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Place dossier plate
SheetNC-CULLOWHEE-NC · Cullowhee, NC 7,300 pop · income 5th pct · 9 tracts
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 Cullowhee
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Cullowhee on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Branch · lowest
35,060
Branch · lowest
35,060 median HH income
30.4% of the leader · rank #1
Eckerty · near
35,074
Eckerty · near
35,074 median HH income
30.4% of the leader · rank #2
Marks · near
35,074
Marks · near
35,074 median HH income
30.4% of the leader · rank #3
La Belle · near
35,074
La Belle · near
35,074 median HH income
30.4% of the leader · rank #4
Cullowhee · this city
35,076
Cullowhee · this city
35,076 median HH income
30.4% of the leader · rank #5
Osnabrock · near
35,083
Osnabrock · near
35,083 median HH income
30.4% of the leader · rank #6
Porters Neck · highest
115,417
Porters Neck · highest
115,417 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 Cullowhee 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: 7,300.
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Cullowhee places in the 5th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
5th
percentile, household income
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: Cullowhee, NC
North Carolina's Cullowhee is a small town, with 7,300 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Cullowhee households earn a median of $35,076 annually, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 21.5%. The median resident age is 20.9 years. 29.4% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 50.7% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
NOAA puts Cullowhee's yearly average temperature at 56.1°F with 54.2 inches of precipitation per year and 4.3 inches of snowfall.
Living costs in North Carolina run below the national norm: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts North Carolina at 94.3 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Below Average). A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,161 per month statewide. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in North Carolina run around $215, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. Commute times here average 18.2 minutes, with 70.6% driving alone and 6.4% working from home, per Census ACS commuting data. Natural-hazard exposure scores 66.7 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (Moderate).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Cullowhee'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 climate and hazard context to within-city variation to comparison shortlist to schools and households; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Cullowhee, city-specific coverage includes within-city Census tract profiles, commute-mode shares, matched public-school count.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, annual population history; 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 Cullowhee?
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.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 70.6%. The reported mean trip to work is 18.2 minutes.
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 56.1°F, with 54.2 inches of precipitation and 4.3 inches of annual snowfall. 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.
That layer breaks the citywide income, rent, and home-value medians into smaller Census geographies, which can reveal differences that one municipal median necessarily hides. A tract is a statistical area, not a locally defined neighborhood or a promise about conditions on a particular block. Start with the city profile for the broad comparison, then use the tract layer to test whether the same housing and income pattern is consistent across the city. Large within-city spreads are a reason to avoid treating any citywide median as a universal resident experience.
Which cities make useful reference points for Cullowhee?
Within North Carolina, the closest population matches are King (7,345 residents, $60,451 income); Forest City (7,368 residents, $35,897 income); Mills River (7,214 residents, $88,359 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Mira Monte, CA (7,301 residents); Willow Oak, FL (7,299 residents); Pacific, MO (7,299 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.
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.
Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Cullowhee?
The NCES join finds 1 public school within the city match. 29.4% 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.
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.
Matched public schools
1
Bachelor's degree+
29.4%
Poverty estimate
21.5%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 21.5% (High poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
94.3 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, North Carolina average
F
City profile score · Cullowhee, NC
30/100
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.
Bachelor's+ share C
29.4%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
21.5%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$35,076
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).
Cullowhee profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 67/100 (B-) · 94.3 index
Bachelor's+ share: 57/100 (C) · 29.4%
Poverty rate: 11/100 (F) · 21.5%
Household income: 0/100 (F) · $35,076
How does Cullowhee compare to other US cities?
Here's how Cullowhee stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income5% higher 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 Cullowhee 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 Cullowhee near the bottom of North Carolina's cities
Among the 746 North Carolina cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Cullowhee ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Cullowhee only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#637 of 700
9th percentile in North Carolina
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 746
0th percentile in North Carolina
Poverty Rate
#130 of 746
82nd percentile in North Carolina
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#236 of 746
68th 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
5th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Income distribution context
$35,076Cullowhee, NC median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Cullowhee, 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 Cullowhee, NC.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)29.4%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)21.5%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)50.7%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
7,300
Median Income
$35,076
Median Home Value
N/A
Median Age
20.9
Poverty Rate
21.5%
Labor force participation
50.7%
Bachelor's Degree+
29.4%
Climate
Avg Temperature
56.1°F
Annual Precipitation
54.2"
Annual Snowfall
4.3"
Schools
Total Schools
1
Public schools in this city
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
18.2 minutes
Drive Alone
70.6%
Carpool
4.1%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
15.8%
Work from Home
6.4%
Other
3.1%
Based on 3,285 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 Cullowhee. 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 Cullowhee 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 Cullowhee sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Cullowhee 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.