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Place dossier plate
SheetNC-ROANOKE-RAPIDS-NC · Roanoke Rapids, NC 15,024 pop · income 26th pct · 16 tracts
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 Roanoke Rapids
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Roanoke Rapids on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Henderson · lowest
38,780
Henderson · lowest
38,780 median HH income
25.4% of the leader · rank #1
Sylvania · near
53,973
Sylvania · near
53,973 median HH income
35.3% of the leader · rank #2
Camden · near
53,977
Camden · near
53,977 median HH income
35.3% of the leader · rank #3
Roanoke Rapids · this city
53,981
Roanoke Rapids · this city
53,981 median HH income
35.3% of the leader · rank #4
Marshallton C… · near
53,983
Marshallton C… · near
53,983 median HH income
35.3% of the leader · rank #5
Montague · near
53,984
Montague · near
53,984 median HH income
35.3% of the leader · rank #6
Davidson · highest
152,969
Davidson · highest
152,969 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 Roanoke Rapids 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: 15,024.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Roanoke Rapids - the verdict
Nationally, Roanoke Rapids sits in the 26th percentile for household income and the 6th percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
26th
percentile, household income
21st
percentile, home value
48th
percentile, median rent
6th
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: Roanoke Rapids, NC
15,024 people live in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Roanoke Rapids households earn a median of $53,981 annually, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 20.7%. Roanoke Rapids's housing stock carries a median value of $129,400, and the median resident age is 38.0 years. Educational attainment runs 21.8% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 52.5% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 5 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Stable), up 0% from five years earlier. Roanoke Rapids's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: per-100,000 total crime stands at 4276.7 in FBI UCR data, above the national average (a voluntary reporting program, read this as reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). NOAA puts Roanoke Rapids's yearly average temperature at 60.6°F.
Living costs in North Carolina run below the national norm: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, North Carolina scores 94.3 (Below Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,161 monthly. Monthly utility costs average around $215 across North Carolina, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 66.7 out of 100 (Moderate).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Roanoke Rapids'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 within-city variation to population change to work and mobility to schools and households to climate and hazard context to reported crime to comparison shortlist to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Roanoke Rapids, city-specific coverage includes local building permits, annual population history, within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates, commute-mode shares, matched public-school count.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
What can 16 Census tracts reveal inside Roanoke Rapids?
PlainCities matches 16 Census tracts to this city.
That layer breaks the citywide income, rent, and home-value medians into smaller Census geographies, which can reveal differences that one municipal median necessarily hides. A tract is a statistical area, not a locally defined neighborhood or a promise about conditions on a particular block. Start with the city profile for the broad comparison, then use the tract layer to test whether the same housing and income pattern is consistent across the city. Large within-city spreads are a reason to avoid treating any citywide median as a universal resident experience.
Is Roanoke Rapids growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -811 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -5.3% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 5 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Recent estimates point downward. A falling count can reflect migration, household size, annexation boundaries, or estimation noise, so it is a prompt to inspect the full series rather than a claim about local economic health.
What does the journey to work look like in Roanoke Rapids?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 74.2%. 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 Roanoke Rapids?
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 Laurinburg (15,079 residents, $39,258 income); Henderson (14,922 residents, $38,780 income); Belmont (15,140 residents, $86,442 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Monroe, OH (15,024 residents); Mastic, NY (15,031 residents); White Center, WA (15,017 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.
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 Roanoke Rapids?
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 7 public schools within the city match. 21.8% 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
20.7%
Bachelor's degree+
21.8%
Matched public schools
7
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
What physical conditions frame life in Roanoke Rapids?
The two sources should not be blended into one comfort or safety score. Use the climate values for baseline conditions and the risk index as a prompt to inspect specific hazards, insurance, and local emergency guidance for a particular address.
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 60.6°F. FEMA's state-averaged National Risk Index score for North Carolina is 66.7 out of 100. Climate normals describe long-run weather; the FEMA score on PlainCities is a state average of county NRI inputs and combines hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and resilience.
