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Place dossier plate
SheetNC-ROCKWELL-NC · Rockwell, NC 2,688 pop · income 42nd 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 Rockwell
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Rockwell on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Liberty · lowest
39,293
Liberty · lowest
39,293 median HH income
23.5% of the leader · rank #1
Pittsburgh · near
64,137
Pittsburgh · near
64,137 median HH income
38.3% of the leader · rank #2
Rainsville · near
64,140
Rainsville · near
64,140 median HH income
38.3% of the leader · rank #3
Rockwell · this city
64,141
Rockwell · this city
64,141 median HH income
38.3% of the leader · rank #4
Canton · near
64,141
Canton · near
64,141 median HH income
38.3% of the leader · rank #5
Honeoye · near
64,145
Honeoye · near
64,145 median HH income
38.3% of the leader · rank #6
Wrightsville… · highest
167,273
Wrightsville… · highest
167,273 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 Rockwell 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: 2,688.
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Rockwell lands in the 42nd percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
42nd
percentile, household income
48th
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: Rockwell, NC
North Carolina's Rockwell is a small town, with 2,688 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Median household income here is $64,141 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 2.8%. Home values in Rockwell run a median of $218,800, and the median resident age is 37.8 years. 26.5% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 58.8% 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: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, North Carolina scores 94.3 (Below Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,161 per month statewide. Monthly utility costs average around $215 across North Carolina, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. The average commute for Rockwell workers runs 25.4 minutes, with 79.6% driving alone and 11.8% working from home. 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 Rockwell'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 schools and households to population change to work and mobility to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Rockwell, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, annual population history, matched public-school count.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Rockwell?
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 3.4 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 2.8%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
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 2 public schools within the city match. 26.5% 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.
Is Rockwell growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +106 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +4.6% 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 Rockwell?
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 La Grange (2,692 residents, $49,475 income); Cajah's Mountain (2,696 residents, $53,714 income); Wrightsville Beach (2,679 residents, $167,273 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Green Park, MO (2,688 residents); Riverview, MO (2,688 residents); Brinckerhoff, NY (2,688 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.
Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Rockwell?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 79.6%. The reported mean trip to work is 25.4 minutes.
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.
Drive alone
79.6%
Work from home
11.8%
Public transit
0.0%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 1,208 workers age 16+.
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, North Carolina average
C
City profile score · Rockwell, NC
59/100
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-
2.8%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
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 C-
26.5%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income D
$64,141
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Rockwell profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 80/100 (A-) · 2.8%
Cost of living: 67/100 (B-) · 94.3 index
Bachelor's+ share: 52/100 (C-) · 26.5%
Household income: 41/100 (D) · $64,141
How does Rockwell compare to other US cities?
Here's how Rockwell stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income42% higher than other cities
Home value48% 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 Rockwell 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 Rockwell near the bottom of North Carolina's cities
Among the 746 North Carolina cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Rockwell ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Rockwell only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#286 of 700
59th percentile in North Carolina
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 746
0th percentile in North Carolina
Median Home Value
#284 of 708
60th percentile in North Carolina
Poverty Rate
#593 of 746
20th percentile in North Carolina
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#272 of 746
63rd 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
42nd percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Rockwell's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$218,800Among the most affordablemore affordable than 52% 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
Rockwell's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.4×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#8,618 of 15,516
More affordable than 44% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#6,991 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.4×, Rockwell sits in the moderate band:
national rank #8,618 of 15,516 and #6,991 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
$64,141Rockwell, NC median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Rockwell, 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 Rockwell, NC.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)26.5%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)2.8%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)58.8%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
2,688
Median Income
$64,141
Median Home Value
$218,800
Median Age
37.8
Poverty Rate
2.8%
Labor force participation
58.8%
Bachelor's Degree+
26.5%
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
Rockwell's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
2,311 residents
2021
2,325 residents
2022
2,346 residents
2023
2,378 residents
2024
2,401 residents
2025
2,417 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
25.4 minutes
Drive Alone
79.6%
Carpool
5.2%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
11.8%
Other
3.4%
Based on 1,208 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 Rockwell. 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 Rockwell 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 Rockwell sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Rockwell 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.