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Place dossier plate
SheetNC-GASTON-NC · Gaston, NC 864 pop · income 9th 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 Gaston
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Gaston on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Washington · lowest
36,944
Washington · lowest
36,944 median HH income
37.3% of the leader · rank #1
Gaston · this city
41,250
Gaston · this city
41,250 median HH income
41.6% of the leader · rank #2
Gu-Win · near
41,250
Gu-Win · near
41,250 median HH income
41.6% of the leader · rank #3
Mount Vernon · near
41,250
Mount Vernon · near
41,250 median HH income
41.6% of the leader · rank #4
Kaltag · near
41,250
Kaltag · near
41,250 median HH income
41.6% of the leader · rank #5
Cave City · near
41,250
Cave City · near
41,250 median HH income
41.6% of the leader · rank #6
Fellsburg · highest
99,063
Fellsburg · highest
99,063 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 Gaston 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: 864.
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Gaston places in the 9th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
9th
percentile, household income
3rd
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: Gaston, NC
North Carolina's Gaston is a small town, with 864 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Median household income here is $41,250 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 20.0%. Home values in Gaston run a median of $76,300, and the median resident age is 39.4 years. 11.6% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 47.0% 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: the state registers 94.3 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Below Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,161 per month. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts North Carolina's average monthly utility costs around $215 (state average). 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 Gaston'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 housing and income to schools and households to work and mobility to population change; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Gaston, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, commute-mode shares, matched public-school count.
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
Which cities make useful reference points for Gaston?
Within North Carolina, the closest population matches are Warrenton (859 residents, $37,188 income); Clarkton (875 residents); White Plains (876 residents, $52,813 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Flanagan, IL (864 residents); Earlville, IA (864 residents); Washington, LA (864 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Gaston?
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 1.8 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 20.0%, 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. The ratio makes housing the clearest place to start this profile, but a low multiple can coexist with slow demand, older stock, or household-level hardship. Compare the home-value distribution and same-state peer table before treating it as an advantage.
The NCES join finds 3 public schools within the city match. 11.6% 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.
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.
What does the journey to work look like in Gaston?
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 75.6%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
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.
Population change
Is Gaston growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Recent estimates point downward. A falling count can reflect migration, household size, annexation boundaries, or estimation noise, so it is a prompt to inspect the full series rather than a claim about local economic health.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -53 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -5.2% 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.
Period change
-5.2%
2025 estimate
959
2020 estimate
1,012
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 20.0% (High poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
94.3 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, North Carolina average
F
City profile score · Gaston, NC
25/100
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
20.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
11.6%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$41,250
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).
Gaston profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 67/100 (B-) · 94.3 index
Poverty rate: 13/100 (F) · 20.0%
Bachelor's+ share: 11/100 (F) · 11.6%
Household income: 8/100 (F) · $41,250
How does Gaston compare to other US cities?
Gaston measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income9% higher than other cities
Home value3% 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 Gaston 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 Gaston near the bottom of North Carolina's cities
Among the 746 North Carolina cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Gaston ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Gaston only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#566 of 700
19th percentile in North Carolina
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 746
0th percentile in North Carolina
Median Home Value
#687 of 708
3rd percentile in North Carolina
Poverty Rate
#146 of 746
80th percentile in North Carolina
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#610 of 746
18th 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
9th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Gaston's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$76,300Among the most affordablemore affordable than 97% 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
Gaston's home-value-to-income ratio: 1.8×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#1,149 of 15,516
More affordable than 93% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#1,111 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 1.8×, Gaston sits in the affordable band:
national rank #1,149 of 15,516 and #1,111 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
The multiple is comparatively compact among tracked cities, but a low ratio can still coexist with slow demand or household-level hardship.
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
$41,250Gaston, NC median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Gaston, 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 Gaston, NC.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)11.6%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)20.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)47.0%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
864
Median Income
$41,250
Median Home Value
$76,300
Median Age
39.4
Poverty Rate
20.0%
Labor force participation
47.0%
Bachelor's Degree+
11.6%
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
Gaston's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
1,012 residents
2021
996 residents
2022
974 residents
2023
970 residents
2024
960 residents
2025
959 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
75.6%
Carpool
17.2%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
1.9%
Work from Home
0.0%
Other
5.3%
Based on 308 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 Gaston. 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 Gaston 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 Gaston sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Gaston 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.