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Place dossier plate
SheetNC-GRAHAM-NC · Graham, NC 17,537 pop · income 27th 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 Graham
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Graham on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
McKeesport · lowest
31,854
McKeesport · lowest
31,854 median HH income
25.8% of the leader · rank #1
Edinburg · near
54,775
Edinburg · near
54,775 median HH income
44.4% of the leader · rank #2
Middletown · near
54,778
Middletown · near
54,778 median HH income
44.4% of the leader · rank #3
Graham · this city
54,783
Graham · this city
54,783 median HH income
44.4% of the leader · rank #4
Big Bass Lake · near
54,785
Big Bass Lake · near
54,785 median HH income
44.4% of the leader · rank #5
Tombstone · near
54,792
Tombstone · near
54,792 median HH income
44.4% of the leader · rank #6
Lake St. Louis · highest
123,427
Lake St. Louis · highest
123,427 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 Graham 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: 17,537.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Graham - the verdict
Nationally, Graham sits in the 27th percentile for household income and the 27th percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
27th
percentile, household income
43rd
percentile, home value
48th
percentile, median rent
27th
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: Graham, NC
Graham is a small town in North Carolina, home to 17,537 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Graham households earn a median of $54,783 annually, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 14.8%. Graham's housing stock carries a median value of $200,600, and the median resident age is 36.4 years. Educational attainment runs 23.5% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 58.5% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 517 residential building permits were authorized in Graham (Building Boom), up 433% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. Crime here tracks close to the national norm: per-100,000 total crime stands at 2226.7 in FBI UCR data, near the national average (a voluntary reporting program, read this as reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
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. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts North Carolina's average monthly utility costs around $215 (state average). On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 66.7 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Moderate).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Graham'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 reported crime to housing and income to schools and households to comparison shortlist 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 Graham, city-specific coverage includes FBI reported-crime rates, annual population history, commute-mode shares, local building permits, matched public-school count.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Reported crime
What can the FBI record say about safety in Graham?
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.
The joined FBI UCR record reports 2226.7 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, near the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 2% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
How far does income reach against housing in Graham?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.7 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 14.8%, 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. 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 NCES join finds 11 public schools within the city match. 23.5% 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Graham?
Within North Carolina, the closest population matches are Morganton (17,541 residents, $49,434 income); Murraysville (17,307 residents, $75,720 income); Hope Mills (17,823 residents, $60,671 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Lake St. Louis, MO (17,538 residents); Eastlake, OH (17,538 residents); Camano, WA (17,535 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. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
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 Graham?
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 83.4%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Public transit
0.0%
Work from home
7.7%
Drive alone
83.4%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 8,083 workers age 16+.
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.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +2,965 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +17.3% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 517 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Period change
+17.3%
2025 estimate
20,131
2020 estimate
17,166
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
Below median income · poverty 14.8% (High poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
94.3 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, North Carolina average
F
City profile score · Graham, NC
37/100
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
23.5%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$54,783
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime F
346 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Poverty rate F
14.8%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Graham profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 67/100 (B-) · 94.3 index
Bachelor's+ share: 44/100 (D) · 23.5%
Household income: 27/100 (F) · $54,783
Violent crime: 26/100 (F) · 346 /100k
Poverty rate: 23/100 (F) · 14.8%
Where Graham sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Graham'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 - Graham highlighted among 8 peers.Read the chart values
Graham, NC (this city): home $200,600, crime 2,227/100k
Lake St. Louis, MO : home $375,300, crime 662/100k
Eastlake, OH : home $168,300, crime 1,923/100k
Takoma Park, MD : home $721,500, crime 7,613/100k
McKeesport, PA : home $69,800, crime 4,259/100k
Mount Holly, NC : home $286,400, crime 1,755/100k
Pinehurst, NC : home $423,300, crime 337/100k
Lenoir, NC : home $165,200, crime 3,478/100k
How does Graham compare to other US cities?
Where Graham sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income27% higher than other cities
Home value43% pricier than other cities
Median rent48% pricier than other cities
Safety27% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
A national percentile can hide a lot of local variation: narrowed to North Carolina alone, Graham ranks #87 of 195 North Carolina cities by lowest crime rate - a different, more locally useful comparison than stacking it against the entire country.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Graham 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 Graham near the bottom of North Carolina's cities
Among the 746 North Carolina cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Graham ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Graham only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#398 of 700
43rd percentile in North Carolina
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 746
0th percentile in North Carolina
Median Home Value
#331 of 708
53rd percentile in North Carolina
Poverty Rate
#240 of 746
68th percentile in North Carolina
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#332 of 746
55th 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
27th percentile nationally for median household income · 27th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Graham's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Graham'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 Graham's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$200,600Among the most affordablemore affordable than 57% 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
Graham's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.7×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#9,580 of 15,516
More affordable than 38% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#1,645 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 3.7×, Graham sits in the moderate band:
national rank #9,580 of 15,516 and #1,645 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
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
$54,783Graham, NC median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Graham, 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 Graham, NC.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)23.5%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)14.8%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)58.5%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
17,537
Median Income
$54,783
Median Home Value
$200,600
Median Age
36.4
Poverty Rate
14.8%
Labor force participation
58.5%
Bachelor's Degree+
23.5%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
2226.7
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
346.3
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1880.5
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.
Schools
Total Schools
11
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Graham's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
17,166 residents
2021
17,292 residents
2022
18,011 residents
2023
18,403 residents
2024
19,320 residents
2025
20,131 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
517
housing units authorized
Single-Family
517
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
29.5
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
97
97
0
$17.4M
2020
133
133
0
$21.7M
2021
388
124
264
$33.5M
2022
227
227
0
$41.5M
2023
546
478
68
$85.0M
2024
517
517
0
$91.2M
Permit volume increased 433% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
83.4%
Carpool
6.5%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.2%
Work from Home
7.7%
Other
2.2%
Based on 8,083 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 Graham. 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 Graham 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 Graham sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Graham 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, NCES CCD, Census BPS 2024, 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.