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Place dossier plate
SheetNC-SANFORD-NC · Sanford, NC 30,833 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 Sanford
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Sanford on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Hartford · lowest
54,286
Hartford · lowest
54,286 median HH income
25.5% of the leader · rank #1
Hamilton · near
54,293
Hamilton · near
54,293 median HH income
25.5% of the leader · rank #2
Brockway · near
54,293
Brockway · near
54,293 median HH income
25.5% of the leader · rank #3
Sanford · this city
54,294
Sanford · this city
54,294 median HH income
25.5% of the leader · rank #4
Greene · near
54,298
Greene · near
54,298 median HH income
25.5% of the leader · rank #5
Clifton · near
54,301
Clifton · near
54,301 median HH income
25.5% of the leader · rank #6
Westfield · highest
212,700
Westfield · highest
212,700 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 Sanford 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: 30,833.
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Sanford places in the 26th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
26th
percentile, household income
49th
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: Sanford, NC
Sanford is a small city in North Carolina, home to 30,833 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Sanford report a median income of $54,294 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 16.8%. Typical homes in Sanford are valued around $222,000, and the median resident age is 34.9 years. About 22.4% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 59.9% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 435 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Building Boom), up 326% from five years earlier. The annual average temperature per NOAA climate normals runs 60.8°F with 46.9 inches of precipitation per year and 2.4 inches of snowfall.
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). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,161 per month. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in North Carolina run around $215, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. The average commute for Sanford workers runs 21.7 minutes, with 78.2% driving alone and 5.7% working from home. 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 Sanford'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 work and mobility to comparison shortlist to housing and income to within-city variation to climate and hazard context to schools and households; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Sanford, city-specific coverage includes within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history, local building permits, matched public-school count, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
Is Sanford growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +3,911 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +12.9% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 435 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 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Sanford?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 78.2%. The reported mean trip to work is 21.7 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Sanford?
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 Morrisville (30,471 residents, $125,404 income); New Bern (31,563 residents, $56,893 income); Matthews (29,959 residents, $105,579 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Ballwin, MO (30,835 residents); North Attleborough, MA (30,842 residents); La Verne, CA (30,804 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.
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.
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.
Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Sanford?
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.
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 4.1 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 16.8%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
4.1×
Home value
$222,000
Household income
$54,294
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
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 60.8°F, with 46.9 inches of precipitation and 2.4 inches of annual snowfall. 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
Annual precipitation
46.9 in
Mean temperature
60.8°F
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
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 21 public schools within the city match. 22.4% 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
16.8%
Bachelor's degree+
22.4%
Matched public schools
21
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Below median income · poverty 16.8% (High poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
94.3 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, North Carolina average
F
City profile score · Sanford, NC
37/100
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.
Bachelor's+ share D
22.4%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$54,294
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
16.8%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Sanford profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 67/100 (B-) · 94.3 index
Bachelor's+ share: 41/100 (D) · 22.4%
Household income: 26/100 (F) · $54,294
Poverty rate: 19/100 (F) · 16.8%
How does Sanford compare to other US cities?
Where Sanford 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 value49% 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 Sanford 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 Sanford near the bottom of North Carolina's cities
Among the 746 North Carolina cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Sanford ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Sanford only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#402 of 700
43rd percentile in North Carolina
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 746
0th percentile in North Carolina
Median Home Value
#271 of 708
62nd percentile in North Carolina
Poverty Rate
#199 of 746
73rd percentile in North Carolina
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#357 of 746
52nd 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 Sanford's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$222,000Among the most affordablemore affordable than 51% 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
Sanford's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.1×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#10,942 of 15,516
More affordable than 29% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#2,056 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 4.1×, Sanford sits in the moderate band:
national rank #10,942 of 15,516 and #2,056 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
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
$54,294Sanford, NC median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Sanford, 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 Sanford, NC.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)22.4%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)16.8%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)59.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
30,833
Median Income
$54,294
Median Home Value
$222,000
Median Age
34.9
Poverty Rate
16.8%
Labor force participation
59.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
22.4%
Climate
Avg Temperature
60.8°F
Annual Precipitation
46.9"
Annual Snowfall
2.4"
Schools
Total Schools
21
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Sanford's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
30,227 residents
2021
30,557 residents
2022
31,312 residents
2023
32,206 residents
2024
33,120 residents
2025
34,138 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
435
housing units authorized
Single-Family
435
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
14.1
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
102
102
0
$17.5M
2020
145
145
0
$21.8M
2021
116
116
0
$24.4M
2022
186
186
0
$31.2M
2023
356
356
0
$63.0M
2024
435
435
0
$79.9M
Permit volume increased 326% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
21.7 minutes
Drive Alone
78.2%
Carpool
13.8%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
1.3%
Work from Home
5.7%
Other
1.0%
Based on 13,729 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 Sanford. 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 Sanford 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 Sanford sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Sanford 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, 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.