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Place dossier plate
SheetNC-SAWMILLS-NC · Sawmills, NC 5,027 pop · income 30th 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 Sawmills
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Sawmills on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Ayden · lowest
41,711
Ayden · lowest
41,711 median HH income
31.6% of the leader · rank #1
Perrysburg · near
56,522
Perrysburg · near
56,522 median HH income
42.8% of the leader · rank #2
Rembrandt · near
56,528
Rembrandt · near
56,528 median HH income
42.8% of the leader · rank #3
Sawmills · this city
56,534
Sawmills · this city
56,534 median HH income
42.8% of the leader · rank #4
Washington · near
56,536
Washington · near
56,536 median HH income
42.8% of the leader · rank #5
Grand Rapids · near
56,542
Grand Rapids · near
56,542 median HH income
42.8% of the leader · rank #6
Westport · highest
132,206
Westport · highest
132,206 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 Sawmills 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: 5,027.
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Sawmills lands in the 30th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
30th
percentile, household income
37th
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: Sawmills, NC
5,027 people live in Sawmills, North Carolina - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Sawmills report a median income of $56,534 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 13.1%. Home values in Sawmills run a median of $180,500, and the median resident age is 43.2 years. About 16.1% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 54.6% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
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. 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 Sawmills'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 work and mobility to population change 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 Sawmills, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles, matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Sawmills?
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 84.0%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Is Sawmills 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 +66 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +1.3% 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Sawmills?
Within North Carolina, the closest population matches are Ayden (5,035 residents, $41,711 income); Archer Lodge (5,036 residents, $98,170 income); Pleasant Garden (4,989 residents, $88,482 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Florence, NJ (5,027 residents); Myrtletown, CA (5,028 residents); Manheim, PA (5,028 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Sawmills?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.2 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 13.1%, 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. 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.
Below median income · poverty 13.1% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
94.3 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, North Carolina average
F
City profile score · Sawmills, 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.
Household income F
$56,534
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
13.1%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
16.1%
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).
Sawmills profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 67/100 (B-) · 94.3 index
Household income: 29/100 (F) · $56,534
Poverty rate: 27/100 (F) · 13.1%
Bachelor's+ share: 23/100 (F) · 16.1%
How does Sawmills compare to other US cities?
Where Sawmills sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income30% higher than other cities
Home value37% 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 Sawmills 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 Sawmills near the bottom of North Carolina's cities
Among the 746 North Carolina cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Sawmills ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Sawmills only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#381 of 700
46th percentile in North Carolina
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 746
0th percentile in North Carolina
Median Home Value
#392 of 708
45th percentile in North Carolina
Poverty Rate
#289 of 746
61st percentile in North Carolina
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#504 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
30th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Sawmills's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$180,500Among the most affordablemore affordable than 63% 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
Sawmills's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.2×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#7,655 of 15,516
More affordable than 51% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#6,333 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.2×, Sawmills sits in the moderate band:
national rank #7,655 of 15,516 and #6,333 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
$56,534Sawmills, NC median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Sawmills, 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 Sawmills, NC.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)16.1%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)13.1%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)54.6%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
5,027
Median Income
$56,534
Median Home Value
$180,500
Median Age
43.2
Poverty Rate
13.1%
Labor force participation
54.6%
Bachelor's Degree+
16.1%
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Sawmills's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
5,039 residents
2021
5,041 residents
2022
5,035 residents
2023
5,061 residents
2024
5,081 residents
2025
5,105 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
84.0%
Carpool
11.0%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
1.2%
Other
3.8%
Based on 2,244 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 Sawmills. 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 Sawmills 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 Sawmills sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Sawmills 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, 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.