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Place dossier plate
SheetNC-PINETOPS-NC · Pinetops, NC 1,323 pop · income 26th 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 Pinetops
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Pinetops on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Wetumka · lowest
30,179
Wetumka · lowest
30,179 median HH income
32.8% of the leader · rank #1
Strattanville · near
54,194
Strattanville · near
54,194 median HH income
58.9% of the leader · rank #2
Kokomo · near
54,195
Kokomo · near
54,195 median HH income
58.9% of the leader · rank #3
Pinetops · this city
54,196
Pinetops · this city
54,196 median HH income
58.9% of the leader · rank #4
Warsaw · near
54,196
Warsaw · near
54,196 median HH income
58.9% of the leader · rank #5
Hartford (Cro… · near
54,196
Hartford (Cro… · near
54,196 median HH income
58.9% of the leader · rank #6
Hemlock · highest
92,031
Hemlock · highest
92,031 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 Pinetops 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: 1,323.
Pinetops ranks in the 26th percentile for household income nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS.
26th
percentile, household income
22nd
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: Pinetops, NC
1,323 people live in Pinetops, North Carolina - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Pinetops report a median income of $54,196 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 17.9%. Typical homes in Pinetops are valued around $132,600, and the median resident age is 42.7 years. 12.6% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 56.4% 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. 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 Pinetops'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 comparison shortlist to population change to work and mobility to schools and households; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Pinetops, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, matched public-school count, 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
How far does income reach against housing in Pinetops?
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 2.4 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 17.9%, 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. The ratio makes housing the clearest place to start this profile, but a low multiple can coexist with slow demand, older stock, or household-level hardship. Compare the home-value distribution and same-state peer table before treating it as an advantage.
Which cities make useful reference points for Pinetops?
Within North Carolina, the closest population matches are Robersonville (1,319 residents, $43,359 income); Rutherford College (1,327 residents, $63,000 income); Dortches (1,317 residents, $72,955 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Susan Moore, AL (1,323 residents); Hemlock, MI (1,323 residents); Wetumka, OK (1,323 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.
Is Pinetops growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
The recent population line is broadly flat. That makes the composition of change more important than the headline count: housing turnover, household size, and age structure can shift even when the total barely moves.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -10 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -0.8% 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Pinetops?
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 81.4%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
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 Pinetops?
The NCES join finds 3 public schools within the city match. 12.6% 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.
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.
Matched public schools
3
Bachelor's degree+
12.6%
Poverty estimate
17.9%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Below median income · poverty 17.9% (High poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
94.3 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, North Carolina average
F
City profile score · Pinetops, NC
32/100
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.
Household income F
$54,196
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
17.9%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
12.6%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Pinetops profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 67/100 (B-) · 94.3 index
Household income: 26/100 (F) · $54,196
Poverty rate: 17/100 (F) · 17.9%
Bachelor's+ share: 14/100 (F) · 12.6%
How does Pinetops compare to other US cities?
Where Pinetops sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income26% higher than other cities
Home value22% 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 Pinetops 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 Pinetops near the bottom of North Carolina's cities
Among the 746 North Carolina cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Pinetops ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Pinetops only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#404 of 700
42nd percentile in North Carolina
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 746
0th percentile in North Carolina
Median Home Value
#531 of 708
25th percentile in North Carolina
Poverty Rate
#181 of 746
76th percentile in North Carolina
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#593 of 746
20th 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
26th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Pinetops's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$132,600Among the most affordablemore affordable than 78% 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
Pinetops's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.4×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#3,732 of 15,516
More affordable than 76% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#3,381 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.4×, Pinetops sits in the affordable band:
national rank #3,732 of 15,516 and #3,381 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
The multiple is comparatively compact among tracked cities, but a low ratio can still coexist with slow demand or household-level hardship.
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
$54,196Pinetops, NC median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Pinetops, 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 Pinetops, NC.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)12.6%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)17.9%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)56.4%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
1,323
Median Income
$54,196
Median Home Value
$132,600
Median Age
42.7
Poverty Rate
17.9%
Labor force participation
56.4%
Bachelor's Degree+
12.6%
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
Pinetops's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
1,208 residents
2021
1,198 residents
2022
1,190 residents
2023
1,199 residents
2024
1,200 residents
2025
1,198 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
81.4%
Carpool
9.5%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
4.5%
Other
4.6%
Based on 558 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 Pinetops. 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 Pinetops 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 Pinetops sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Pinetops 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.