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Place dossier plate
SheetNC-LIBERTY-NC · Liberty, NC 2,678 pop · income 7th 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 Liberty
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Liberty on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Grifton · lowest
36,664
Grifton · lowest
36,664 median HH income
21.9% of the leader · rank #1
Sedgwick · near
39,286
Sedgwick · near
39,286 median HH income
23.5% of the leader · rank #2
Weleetka · near
39,292
Weleetka · near
39,292 median HH income
23.5% of the leader · rank #3
Liberty · this city
39,293
Liberty · this city
39,293 median HH income
23.5% of the leader · rank #4
Fayette · near
39,297
Fayette · near
39,297 median HH income
23.5% of the leader · rank #5
Baraga · near
39,297
Baraga · near
39,297 median HH income
23.5% of the leader · rank #6
Wrightsville… · highest
167,273
Wrightsville… · highest
167,273 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 Liberty 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: 2,678.
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Liberty places in the 7th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
7th
percentile, household income
28th
percentile, home value
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: Liberty, NC
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 2,678 residents in Liberty, a small town within North Carolina. Median household income here is $39,293 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 14.5%. Liberty's housing stock carries a median value of $152,800, and the median resident age is 37.2 years. Educational attainment runs 11.0% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 59.7% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The city is served by 3 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. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,161 per month. 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 Liberty'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 population change to comparison shortlist to work and mobility to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Liberty, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, annual population history, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits; 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 Liberty?
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.
The NCES join finds 3 public schools within the city match. 11.0% 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.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +79 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +3.0% 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.
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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Liberty?
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 Wrightsville Beach (2,679 residents, $167,273 income); Wentworth (2,670 residents, $67,455 income); Rockwell (2,688 residents, $64,141 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Owens Cross Roads, AL (2,678 residents); Central Heights-Midland, AZ (2,678 residents); White Mountain Lake, AZ (2,678 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Liberty?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 86.6%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
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.
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.
Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Liberty?
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 home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.9 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 14.5%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
3.9×
Home value
$152,800
Household income
$39,293
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 14.5% (High poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
94.3 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, North Carolina average
F
City profile score · Liberty, NC
26/100
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.
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 F
14.5%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
11.0%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$39,293
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Liberty profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 67/100 (B-) · 94.3 index
Poverty rate: 24/100 (F) · 14.5%
Bachelor's+ share: 9/100 (F) · 11.0%
Household income: 6/100 (F) · $39,293
How does Liberty compare to other US cities?
Here's how Liberty stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income7% higher than other cities
Home value28% pricier 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 Liberty 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 Liberty near the bottom of North Carolina's cities
Among the 746 North Carolina cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Liberty ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Liberty only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#587 of 700
16th percentile in North Carolina
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 746
0th percentile in North Carolina
Median Home Value
#475 of 708
33rd percentile in North Carolina
Poverty Rate
#251 of 746
66th percentile in North Carolina
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#622 of 746
16th 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
7th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Liberty's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$152,800Among the most affordablemore affordable than 72% 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
Liberty's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.9×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#10,357 of 15,516
More affordable than 33% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#8,144 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.9×, Liberty sits in the moderate band:
national rank #10,357 of 15,516 and #8,144 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
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
$39,293Liberty, NC median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Liberty, 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 Liberty, NC.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)11.0%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)14.5%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)59.7%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
2,678
Median Income
$39,293
Median Home Value
$152,800
Median Age
37.2
Poverty Rate
14.5%
Labor force participation
59.7%
Bachelor's Degree+
11.0%
Schools
Total Schools
3
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Liberty's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
2,660 residents
2021
2,674 residents
2022
2,688 residents
2023
2,713 residents
2024
2,727 residents
2025
2,739 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
86.6%
Carpool
3.6%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
1.4%
Work from Home
5.9%
Other
2.5%
Based on 1,257 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 Liberty. 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 Liberty 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 Liberty sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Liberty 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.