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Place dossier plate
SheetNC-EDENTON-NC · Edenton, NC 4,480 pop · income 10th pct · 4 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 Edenton
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Edenton on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Attica · lowest
42,708
Attica · lowest
42,708 median HH income
36.7% of the leader · rank #1
Edenton · this city
42,721
Edenton · this city
42,721 median HH income
36.7% of the leader · rank #2
Spring Valley · near
42,721
Spring Valley · near
42,721 median HH income
36.7% of the leader · rank #3
Covington · near
42,724
Covington · near
42,724 median HH income
36.7% of the leader · rank #4
Washingtonvil… · near
42,727
Washingtonvil… · near
42,727 median HH income
36.7% of the leader · rank #5
Lepanto · near
42,730
Lepanto · near
42,730 median HH income
36.7% of the leader · rank #6
Millis-Clicqu… · highest
116,324
Millis-Clicqu… · highest
116,324 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, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Edenton on ACS population and median household income
, plus FBI UCR reporting rate when the extract covers this place. 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: 4,480.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Edenton - the verdict
Nationally, Edenton sits in the 10th percentile for household income and the 26th percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
10th
percentile, household income
50th
percentile, home value
48th
percentile, median rent
26th
percentile, safety
📝 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: Edenton, NC
4,480 people live in Edenton, North Carolina - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Edenton households earn a median of $42,721 annually, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 35.2%. Typical homes in Edenton are valued around $226,800, and the median resident age is 46.4 years. Educational attainment runs 23.6% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 52.2% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Crime here tracks close to the national norm: the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program logs 2291.4 total incidents per 100,000 residents here, near the national average (agency reporting is voluntary, so this measures reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). NOAA climate normals record an annual average temperature of 62.1°F with 51.0 inches of precipitation per year and 2.3 inches of snowfall.
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. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in North Carolina run around $215, per EIA 2023 residential energy 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 Edenton'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 within-city variation to reported crime to climate and hazard context to schools and households to housing and income to work and mobility to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Edenton, city-specific coverage includes FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history, commute-mode shares, matched public-school count.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
Is Edenton growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +84 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +1.9% 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.
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.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Edenton?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 2291.4 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, near the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 0% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Treat this as a reporting-rate comparison, not a prediction of personal risk or a neighborhood-level safety grade. Tourism, daytime population, reporting practices, and variation inside the city are not adjusted away. The state rank and same-state peer table are the narrower comparisons available on this page.
Which cities make useful reference points for Edenton?
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. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
Within North Carolina, the closest population matches are China Grove (4,487 residents, $53,717 income); Farmville (4,493 residents, $50,870 income); Shallotte (4,465 residents, $75,642 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Westwood, KY (4,480 residents); Millis-Clicquot, MA (4,479 residents); Beattystown, NJ (4,479 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 Edenton?
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 62.1°F, with 51.0 inches of precipitation and 2.3 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.
FEMA risk index (state avg)
66.7
Annual precipitation
51.0 in
Mean temperature
62.1°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. 23.6% 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
35.2%
Bachelor's degree+
23.6%
Matched public schools
3
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
How far does income reach against housing in Edenton?
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 5.3 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 35.2%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
5.3×
Home value
$226,800
Household income
$42,721
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
What does the journey to work look like in Edenton?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 71.8%. 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.
Drive alone
71.8%
Work from home
6.8%
Public transit
0.0%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 1,771 workers age 16+.
Low income · poverty 35.2% (Highest-decile poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
94.3 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, North Carolina average
F
City profile score · Edenton, NC
27/100
5 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 D
23.6%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime F
378 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Household income F
$42,721
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
35.2%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Edenton profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 67/100 (B-) · 94.3 index
Bachelor's+ share: 45/100 (D) · 23.6%
Violent crime: 24/100 (F) · 378 /100k
Household income: 10/100 (F) · $42,721
Poverty rate: 0/100 (F) · 35.2%
Where Edenton sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Edenton's median home value and FBI crime rate plotted with similar-size and
same-state peers (padded with large cities when the peer set is thin). The second
read: pricey does not always mean safer, check which quadrant this city lands in.
