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Place dossier plate
SheetNC-FLAT-ROCK-NC · Flat Rock, NC 3,502 pop · income 80th 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 Flat Rock
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Flat Rock on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Marianna · lowest
20,507
Marianna · lowest
20,507 median HH income
19.7% of the leader · rank #1
Leesburg · near
103,958
Leesburg · near
103,958 median HH income
99.9% of the leader · rank #2
Rothsville · near
103,958
Rothsville · near
103,958 median HH income
99.9% of the leader · rank #3
West Jordan · near
103,960
West Jordan · near
103,960 median HH income
99.9% of the leader · rank #4
Flat Rock · this city
103,981
Flat Rock · this city
103,981 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #5
Quartz Hill · near
104,017
Quartz Hill · near
104,017 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #6
Red Hook · highest
104,022
Red Hook · highest
104,022 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 Flat Rock 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: 3,502.
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Flat Rock places in the 80th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
80th
percentile, household income
88th
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: Flat Rock, NC
3,502 people live in Flat Rock, North Carolina - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Median household income here is $103,981 per year, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 7.6%. Flat Rock's housing stock carries a median value of $563,600, and the median resident age is 63.4 years. About 65.1% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 34.1% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The city is served by 3 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. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,161 monthly. 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 Flat Rock'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 comparison shortlist to population change to schools and households to housing and income to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Flat Rock, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, matched public-school count, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Comparison shortlist
Which cities make useful reference points for Flat Rock?
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 Elroy (3,507 residents, $54,375 income); Mountain Home (3,518 residents, $68,750 income); River Road (3,518 residents, $47,978 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Marianna, AR (3,502 residents); West Point, GA (3,501 residents); Plainview, MN (3,501 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.
Is Flat Rock growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +160 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +4.6% 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.
What does the education layer cover for Flat Rock?
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. 65.1% 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Flat Rock?
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 5.4 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 7.6%, 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.
Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Flat Rock?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 67.8%. 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. 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.
Drive alone
67.8%
Work from home
27.3%
Public transit
0.2%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 1,037 workers age 16+.
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, North Carolina average
B
City profile score · Flat Rock, NC
71/100
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 A+
65.1%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income B+
$103,981
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); 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 D
7.6%
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).
Flat Rock profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 95/100 (A+) · 65.1%
Household income: 79/100 (B+) · $103,981
Cost of living: 67/100 (B-) · 94.3 index
Poverty rate: 49/100 (D) · 7.6%
How does Flat Rock compare to other US cities?
Where Flat Rock sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income80% higher than other cities
Home value88% 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 Flat Rock 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 Flat Rock near the bottom of North Carolina's cities
Among the 746 North Carolina cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Flat Rock ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Flat Rock only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#70 of 700
90th percentile in North Carolina
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 746
0th percentile in North Carolina
Median Home Value
#22 of 708
97th percentile in North Carolina
Poverty Rate
#420 of 746
43rd percentile in North Carolina
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#33 of 746
96th 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
80th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Flat Rock's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$563,60012th percentilemore affordable than 12% 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
Flat Rock's home-value-to-income ratio: 5.4×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#13,474 of 15,516
More affordable than 13% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#10,089 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 5.4×, Flat Rock sits in the pressured band:
national rank #13,474 of 15,516 and #10,089 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
$103,981Flat Rock, NC median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Flat Rock, 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 Flat Rock, NC.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)65.1%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)7.6%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)34.1%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
3,502
Median Income
$103,981
Median Home Value
$563,600
Median Age
63.4
Poverty Rate
7.6%
Labor force participation
34.1%
Bachelor's Degree+
65.1%
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
Flat Rock's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
3,483 residents
2021
3,500 residents
2022
3,528 residents
2023
3,564 residents
2024
3,608 residents
2025
3,643 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
67.8%
Carpool
2.6%
Public Transit
0.2%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
27.3%
Other
2.1%
Based on 1,037 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 Flat Rock. 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 Flat Rock 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 Flat Rock sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Flat Rock 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.