FEMA risk index (state avg)
66.7
Mean temperature
60.6°F
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Roanoke Rapids?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 4276.7 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 88% higher 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
4276.7
Violent rate
896.7
Property rate
3380.0
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
How far does income reach against housing in Roanoke Rapids?
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.
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 20.7%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
2.4×
Home value
$129,400
Household income
$53,981
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Below median income · poverty 20.7% (High poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
94.3 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, North Carolina average
F
City profile score · Roanoke Rapids, NC
28/100
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 D
21.8%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$53,981
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
20.7%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime F
897 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Roanoke Rapids profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 67/100 (B-) · 94.3 index
Bachelor's+ share: 40/100 (D) · 21.8%
Household income: 26/100 (F) · $53,981
Poverty rate: 12/100 (F) · 20.7%
Violent crime: 0/100 (F) · 897 /100k
Where Roanoke Rapids sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Roanoke Rapids'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 - Roanoke Rapids highlighted among 10 peers.Read the chart values
Roanoke Rapids, NC (this city): home $129,400, crime 4,277/100k
Monroe, OH : home $264,000, crime 1,638/100k
Gloversville, NY : home $95,500, crime 1,598/100k
Talladega, AL : home $116,600, crime 3,982/100k
Laurinburg, NC : home $121,500, crime 6,936/100k
Henderson, NC : home $116,800, crime 7,593/100k
Belmont, NC : home $349,700, crime 3,216/100k
Davidson, NC : home $626,000, crime 488/100k
Hendersonville, NC : home $282,500, crime 3,322/100k
Eden, NC : home $122,800, crime 2,946/100k
How does Roanoke Rapids compare to other US cities?
Roanoke Rapids measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income26% higher than other cities
Home value21% pricier than other cities
Median rent48% pricier than other cities
Safety6% 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: Roanoke Rapids ranks #158 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 Roanoke Rapids 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 Roanoke Rapids near the bottom of North Carolina's cities
Among the 746 North Carolina cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Roanoke Rapids ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Roanoke Rapids only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#408 of 700
42nd percentile in North Carolina
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 746
0th percentile in North Carolina
Median Home Value
#539 of 708
24th percentile in North Carolina
Poverty Rate
#135 of 746
82nd percentile in North Carolina
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#367 of 746
51st 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 · 6th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Roanoke Rapids's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Roanoke Rapids'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 Roanoke Rapids's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$129,400Among the most affordablemore affordable than 79% 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
Roanoke Rapids's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.4×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#3,472 of 15,516
More affordable than 78% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#280 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 2.4×, Roanoke Rapids sits in the affordable band:
national rank #3,472 of 15,516 and #280 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
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
$53,981Roanoke Rapids, NC median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Roanoke Rapids, 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 Roanoke Rapids, NC.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)21.8%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)20.7%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)52.5%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
15,024
Median Income
$53,981
Median Home Value
$129,400
Median Age
38.0
Poverty Rate
20.7%
Labor force participation
52.5%
Bachelor's Degree+
21.8%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
4276.7
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
896.7
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
3380.0
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.
Climate
Avg Temperature
60.6°F
Annual Precipitation
N/A
Annual Snowfall
N/A
Schools
Total Schools
7
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Roanoke Rapids's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
15,197 residents
2021
15,082 residents
2022
14,835 residents
2023
14,667 residents
2024
14,588 residents
2025
14,386 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Stable
Total Permits (2024)
5
housing units authorized
Single-Family
5
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
0.3
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
5
5
0
$0.8M
2020
16
4
12
$1.6M
2021
6
6
0
$1.2M
2022
13
13
0
$2.8M
2023
4
4
0
$1.2M
2024
5
5
0
$1.5M
Permit volume increased 0% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
74.2%
Carpool
12.5%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
1.0%
Work from Home
7.5%
Other
4.8%
Based on 5,946 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 Roanoke Rapids. 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 Roanoke Rapids 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 Roanoke Rapids sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Roanoke Rapids 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, NOAA Climate Normals, 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.