Side-by-side metrics and state or size-class ranks use the same Census and FBI fields shown on this profile. Results stay in the URL so you can bookmark or share them.
Place dossier plate
SheetNC-HOLDEN-BEACH-NC · Holden Beach, NC 1,047 pop · income 83rd 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 Holden Beach
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Holden Beach on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Norlina · lowest
34,659
Norlina · lowest
34,659 median HH income
18.1% of the leader · rank #1
Holden Beach · this city
110,000
Holden Beach · this city
110,000 median HH income
57.4% of the leader · rank #2
Acton · near
110,000
Acton · near
110,000 median HH income
57.4% of the leader · rank #3
New Strawn · near
110,000
New Strawn · near
110,000 median HH income
57.4% of the leader · rank #4
Chaska · near
110,000
Chaska · near
110,000 median HH income
57.4% of the leader · rank #5
Waverly · near
110,000
Waverly · near
110,000 median HH income
57.4% of the leader · rank #6
Poquott · highest
191,667
Poquott · highest
191,667 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 Holden Beach 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: 1,047.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Holden Beach - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Holden Beach places in the 83rd percentile for household income and the 43rd percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
83rd
percentile, household income
87th
percentile, home value
48th
percentile, median rent
43rd
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: Holden Beach, NC
Holden Beach is a small town in North Carolina, home to 1,047 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Holden Beach households earn a median of $110,000 annually, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 3.5%. Holden Beach's housing stock carries a median value of $562,500, and the median resident age is 63.8 years. Educational attainment runs 71.2% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 46.9% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 28 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Slowing), down 7% from five years earlier. Holden Beach reports a comparatively low crime rate: per-100,000 total crime stands at 1587.3 in FBI UCR data, below 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: the state registers 94.3 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Below Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,161 per month statewide. 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 Holden Beach'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 work and mobility to housing and income to population change to reported crime to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Holden Beach, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, matched public-school count; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Holden Beach?
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 77.3%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
How far does income reach against housing in Holden Beach?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 5.1 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 3.5%, 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.
Is Holden Beach growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
The recent population line is broadly flat. That makes the composition of change more important than the headline count: housing turnover, household size, and age structure can shift even when the total barely moves.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +5 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +0.5% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 28 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Which cities make useful reference points for Holden Beach?
Within North Carolina, the closest population matches are Rocky Point (1,045 residents, $52,591 income); Norlina (1,050 residents, $34,659 income); Cleveland (1,053 residents, $60,063 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Sanford, CO (1,047 residents); Highland, KS (1,047 residents); South Windham, ME (1,047 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.
Reported crime
What can the FBI record say about safety in Holden Beach?
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 1587.3 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 30% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
1481.5
Violent rate
105.8
Total reported rate
1587.3
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, North Carolina average
B+
City profile score · Holden Beach, NC
77/100
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.
Bachelor's+ share A+
71.2%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income A-
$110,000
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate B+
3.5%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime B-
106 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
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.
Holden Beach profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 98/100 (A+) · 71.2%
Household income: 81/100 (A-) · $110,000
Poverty rate: 75/100 (B+) · 3.5%
Violent crime: 69/100 (B-) · 106 /100k
Cost of living: 67/100 (B-) · 94.3 index
Where Holden Beach sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Holden Beach'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 - Holden Beach highlighted among 22 peers.Read the chart values
Holden Beach, NC (this city): home $562,500, crime 1,587/100k
Cleveland, NC : home $205,800, crime 1,239/100k
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 Holden Beach compare to other US cities?
Where Holden Beach sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income83% higher than other cities
Home value87% pricier than other cities
Median rent48% pricier than other cities
Safety43% 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, Holden Beach ranks #50 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 Holden Beach 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 Holden Beach near the bottom of North Carolina's cities
Among the 746 North Carolina cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Holden Beach ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Holden Beach only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#47 of 700
93rd percentile in North Carolina
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 746
0th percentile in North Carolina
Median Home Value
#24 of 708
97th percentile in North Carolina
Poverty Rate
#562 of 746
24th percentile in North Carolina
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#18 of 746
98th 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
83rd percentile nationally for median household income · 43rd percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Holden Beach's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Holden Beach'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 Holden Beach's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$562,50013th percentilemore affordable than 13% 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
Holden Beach's home-value-to-income ratio: 5.1×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#13,089 of 15,516
More affordable than 16% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#9,872 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 5.1×, Holden Beach sits in the pressured band:
national rank #13,089 of 15,516 and #9,872 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
$110,000Holden Beach, NC median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Holden Beach, 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 Holden Beach, NC.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)71.2%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)3.5%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)46.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
1,047
Median Income
$110,000
Median Home Value
$562,500
Median Age
63.8
Poverty Rate
3.5%
Labor force participation
46.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
71.2%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1587.3
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
105.8
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1481.5
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.
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Holden Beach's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
911 residents
2021
928 residents
2022
927 residents
2023
930 residents
2024
918 residents
2025
916 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Slowing
Total Permits (2024)
28
housing units authorized
Single-Family
28
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
26.7
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
30
30
0
$13.2M
2020
38
38
0
$16.7M
2021
2
2
0
$0.7M
2022
31
31
0
$19.1M
2023
31
31
0
$18.8M
2024
28
28
0
$19.6M
Permit volume decreased 7% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
77.3%
Carpool
3.5%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
1.0%
Work from Home
16.9%
Other
1.3%
Based on 480 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 Holden Beach. 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 Holden Beach 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 Holden Beach sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Holden Beach 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, 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.