the leader · rank #1
Huntsville · near
52,472
Huntsville · near
52,472 median HH income
21.0% of the leader · rank #2
Buchanan · near
52,474
Buchanan · near
52,474 median HH income
21.0% of the leader · rank #3
Bent Creek · this city
52,485
Bent Creek · this city
52,485 median HH income
21.0% of the leader · rank #4
Avon · near
52,500
Avon · near
52,500 median HH income
21.0% of the leader · rank #5
Malvern · near
52,500
Malvern · near
52,500 median HH income
21.0% of the leader · rank #6
Huntington Bay · highest
250,001
Huntington Bay · highest
250,001 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 Bent Creek 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: 1,854.
Nationally, Bent Creek sits in the 23rd percentile for household income among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS.
23rd
percentile, household income
75th
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: Bent Creek, NC
Bent Creek is a small town in North Carolina, home to 1,854 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Bent Creek report a median income of $52,485 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 6.3%. Home values in Bent Creek run a median of $377,500, and the median resident age is 43.6 years. 36.6% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 48.8% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
NOAA climate normals record an annual average temperature of 54.4°F with 52.0 inches of precipitation per year.
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. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,161 per month statewide. Monthly utility costs average around $215 across North Carolina, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. 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 Bent Creek'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 housing and income to comparison shortlist to climate and hazard context; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Bent Creek, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for matched public-school count, within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Bent Creek?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. Remote work has a visible role in the local pattern. That can reduce commute exposure for some workers, but it says nothing about job availability or broadband quality; read it alongside income and housing rather than as a stand-alone lifestyle score.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 71.7%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
How far does income reach against housing in Bent Creek?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 7.2 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 6.3%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Bent Creek?
Within North Carolina, the closest population matches are Manteo (1,853 residents, $78,594 income); Jefferson (1,852 residents, $35,938 income); Hildebran (1,860 residents, $53,125 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Sneads, FL (1,854 residents); Orwell, OH (1,854 residents); Albany, MO (1,855 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.
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.
What physical conditions frame life in Bent Creek?
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 54.4°F, with 52.0 inches of precipitation. FEMA's state-averaged National Risk Index score for North Carolina is 66.7 out of 100. Climate normals describe long-run weather; the FEMA score on PlainCities is a state average of county NRI inputs and combines hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and resilience.
The two sources should not be blended into one comfort or safety score. Use the climate values for baseline conditions and the risk index as a prompt to inspect specific hazards, insurance, and local emergency guidance for a particular address.
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, North Carolina average
C-
City profile score · Bent Creek, NC
51/100
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-
36.6%
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.
Poverty rate C
6.3%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$52,485
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Bent Creek profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 69/100 (B-) · 36.6%
Cost of living: 67/100 (B-) · 94.3 index
Poverty rate: 57/100 (C) · 6.3%
Household income: 24/100 (F) · $52,485
How does Bent Creek compare to other US cities?
Here's how Bent Creek stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income23% higher than other cities
Home value75% 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 Bent Creek 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 Bent Creek near the bottom of North Carolina's cities
Among the 746 North Carolina cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Bent Creek ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Bent Creek only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#434 of 700
38th percentile in North Carolina
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 746
0th percentile in North Carolina
Median Home Value
#92 of 708
87th percentile in North Carolina
Poverty Rate
#465 of 746
37th percentile in North Carolina
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#175 of 746
76th 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
23rd percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Bent Creek's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$377,50025th percentilemore affordable than 25% 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
Bent Creek's home-value-to-income ratio: 7.2×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#14,762 of 15,516
More affordable than 5% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#10,854 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 7.2×, Bent Creek sits in the pressured band:
national rank #14,762 of 15,516 and #10,854 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
$52,485Bent Creek, NC median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Bent Creek, 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 Bent Creek, NC.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)36.6%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)6.3%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)48.8%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
1,854
Median Income
$52,485
Median Home Value
$377,500
Median Age
43.6
Poverty Rate
6.3%
Labor force participation
48.8%
Bachelor's Degree+
36.6%
Climate
Avg Temperature
54.4°F
Annual Precipitation
52.0"
Annual Snowfall
N/A
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
71.7%
Carpool
2.4%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
6.2%
Work from Home
19.7%
Based on 741 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 Bent Creek. 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 Bent Creek 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 Bent Creek sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Bent Creek 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, NOAA Climate Normals, 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.