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Place dossier plate
SheetNC-HIGHLANDS-NC · Highlands, NC 1,276 pop · income 41st 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 Highlands
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Highlands on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Bayboro · lowest
28,125
Bayboro · lowest
28,125 median HH income
39.7% of the leader · rank #1
Highlands · this city
63,750
Highlands · this city
63,750 median HH income
90.1% of the leader · rank #2
Kellyton · near
63,750
Kellyton · near
63,750 median HH income
90.1% of the leader · rank #3
Golovin · near
63,750
Golovin · near
63,750 median HH income
90.1% of the leader · rank #4
Peeples Valley · near
63,750
Peeples Valley · near
63,750 median HH income
90.1% of the leader · rank #5
Banks · near
63,750
Banks · near
63,750 median HH income
90.1% of the leader · rank #6
Rustburg · highest
70,771
Rustburg · highest
70,771 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 Highlands 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: 1,276.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Highlands - the verdict
Nationally, Highlands sits in the 41st percentile for household income and the 40th percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
41st
percentile, household income
92nd
percentile, home value
48th
percentile, median rent
40th
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: Highlands, NC
Highlands is a small town in North Carolina, home to 1,276 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in Highlands brings in $63,750 a year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 11.3%. Home values in Highlands run a median of $666,300, and the median resident age is 58.4 years. 53.0% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 46.6% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Highlands reports a comparatively low crime rate: FBI UCR figures show 1693.4 crimes per 100,000 residents, below the national average (reporting is voluntary across agencies, so treat this as reporting activity rather than a definitive danger score). NOAA puts Highlands's yearly average temperature at 50.9°F with 88.3 inches of precipitation per year and 10.2 inches of snowfall.
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. 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. 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 Highlands'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 schools and households to comparison shortlist to housing and income to reported crime to climate and hazard context to population change to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Highlands, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, matched public-school count, annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
What does the education layer cover for Highlands?
The NCES join finds 1 public school within the city match. 53.0% 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Highlands?
Within North Carolina, the closest population matches are Arrowhead Beach (1,277 residents, $64,107 income); South Henderson (1,274 residents, $36,417 income); Denton (1,271 residents, $46,061 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Redway, CA (1,276 residents); Greenfield, MO (1,276 residents); Pioneer, OH (1,276 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Highlands?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 10.5 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 11.3%, 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. 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.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Highlands?
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 1693.4 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 26% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
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 Highlands?
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 50.9°F, with 88.3 inches of precipitation and 10.2 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.
Mean temperature
50.9°F
Annual precipitation
88.3 in
FEMA risk index (state avg)
66.7
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
Is Highlands growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
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 +58 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +5.4% 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
+5.4%
2025 estimate
1,127
2020 estimate
1,069
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
What does the journey to work look like in Highlands?
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.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 54.0%. 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
19.4%
Drive alone
54.0%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 511 workers age 16+.
Below median income · poverty 11.3% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
94.3 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, North Carolina average
C+
City profile score · Highlands, NC
63/100
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.
Violent crime A+
0 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share A
53.0%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; 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.
Household income D
$63,750
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
11.3%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Highlands profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Violent crime: 97/100 (A+) · 0 /100k
Bachelor's+ share: 86/100 (A) · 53.0%
Cost of living: 67/100 (B-) · 94.3 index
Household income: 40/100 (D) · $63,750
Poverty rate: 35/100 (F) · 11.3%
Where Highlands sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Highlands'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 - Highlands highlighted among 22 peers.Read the chart values
Highlands, NC (this city): home $666,300, crime 1,693/100k
Pioneer, OH : home $143,000, crime 1,567/100k
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 Highlands compare to other US cities?
Where Highlands sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income41% higher than other cities
Home value92% pricier than other cities
Median rent48% pricier than other cities
Safety40% 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, Highlands ranks #57 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 Highlands 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 Highlands near the bottom of North Carolina's cities
Among the 746 North Carolina cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Highlands ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Highlands only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#294 of 700
58th percentile in North Carolina
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 746
0th percentile in North Carolina
Median Home Value
#11 of 708
98th percentile in North Carolina
Poverty Rate
#327 of 746
56th percentile in North Carolina
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#72 of 746
90th 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
41st percentile nationally for median household income · 40th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Highlands's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Highlands'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 Highlands's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$666,3008th percentilemore affordable than 8% 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
Highlands's home-value-to-income ratio: 10.5×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#15,390 of 15,516
More affordable than 1% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#11,238 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 10.5×, Highlands sits in the pressured band:
national rank #15,390 of 15,516 and #11,238 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
$63,750Highlands, NC median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Highlands, 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 Highlands, NC.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)53.0%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)11.3%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)46.6%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
1,276
Median Income
$63,750
Median Home Value
$666,300
Median Age
58.4
Poverty Rate
11.3%
Labor force participation
46.6%
Bachelor's Degree+
53.0%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1693.4
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
0.0
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1693.4
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
50.9°F
Annual Precipitation
88.3"
Annual Snowfall
10.2"
Schools
Total Schools
1
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Highlands's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
1,069 residents
2021
1,081 residents
2022
1,094 residents
2023
1,107 residents
2024
1,116 residents
2025
1,127 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
54.0%
Carpool
6.3%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
20.4%
Work from Home
19.4%
Based on 511 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 Highlands. 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 Highlands 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 Highlands sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Highlands 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.