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Place dossier plate
SheetNC-CATAWBA-NC · Catawba, NC 632 pop · income 12th 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 Catawba
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Catawba on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Seaboard · lowest
19,746
Seaboard · lowest
19,746 median HH income
25.4% of the leader · rank #1
Knightstown · near
44,655
Knightstown · near
44,655 median HH income
57.5% of the leader · rank #2
Eminence · near
44,655
Eminence · near
44,655 median HH income
57.5% of the leader · rank #3
Catawba · this city
44,659
Catawba · this city
44,659 median HH income
57.5% of the leader · rank #4
Randolph · near
44,659
Randolph · near
44,659 median HH income
57.5% of the leader · rank #5
Sweetwater · near
44,661
Sweetwater · near
44,661 median HH income
57.5% of the leader · rank #6
Deal · highest
77,679
Deal · highest
77,679 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 Catawba 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: 632.
Catawba ranks in the 12th percentile for household income nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS.
12th
percentile, household income
23rd
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: Catawba, NC
Catawba is a small town in North Carolina, home to 632 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in Catawba brings in $44,659 a year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 13.6%. Home values in Catawba run a median of $138,100, and the median resident age is 38.3 years. About 7.4% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 50.6% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
NOAA puts Catawba's yearly average temperature at 60.1°F with 46.6 inches of precipitation per year.
Living costs in North Carolina run below the national norm: the state registers 94.3 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Below Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,161 monthly. 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 Catawba'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 population change to housing and income to work and mobility to climate and hazard context to schools and households to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Catawba, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, matched public-school count, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
Is Catawba growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +36 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +5.1% 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.
Recent estimates point upward. Growth can increase housing demand and service needs, but the permit record must move in the same direction before calling it a supply response; the two series measure different things.
How far does income reach against housing in Catawba?
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. Income and home value move within the same broad scale here. The useful next check is not a generic affordability label, but whether similar-size cities offer a materially different income, housing, or commute trade-off.
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.1 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 13.6%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
What does the journey to work look like in Catawba?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 91.5%. 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. The profile is strongly car-oriented, so a relocation comparison should put trip distance, vehicle access, and household fuel costs ahead of a citywide commute average. The same-state peer links offer a more relevant benchmark than a national label.
Which cities make useful reference points for Catawba?
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 Cliffside (630 residents); Alexis (635 residents, $53,708 income); Garysburg (636 residents, $37,500 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are New Boston, IL (632 residents); Ravenna, KY (632 residents); Deal, NJ (632 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.
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.
Climate and hazard context
What physical conditions frame life in Catawba?
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.
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 60.1°F, with 46.6 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.
FEMA risk index (state avg)
66.7
Annual precipitation
46.6 in
Mean temperature
60.1°F
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
The city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
The NCES join finds 3 public schools within the city match. 7.4% 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.
Poverty estimate
13.6%
Bachelor's degree+
7.4%
Matched public schools
3
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, North Carolina average
F
City profile score · Catawba, NC
27/100
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.
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 F
13.6%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$44,659
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
7.4%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Catawba profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 67/100 (B-) · 94.3 index
Poverty rate: 25/100 (F) · 13.6%
Household income: 13/100 (F) · $44,659
Bachelor's+ share: 0/100 (F) · 7.4%
How does Catawba compare to other US cities?
Here's how Catawba stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income12% higher than other cities
Home value23% 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 Catawba 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 Catawba near the bottom of North Carolina's cities
Among the 746 North Carolina cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Catawba ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Catawba only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#524 of 700
25th percentile in North Carolina
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 746
0th percentile in North Carolina
Median Home Value
#512 of 708
28th percentile in North Carolina
Poverty Rate
#276 of 746
62nd percentile in North Carolina
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#670 of 746
10th 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
12th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Catawba's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$138,100Among the most affordablemore affordable than 77% 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
Catawba's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.1×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#7,152 of 15,516
More affordable than 54% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#5,972 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.1×, Catawba sits in the moderate band:
national rank #7,152 of 15,516 and #5,972 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
Income and home value move in the same broad scale; check same-state peers before treating the multiple as an advantage or a warning.
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
$44,659Catawba, NC median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Catawba, 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 Catawba, NC.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)7.4%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)13.6%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)50.6%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
632
Median Income
$44,659
Median Home Value
$138,100
Median Age
38.3
Poverty Rate
13.6%
Labor force participation
50.6%
Bachelor's Degree+
7.4%
Climate
Avg Temperature
60.1°F
Annual Precipitation
46.6"
Annual Snowfall
N/A
Schools
Total Schools
3
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Catawba's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
700 residents
2021
702 residents
2022
708 residents
2023
715 residents
2024
724 residents
2025
736 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
91.5%
Carpool
3.7%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
3.3%
Other
1.5%
Based on 272 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 Catawba. 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 Catawba 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 Catawba sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Catawba 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, 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.