Side-by-side metrics and state or size-class ranks use the same Census and FBI fields shown on this profile. Results stay in the URL so you can bookmark or share them.
Place dossier plate
SheetNC-SOUTH-HENDERSON-NC · South Henderson, NC 1,274 pop · income 5th 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 South Henderson
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest South Henderson on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Bayboro · lowest
28,125
Bayboro · lowest
28,125 median HH income
15.6% of the leader · rank #1
Dos Palos Y · near
36,406
Dos Palos Y · near
36,406 median HH income
20.2% of the leader · rank #2
Margaretville · near
36,411
Margaretville · near
36,411 median HH income
20.2% of the leader · rank #3
Jay · near
36,411
Jay · near
36,411 median HH income
20.2% of the leader · rank #4
South Henders… · this city
36,417
South Henders… · this city
36,417 median HH income
20.2% of the leader · rank #5
Benton · near
36,429
Benton · near
36,429 median HH income
20.2% of the leader · rank #6
Milford Square · highest
180,000
Milford Square · highest
180,000 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 South Henderson 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: 1,274.
South Henderson ranks in the 5th percentile for household income nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS.
5th
percentile, household income
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: South Henderson, NC
1,274 people live in South Henderson, North Carolina - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in South Henderson report a median income of $36,417 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 37.3%. The median resident age is 28.6 years. About 5.7% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 49.9% 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). 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. 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 South Henderson'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 comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For South Henderson, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for matched public-school count, local building permits, annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles; 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 South Henderson?
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 81.3%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Which cities make useful reference points for South Henderson?
Within North Carolina, the closest population matches are Highlands (1,276 residents, $63,750 income); Arrowhead Beach (1,277 residents, $64,107 income); Denton (1,271 residents, $46,061 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Litchfield, CT (1,274 residents); Meade, KS (1,274 residents); Union Springs, NY (1,274 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.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 37.3% (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 · South Henderson, NC
17/100
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
$36,417
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
37.3%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
5.7%
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).
South Henderson profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 67/100 (B-) · 94.3 index
Household income: 2/100 (F) · $36,417
Poverty rate: 0/100 (F) · 37.3%
Bachelor's+ share: 0/100 (F) · 5.7%
How does South Henderson compare to other US cities?
South Henderson measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income5% higher 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 South Henderson 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 South Henderson near the bottom of North Carolina's cities
Among the 746 North Carolina cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, South Henderson ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares South Henderson only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#627 of 700
10th percentile in North Carolina
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 746
0th percentile in North Carolina
Poverty Rate
#30 of 746
96th percentile in North Carolina
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#696 of 746
6th 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
5th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Income distribution context
$36,417South Henderson, NC median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context South Henderson, 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 South Henderson, NC.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)5.7%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)37.3%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)49.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
1,274
Median Income
$36,417
Median Home Value
N/A
Median Age
28.6
Poverty Rate
37.3%
Labor force participation
49.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
5.7%
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
81.3%
Carpool
17.2%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
1.5%
Based on 460 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 South Henderson. 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 South Henderson 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 South Henderson sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How South Henderson 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.