Census ACS median home value vs FBI UCR crime rate - Edenton highlighted among 26 peers.Read the chart values
Edenton, NC (this city): home $226,800, crime 2,291/100k
China Grove, NC : home $207,500, crime 1,258/100k
Farmville, NC : home $184,900, crime 3,475/100k
Shallotte, NC : home $301,300, crime 4,524/100k
Holly Ridge, NC : home $291,100, crime 887/100k
Newport, NC : home $245,300, crime 1,742/100k
New York, NY : home $751,700, crime 3,039/100k
Los Angeles, CA : home $879,500, crime 2,212/100k
Chicago, IL : home $315,200, crime 4,012/100k
Houston, TX : home $253,400, crime 5,442/100k
Phoenix, AZ : home $381,900, crime 3,125/100k
Philadelphia, PA : home $232,400, crime 5,457/100k
San Antonio, TX : home $219,700, crime 5,218/100k
San Diego, CA : home $848,500, crime 2,082/100k
Dallas, TX : home $295,300, crime 4,010/100k
San Jose, CA : home $1,187,800, crime 3,195/100k
Austin, TX : home $512,700, crime 3,709/100k
Fort Worth, TX : home $277,300, crime 3,158/100k
Columbus, OH : home $234,500, crime 3,088/100k
Indianapolis, IN : home $207,000, crime 4,214/100k
San Francisco, CA : home $1,380,500, crime 4,526/100k
Seattle, WA : home $912,100, crime 5,783/100k
Denver, CO : home $586,700, crime 5,755/100k
Oklahoma City, OK : home $215,100, crime 3,570/100k
El Paso, TX : home $171,700, crime 1,772/100k
Washington, DC : home $724,600, crime 4,514/100k
How does Edenton compare to other US cities?
Where Edenton sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income10% higher than other cities
Home value50% pricier than other cities
Median rent48% pricier than other cities
Safety26% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
Zoom in to just North Carolina and the picture shifts: Edenton ranks #89 of 195 North Carolina cities by lowest crime rate, a different read than the national percentile above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Edenton 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 Edenton near the bottom of North Carolina's cities
Among the 746 North Carolina cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Edenton ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Edenton only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#553 of 700
21st percentile in North Carolina
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 746
0th percentile in North Carolina
Median Home Value
#254 of 708
64th percentile in North Carolina
Poverty Rate
#36 of 746
95th percentile in North Carolina
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#329 of 746
56th 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
10th percentile nationally for median household income · 26th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Edenton's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Edenton's percentile rank on 3 favorable-direction measures (income, affordability, safety) vs. every tracked US city -- higher on every axis is more favorable. Not a composite quality score, just the arithmetic mean of the axes shown.
How Edenton's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$226,800Among the most affordablemore affordable than 50% 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
Edenton's home-value-to-income ratio: 5.3×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#13,332 of 15,516
More affordable than 14% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#10,013 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 5.3×, Edenton sits in the pressured band:
national rank #13,332 of 15,516 and #10,013 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
$42,721Edenton, NC median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Edenton, 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 Edenton, NC.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)23.6%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)35.2%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)52.2%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
4,480
Median Income
$42,721
Median Home Value
$226,800
Median Age
46.4
Poverty Rate
35.2%
Labor force participation
52.2%
Bachelor's Degree+
23.6%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
2291.4
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
378.2
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1913.2
per 100,000 residents
Crime reporting caveat
Reflects incidents reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program — agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies by jurisdiction and year, so this reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score. Not adjusted for tourism, commuter, or daytime population.
Climate
Avg Temperature
62.1°F
Annual Precipitation
51.0"
Annual Snowfall
2.3"
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
Edenton's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
4,462 residents
2021
4,475 residents
2022
4,515 residents
2023
4,495 residents
2024
4,533 residents
2025
4,546 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
71.8%
Carpool
13.9%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
5.9%
Work from Home
6.8%
Other
1.6%
Based on 1,771 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 Edenton. 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 Edenton 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 Edenton sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Edenton 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, FBI UCR, 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.