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Place dossier plate
SheetNC-MAXTON-NC · Maxton, NC 2,398 pop · income 1st 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 Maxton
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Maxton on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Bajadero comu… · lowest
22,583
Bajadero comu… · lowest
22,583 median HH income
20.4% of the leader · rank #1
Manderson-Whi… · near
22,596
Manderson-Whi… · near
22,596 median HH income
20.4% of the leader · rank #2
Chetopa · near
22,614
Chetopa · near
22,614 median HH income
20.4% of the leader · rank #3
Palma Sola co… · near
22,614
Palma Sola co… · near
22,614 median HH income
20.4% of the leader · rank #4
Maxton · this city
22,632
Maxton · this city
22,632 median HH income
20.4% of the leader · rank #5
Elgin · near
22,656
Elgin · near
22,656 median HH income
20.4% of the leader · rank #6
Lake Meade · highest
110,833
Lake Meade · highest
110,833 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 Maxton 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: 2,398.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Maxton - the verdict
Maxton ranks in the 1st percentile for household income and the 55th percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
1st
percentile, household income
4th
percentile, home value
48th
percentile, median rent
55th
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: Maxton, NC
2,398 people live in Maxton, North Carolina - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Maxton households earn a median of $22,632 annually, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 40.6%. Home values in Maxton run a median of $79,600, and the median resident age is 31.2 years. About 11.9% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 42.1% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Maxton reports a comparatively low crime rate: the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program logs 1228.7 total incidents per 100,000 residents here, below the national average (agency reporting is voluntary, so this measures 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. 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). On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 66.7 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Moderate).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Maxton'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 population change to work and mobility to comparison shortlist to schools and households to housing and income to reported crime; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Maxton, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, commute-mode shares, annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
Is Maxton growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +47 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +2.2% 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Maxton?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 80.2%. 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. 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Maxton?
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.
Within North Carolina, the closest population matches are Calabash (2,397 residents, $60,048 income); Laurel Park (2,391 residents, $89,107 income); Neuse Forest (2,406 residents, $88,333 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Jamestown West, NY (2,398 residents); Lake Meade, PA (2,398 residents); Flora, MS (2,399 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.
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. 11.9% 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.
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 Maxton?
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 3.5 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 40.6%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
3.5×
Home value
$79,600
Household income
$22,632
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Maxton?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 1228.7 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 46% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
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.
Total reported rate
1228.7
Violent rate
236.3
Property rate
992.4
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 40.6% (Highest-decile poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
94.3 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, North Carolina average
F
City profile score · Maxton, NC
24/100
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.
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.
Violent crime D
236 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
11.9%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$22,632
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
40.6%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Maxton profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 67/100 (B-) · 94.3 index
Violent crime: 42/100 (D) · 236 /100k
Bachelor's+ share: 12/100 (F) · 11.9%
Household income: 0/100 (F) · $22,632
Poverty rate: 0/100 (F) · 40.6%
Where Maxton sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Maxton'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 - Maxton highlighted among 26 peers.Read the chart values
Maxton, NC (this city): home $79,600, crime 1,229/100k
Mendenhall, MS : home $102,800, crime 1,175/100k
Red Lodge, MT : home $374,900, crime 585/100k
Richlands, NC : home $217,800, crime 1,221/100k
Taylorsville, NC : home $210,300, crime 1,196/100k
Spruce Pine, NC : home $202,300, crime 1,599/100k
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 Maxton compare to other US cities?
Where Maxton sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income1% higher than other cities
Home value4% pricier than other cities
Median rent48% pricier than other cities
Safety55% 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, Maxton ranks #32 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 Maxton 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 Maxton near the bottom of North Carolina's cities
Among the 746 North Carolina cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Maxton ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Maxton only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#686 of 700
2nd percentile in North Carolina
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 746
0th percentile in North Carolina
Median Home Value
#679 of 708
4th percentile in North Carolina
Poverty Rate
#23 of 746
97th percentile in North Carolina
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#603 of 746
19th 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
1st percentile nationally for median household income · 55th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Maxton's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Maxton'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 Maxton's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$79,600Among the most affordablemore affordable than 96% 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
Maxton's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.5×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#9,027 of 15,516
More affordable than 42% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#7,277 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.5×, Maxton sits in the moderate band:
national rank #9,027 of 15,516 and #7,277 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
$22,632Maxton, NC median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Maxton, 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 Maxton, NC.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)11.9%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)40.6%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)42.1%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
2,398
Median Income
$22,632
Median Home Value
$79,600
Median Age
31.2
Poverty Rate
40.6%
Labor force participation
42.1%
Bachelor's Degree+
11.9%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1228.7
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
236.3
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
992.4
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
3
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Maxton's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
2,102 residents
2021
2,098 residents
2022
2,105 residents
2023
2,125 residents
2024
2,146 residents
2025
2,149 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
80.2%
Carpool
9.3%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
1.5%
Work from Home
6.2%
Other
2.8%
Based on 658 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 Maxton. 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 Maxton 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 Maxton sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Maxton 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 ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.