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Place dossier plate
SheetNC-IRON-STATION-NC · Iron Station, NC 722 pop · income 56th 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 Iron Station
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Iron Station on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Dobbins Heigh… · lowest
21,389
Dobbins Heigh… · lowest
21,389 median HH income
17.7% of the leader · rank #1
Colfax · near
74,583
Colfax · near
74,583 median HH income
61.7% of the leader · rank #2
Frankford · near
74,583
Frankford · near
74,583 median HH income
61.7% of the leader · rank #3
Grantville · near
74,583
Grantville · near
74,583 median HH income
61.7% of the leader · rank #4
Iron Station · this city
74,597
Iron Station · this city
74,597 median HH income
61.7% of the leader · rank #5
Iron Ridge · near
74,609
Iron Ridge · near
74,609 median HH income
61.7% of the leader · rank #6
Oak Run · highest
120,972
Oak Run · highest
120,972 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 Iron Station 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: 722.
Iron Station ranks in the 56th percentile for household income nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS.
56th
percentile, household income
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: Iron Station, NC
North Carolina's Iron Station is a small town, with 722 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. The typical household in Iron Station brings in $74,597 a year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 0.0%. The median resident age is 23.5 years. Educational attainment runs 13.6% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 62.0% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The city is served by 2 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. 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). The average commute for Iron Station workers runs 17.8 minutes, with 100.0% driving alone and 0.0% working from home. 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 Iron Station'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 work and mobility to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Iron Station, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates, annual population history, within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Iron Station?
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.
The NCES join finds 2 public schools within the city match. 13.6% 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Iron Station?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 100.0%. The reported mean trip to work is 17.8 minutes.
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. The profile is strongly car-oriented, so a relocation comparison should put trip distance, vehicle access, and household fuel costs ahead of a citywide commute average. The same-state peer links offer a more relevant benchmark than a national label.
Which cities make useful reference points for Iron Station?
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 Bakersville (718 residents, $39,091 income); Taylortown (728 residents, $47,969 income); Conway (730 residents, $40,089 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Noorvik, AK (722 residents); Oak Run, IL (722 residents); Tilden, IL (722 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.
Above median income · poverty 0.0% (Very low poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
94.3 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, North Carolina average
C+
City profile score · Iron Station, NC
62/100
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.
Poverty rate A+
0.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better 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.
Household income C-
$74,597
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
13.6%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Iron Station profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 100/100 (A+) · 0.0%
Cost of living: 67/100 (B-) · 94.3 index
Household income: 54/100 (C-) · $74,597
Bachelor's+ share: 16/100 (F) · 13.6%
How does Iron Station compare to other US cities?
Where Iron Station sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income56% higher 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 Iron Station 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 Iron Station near the bottom of North Carolina's cities
Among the 746 North Carolina cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Iron Station ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Iron Station only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#198 of 700
72nd percentile in North Carolina
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 746
0th percentile in North Carolina
Poverty Rate
#653 of 746
0th percentile in North Carolina
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#563 of 746
24th 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
56th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Income distribution context
$74,597Iron Station, NC median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Iron Station, 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 Iron Station, NC.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)13.6%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)0.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)62.0%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
722
Median Income
$74,597
Median Home Value
N/A
Median Age
23.5
Poverty Rate
0.0%
Labor force participation
62.0%
Bachelor's Degree+
13.6%
Schools
Total Schools
2
Public schools in this city
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
17.8 minutes
Drive Alone
100.0%
Carpool
0.0%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
0.0%
Based on 224 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 Iron Station. 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 Iron Station 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 Iron Station sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Iron Station 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.