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Place dossier plate
SheetNC-KERNERSVILLE-NC · Kernersville, NC 27,439 pop · income 49th 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 Kernersville
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Kernersville on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Asheboro · lowest
48,628
Asheboro · lowest
48,628 median HH income
36.5% of the leader · rank #1
Arroyo Seco · near
69,917
Arroyo Seco · near
69,917 median HH income
52.5% of the leader · rank #2
Powhatan · near
69,917
Powhatan · near
69,917 median HH income
52.5% of the leader · rank #3
Kernersville · this city
69,923
Kernersville · this city
69,923 median HH income
52.5% of the leader · rank #4
Coker · near
69,931
Coker · near
69,931 median HH income
52.6% of the leader · rank #5
Mount Dora · near
69,931
Mount Dora · near
69,931 median HH income
52.6% of the leader · rank #6
New Lenox · highest
133,071
New Lenox · highest
133,071 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 Kernersville 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: 27,439.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Kernersville - the verdict
Kernersville ranks in the 49th percentile for household income and the 12th percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
49th
percentile, household income
58th
percentile, home value
48th
percentile, median rent
12th
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: Kernersville, NC
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 27,439 residents in Kernersville, a small city within North Carolina. The typical household in Kernersville brings in $69,923 a year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 7.1%. Home values in Kernersville run a median of $264,000, and the median resident age is 38.7 years. Educational attainment runs 36.2% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 63.2% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 369 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Building Boom), up 85% from five years earlier. Kernersville's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 3376.3 incidents per 100,000 residents, above the national average (voluntary agency reporting, reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
Living costs in North Carolina run below the national norm: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts North Carolina at 94.3 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Below Average). 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). 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 Kernersville'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 housing and income to schools and households to population change to reported crime 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 Kernersville, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, commute-mode shares, 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.
Question 1
How far does income reach against housing in Kernersville?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.8 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 7.1%, 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.
What does the education layer cover for Kernersville?
The NCES join finds 12 public schools within the city match. 36.2% 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.
Is Kernersville 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 +2,563 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +9.6% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 369 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 Kernersville?
Within North Carolina, the closest population matches are Asheboro (27,353 residents, $48,628 income); Thomasville (27,261 residents, $58,246 income); Mint Hill (26,954 residents, $99,272 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Millville, NJ (27,432 residents); New Lenox, IL (27,456 residents); Pearl, MS (27,458 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 Kernersville?
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 3376.3 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 48% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
3148.4
Violent rate
227.9
Total reported rate
3376.3
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
What does the journey to work look like in Kernersville?
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 80.8%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Public transit
0.6%
Work from home
9.6%
Drive alone
80.8%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 13,892 workers age 16+.
Below median income · poverty 7.1% (Below-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
94.3 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, North Carolina average
C
City profile score · Kernersville, NC
55/100
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 B-
36.2%
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.
Poverty rate C-
7.1%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income D
$69,923
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime D
228 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Kernersville profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 69/100 (B-) · 36.2%
Cost of living: 67/100 (B-) · 94.3 index
Poverty rate: 52/100 (C-) · 7.1%
Household income: 49/100 (D) · $69,923
Violent crime: 44/100 (D) · 228 /100k
Where Kernersville sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Kernersville'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 - Kernersville highlighted among 10 peers.Read the chart values
Kernersville, NC (this city): home $264,000, crime 3,376/100k
Millville, NJ : home $199,300, crime 4,360/100k
New Lenox, IL : home $377,500, crime 978/100k
Clinton, MS : home $220,400, crime 1,275/100k
Neenah, WI : home $194,700, crime 1,299/100k
Athens, AL : home $253,700, crime 2,313/100k
Thomasville, NC : home $163,200, crime 2,627/100k
Mint Hill, NC : home $386,900, crime 934/100k
Clayton, NC : home $292,400, crime 1,451/100k
Leland, NC : home $358,800, crime 1,080/100k
How does Kernersville compare to other US cities?
Where Kernersville sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income49% higher than other cities
Home value58% pricier than other cities
Median rent48% pricier than other cities
Safety12% 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, Kernersville ranks #130 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 Kernersville 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 Kernersville near the bottom of North Carolina's cities
Among the 746 North Carolina cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Kernersville ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Kernersville only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#235 of 700
66th percentile in North Carolina
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 746
0th percentile in North Carolina
Median Home Value
#203 of 708
71st percentile in North Carolina
Poverty Rate
#432 of 746
42nd percentile in North Carolina
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#180 of 746
76th 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
49th percentile nationally for median household income · 12th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Kernersville's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Kernersville'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 Kernersville's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$264,00042nd percentilemore affordable than 42% 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
Kernersville's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.8×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#9,978 of 15,516
More affordable than 36% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#1,765 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 3.8×, Kernersville sits in the moderate band:
national rank #9,978 of 15,516 and #1,765 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
$69,923Kernersville, NC median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Kernersville, 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 Kernersville, NC.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)36.2%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)7.1%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)63.2%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
27,439
Median Income
$69,923
Median Home Value
$264,000
Median Age
38.7
Poverty Rate
7.1%
Labor force participation
63.2%
Bachelor's Degree+
36.2%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
3376.3
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
227.9
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
3148.4
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.
Schools
Total Schools
12
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Kernersville's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
26,565 residents
2021
26,877 residents
2022
27,810 residents
2023
28,084 residents
2024
28,688 residents
2025
29,128 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
369
housing units authorized
Single-Family
369
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
13.4
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
199
199
0
$41.1M
2020
251
251
0
$51.8M
2021
557
289
268
$72.3M
2022
171
171
0
$37.0M
2023
399
310
89
$69.6M
2024
369
369
0
$67.4M
Permit volume increased 85% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
80.8%
Carpool
7.1%
Public Transit
0.6%
Walk
1.3%
Work from Home
9.6%
Other
0.6%
Based on 13,892 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 Kernersville. 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 Kernersville 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 Kernersville sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Kernersville 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.