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Place dossier plate
SheetNC-RED-SPRINGS-NC · Red Springs, NC 3,107 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 Red Springs
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Red Springs on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Elm Hall · lowest
19,688
Elm Hall · lowest
19,688 median HH income
16.8% of the leader · rank #1
Quebrada comu… · near
19,726
Quebrada comu… · near
19,726 median HH income
16.9% of the leader · rank #2
Marty · near
19,740
Marty · near
19,740 median HH income
16.9% of the leader · rank #3
Red Springs · this city
19,752
Red Springs · this city
19,752 median HH income
16.9% of the leader · rank #4
Sequatchie · near
19,756
Sequatchie · near
19,756 median HH income
16.9% of the leader · rank #5
Rosa Sánchez… · near
19,792
Rosa Sánchez… · near
19,792 median HH income
16.9% of the leader · rank #6
Southern Shor… · highest
116,859
Southern Shor… · highest
116,859 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 Red Springs 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: 3,107.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Red Springs - the verdict
Red Springs ranks in the 1st percentile for household income and the 3rd percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
1st
percentile, household income
5th
percentile, home value
48th
percentile, median rent
3rd
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: Red Springs, NC
3,107 people live in Red Springs, North Carolina - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Red Springs report a median income of $19,752 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 36.9%. Typical homes in Red Springs are valued around $85,400, and the median resident age is 32.9 years. Educational attainment runs 16.0% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 37.6% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 0 residential building permits were authorized in Red Springs (No Permits), down 100% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. Red Springs's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program logs 5251.5 total incidents per 100,000 residents here, above 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: 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. Natural-hazard exposure scores 66.7 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (Moderate).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Red Springs'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 reported crime to housing and income to schools and households to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Red Springs, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates, commute-mode shares, matched public-school count, local building permits.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Population change
Is Red Springs 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 +130 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +4.2% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 0 housing units authorized in 2024. 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 Red Springs?
Within North Carolina, the closest population matches are Norwood (3,110 residents, $57,953 income); Wallburg (3,104 residents, $78,821 income); Southern Shores (3,119 residents, $116,859 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Turner, OR (3,107 residents); Holden Heights, FL (3,108 residents); Alamo, GA (3,108 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. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Red Springs?
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.
The joined FBI UCR record reports 5251.5 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 130% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
How far does income reach against housing in Red Springs?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 4.3 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 36.9%, 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. 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.
Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Red Springs?
The NCES join finds 4 public schools within the city match. 16.0% 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.
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
4
Bachelor's degree+
16.0%
Poverty estimate
36.9%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
What does the journey to work look like in Red Springs?
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.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 87.6%. 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
2.5%
Drive alone
87.6%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 912 workers age 16+.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 36.9% (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 · Red Springs, NC
17/100
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.
Bachelor's+ share F
16.0%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$19,752
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
36.9%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime F
886 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Red Springs profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 67/100 (B-) · 94.3 index
Bachelor's+ share: 23/100 (F) · 16.0%
Household income: 0/100 (F) · $19,752
Poverty rate: 0/100 (F) · 36.9%
Violent crime: 0/100 (F) · 886 /100k
Where Red Springs sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Red Springs'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 - Red Springs highlighted among 25 peers.Read the chart values
Red Springs, NC (this city): home $85,400, crime 5,252/100k
Abernathy, TX : home $145,100, crime 250/100k
Southern Shores, NC : home $621,100, crime 1,143/100k
Louisburg, NC : home $217,400, crime 5,868/100k
Nags Head, NC : home $451,100, crime 3,674/100k
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 Red Springs compare to other US cities?
Here's how Red Springs stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income1% higher than other cities
Home value5% pricier than other cities
Median rent48% pricier than other cities
Safety3% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
Zoom in to just North Carolina and the picture shifts: Red Springs ranks #176 of 195 North Carolina cities by lowest crime rate, a different read than the national percentile above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Red Springs 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 Red Springs near the bottom of North Carolina's cities
Among the 746 North Carolina cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Red Springs ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Red Springs only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#691 of 700
1st percentile in North Carolina
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 746
0th percentile in North Carolina
Median Home Value
#668 of 708
6th percentile in North Carolina
Poverty Rate
#32 of 746
96th percentile in North Carolina
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#507 of 746
32nd 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 · 3rd percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Red Springs's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Red Springs'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 Red Springs's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$85,400Among the most affordablemore affordable than 95% 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
Red Springs's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.3×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#11,582 of 15,516
More affordable than 25% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#8,922 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 4.3×, Red Springs sits in the moderate band:
national rank #11,582 of 15,516 and #8,922 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
$19,752Red Springs, NC median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Red Springs, 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 Red Springs, NC.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)16.0%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)36.9%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)37.6%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
3,107
Median Income
$19,752
Median Home Value
$85,400
Median Age
32.9
Poverty Rate
36.9%
Labor force participation
37.6%
Bachelor's Degree+
16.0%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
5251.5
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
885.8
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
4365.7
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
4
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Red Springs's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
3,086 residents
2021
3,098 residents
2022
3,123 residents
2023
3,163 residents
2024
3,215 residents
2025
3,216 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
Total Permits (2024)
0
housing units authorized
Single-Family
0
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
13
13
0
$2.7M
2020
16
4
12
$2.0M
2021
20
10
10
$3.0M
2022
12
6
6
$1.6M
2023
10
2
8
$0.9M
2024
0
0
0
-
Permit volume decreased 100% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
87.6%
Carpool
5.2%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
4.4%
Work from Home
2.5%
Based on 912 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 Red Springs. 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 Red Springs 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 Red Springs sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Red Springs 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 BPS 2024, 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.