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Place dossier plate
SheetNC-MILLS-RIVER-NC · Mills River, NC 7,214 pop · income 69th 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 Mills River
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Mills River on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Cullowhee · lowest
35,076
Cullowhee · lowest
35,076 median HH income
30.4% of the leader · rank #1
Montgomery · near
88,348
Montgomery · near
88,348 median HH income
76.5% of the leader · rank #2
Watford City · near
88,351
Watford City · near
88,351 median HH income
76.5% of the leader · rank #3
Grafton · near
88,352
Grafton · near
88,352 median HH income
76.6% of the leader · rank #4
Santa Ana · near
88,354
Santa Ana · near
88,354 median HH income
76.6% of the leader · rank #5
Mills River · this city
88,359
Mills River · this city
88,359 median HH income
76.6% of the leader · rank #6
Porters Neck · highest
115,417
Porters Neck · highest
115,417 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 Mills River 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: 7,214.
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Mills River places in the 69th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
69th
percentile, household income
73rd
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: Mills River, NC
Mills River is a small town in North Carolina, home to 7,214 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Median household income here is $88,359 per year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 0.8%. Typical homes in Mills River are valued around $358,500, and the median resident age is 46.6 years. Educational attainment runs 41.3% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 58.9% 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: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts North Carolina at 94.3 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Below Average). Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,161 monthly. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in North Carolina run around $215, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. 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 Mills River'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 comparison shortlist to schools and households to housing and income to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Mills River, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, matched public-school count, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Population change
Is Mills River 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 +371 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +5.2% 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Mills River?
Within North Carolina, the closest population matches are Cullowhee (7,300 residents, $35,076 income); Porters Neck (7,102 residents, $115,417 income); King (7,345 residents, $60,451 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are North Vernon, IN (7,214 residents); Souderton, PA (7,215 residents); Jasper, TX (7,215 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.
What does the education layer cover for Mills River?
The NCES join finds 2 public schools within the city match. 41.3% 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 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Mills River?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 4.1 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 0.8%, 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.
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.
Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Mills River?
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 79.8%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Public transit
0.0%
Work from home
9.9%
Drive alone
79.8%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 3,372 workers age 16+.
Above median income · poverty 0.8% (Very low poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
94.3 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, North Carolina average
B+
City profile score · Mills River, NC
76/100
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+
0.8%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share B+
41.3%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income B-
$88,359
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); 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.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Mills River profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 94/100 (A+) · 0.8%
Bachelor's+ share: 76/100 (B+) · 41.3%
Household income: 68/100 (B-) · $88,359
Cost of living: 67/100 (B-) · 94.3 index
How does Mills River compare to other US cities?
Where Mills River sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income69% higher than other cities
Home value73% 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 Mills River 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 Mills River near the bottom of North Carolina's cities
Among the 746 North Carolina cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Mills River ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Mills River only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#108 of 700
85th percentile in North Carolina
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 746
0th percentile in North Carolina
Median Home Value
#105 of 708
85th percentile in North Carolina
Poverty Rate
#646 of 746
13th percentile in North Carolina
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#135 of 746
82nd 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
69th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Mills River's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$358,50027th percentilemore affordable than 27% 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
Mills River's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.1×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#10,861 of 15,516
More affordable than 30% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#8,468 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 4.1×, Mills River sits in the moderate band:
national rank #10,861 of 15,516 and #8,468 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
$88,359Mills River, NC median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Mills River, 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 Mills River, NC.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)41.3%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)0.8%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)58.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
7,214
Median Income
$88,359
Median Home Value
$358,500
Median Age
46.6
Poverty Rate
0.8%
Labor force participation
58.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
41.3%
Schools
Total Schools
2
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Mills River's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
7,133 residents
2021
7,175 residents
2022
7,245 residents
2023
7,325 residents
2024
7,424 residents
2025
7,504 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
79.8%
Carpool
8.4%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.2%
Work from Home
9.9%
Other
1.7%
Based on 3,372 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 Mills River. 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 Mills River 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 Mills River sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Mills River 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.