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Place dossier plate
SheetNC-OAK-RIDGE-NC · Oak Ridge, NC 7,660 pop · income 92nd 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 Oak Ridge
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Oak Ridge on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Brevard · lowest
44,356
Brevard · lowest
44,356 median HH income
26.7% of the leader · rank #1
Laguna Beach · near
140,508
Laguna Beach · near
140,508 median HH income
84.5% of the leader · rank #2
Buccaneer Bay · near
140,517
Buccaneer Bay · near
140,517 median HH income
84.5% of the leader · rank #3
Oak Ridge · this city
140,583
Oak Ridge · this city
140,583 median HH income
84.6% of the leader · rank #4
Laguna Niguel · near
140,605
Laguna Niguel · near
140,605 median HH income
84.6% of the leader · rank #5
Brookline · near
140,631
Brookline · near
140,631 median HH income
84.6% of the leader · rank #6
Gold River · highest
166,250
Gold River · highest
166,250 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 Oak Ridge 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: 7,660.
Nationally, Oak Ridge sits in the 92nd percentile for household income among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS.
92nd
percentile, household income
86th
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: Oak Ridge, NC
North Carolina's Oak Ridge is a small town, with 7,660 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Households in Oak Ridge report a median income of $140,583 per year, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 1.3%. Oak Ridge's housing stock carries a median value of $523,500, and the median resident age is 46.1 years. 50.6% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 61.9% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The city is served by 1 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. 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 Oak Ridge'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 work and mobility to housing and income to schools and households; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Oak Ridge, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, annual population history, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
Is Oak Ridge growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +259 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +3.4% 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 Oak Ridge?
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 Marion (7,594 residents, $44,472 income); Kill Devil Hills (7,727 residents, $85,747 income); Etowah (7,765 residents, $73,000 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Gold River, CA (7,661 residents); New Albany, MS (7,661 residents); Thousand Palms, CA (7,662 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 Oak Ridge?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 63.0%. 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. Remote work has a visible role in the local pattern. That can reduce commute exposure for some workers, but it says nothing about job availability or broadband quality; read it alongside income and housing rather than as a stand-alone lifestyle score.
How far does income reach against housing in Oak Ridge?
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 3.7 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 1.3%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
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.
Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Oak Ridge?
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 1 public school within the city match. 50.6% 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.
Poverty estimate
1.3%
Bachelor's degree+
50.6%
Matched public schools
1
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Top-decile income · poverty 1.3% (Very low poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
94.3 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, North Carolina average
A-
City profile score · Oak Ridge, NC
84/100
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.
Household income A+
$140,583
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate A+
1.3%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share A-
50.6%
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.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Oak Ridge profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 93/100 (A+) · $140,583
Poverty rate: 91/100 (A+) · 1.3%
Bachelor's+ share: 84/100 (A-) · 50.6%
Cost of living: 67/100 (B-) · 94.3 index
How does Oak Ridge compare to other US cities?
Oak Ridge measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income92% higher than other cities
Home value86% 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 Oak Ridge 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 Oak Ridge near the bottom of North Carolina's cities
Among the 746 North Carolina cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Oak Ridge ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Oak Ridge only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#14 of 700
98th percentile in North Carolina
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 746
0th percentile in North Carolina
Median Home Value
#28 of 708
96th percentile in North Carolina
Poverty Rate
#638 of 746
14th percentile in North Carolina
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#89 of 746
88th 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
92nd percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Oak Ridge's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$523,50014th percentilemore affordable than 14% 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
Oak Ridge's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.7×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#9,804 of 15,516
More affordable than 37% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#7,783 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.7×, Oak Ridge sits in the moderate band:
national rank #9,804 of 15,516 and #7,783 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
$140,583Oak Ridge, NC median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Oak Ridge, 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 Oak Ridge, NC.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)50.6%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)1.3%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)61.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
7,660
Median Income
$140,583
Median Home Value
$523,500
Median Age
46.1
Poverty Rate
1.3%
Labor force participation
61.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
50.6%
Schools
Total Schools
1
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Oak Ridge's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
7,637 residents
2021
7,660 residents
2022
7,719 residents
2023
7,785 residents
2024
7,857 residents
2025
7,896 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
63.0%
Carpool
3.5%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.7%
Work from Home
28.5%
Other
4.3%
Based on 3,631 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 Oak Ridge. 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 Oak Ridge 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 Oak Ridge sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Oak Ridge 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.