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Place dossier plate
SheetNC-SPARTA-NC · Sparta, NC 1,957 pop · income 7th pct · 3 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 Sparta
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Sparta on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Enfield · lowest
22,852
Enfield · lowest
22,852 median HH income
24.9% of the leader · rank #1
Sparta · this city
38,542
Sparta · this city
38,542 median HH income
42.0% of the leader · rank #2
Cheraw · near
38,542
Cheraw · near
38,542 median HH income
42.0% of the leader · rank #3
Lewis · near
38,563
Lewis · near
38,563 median HH income
42.0% of the leader · rank #4
El Brazil · near
38,563
El Brazil · near
38,563 median HH income
42.0% of the leader · rank #5
Lake Park · near
38,571
Lake Park · near
38,571 median HH income
42.0% of the leader · rank #6
Cedar Point · highest
91,853
Cedar Point · highest
91,853 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 Sparta 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: 1,957.
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Sparta places in the 7th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
7th
percentile, household income
47th
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: Sparta, NC
1,957 people live in Sparta, North Carolina - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in Sparta brings in $38,542 a year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 16.6%. Sparta's housing stock carries a median value of $215,800, and the median resident age is 44.9 years. 19.7% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 44.7% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
NOAA climate normals record an annual average temperature of 52.6°F with 57.1 inches of precipitation per year and 18.6 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). Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,161 monthly. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in North Carolina run around $215, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. Workers in Sparta report an average commute of 11.6 minutes, with 67.5% driving alone and 18.4% 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 Sparta'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 within-city variation to climate and hazard context to schools and households to housing and income to population change to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Sparta, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, within-city Census tract profiles, matched public-school count, annual population history.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
What does the journey to work look like in Sparta?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 67.5%. The reported mean trip to work is 11.6 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. Remote work has a visible role in the local pattern. That can reduce commute exposure for some workers, but it says nothing about job availability or broadband quality; read it alongside income and housing rather than as a stand-alone lifestyle score.
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.
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 52.6°F, with 57.1 inches of precipitation and 18.6 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Sparta?
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 Broad Creek (1,963 residents, $57,545 income); Enfield (1,967 residents, $22,852 income); Andrews (1,976 residents, $34,879 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Sonoma State University, CA (1,957 residents); Marcellus, NY (1,957 residents); Mountain Lodge Park, NY (1,957 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 Sparta?
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. 19.7% 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
16.6%
Bachelor's degree+
19.7%
Matched public schools
2
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
How far does income reach against housing in Sparta?
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 5.6 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 16.6%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
5.6×
Home value
$215,800
Household income
$38,542
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +87 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +4.8% 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.
2020 estimate
1,831
2025 estimate
1,918
Period change
+4.8%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 16.6% (High poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
94.3 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, North Carolina average
F
City profile score · Sparta, NC
30/100
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 F
19.7%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
16.6%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$38,542
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).
Sparta profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 67/100 (B-) · 94.3 index
Bachelor's+ share: 33/100 (F) · 19.7%
Poverty rate: 20/100 (F) · 16.6%
Household income: 5/100 (F) · $38,542
How does Sparta compare to other US cities?
Where Sparta sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income7% higher than other cities
Home value47% 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 Sparta 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 Sparta near the bottom of North Carolina's cities
Among the 746 North Carolina cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Sparta ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Sparta only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#601 of 700
14th percentile in North Carolina
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 746
0th percentile in North Carolina
Median Home Value
#292 of 708
59th percentile in North Carolina
Poverty Rate
#205 of 746
72nd percentile in North Carolina
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#421 of 746
43rd 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
7th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Sparta's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$215,800Among the most affordablemore affordable than 53% 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
Sparta's home-value-to-income ratio: 5.6×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#13,701 of 15,516
More affordable than 12% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#10,227 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 5.6×, Sparta sits in the pressured band:
national rank #13,701 of 15,516 and #10,227 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median, a comparison flag, not a verdict on any household.
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
$38,542Sparta, NC median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Sparta, 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 Sparta, NC.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)19.7%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)16.6%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)44.7%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
1,957
Median Income
$38,542
Median Home Value
$215,800
Median Age
44.9
Poverty Rate
16.6%
Labor force participation
44.7%
Bachelor's Degree+
19.7%
Climate
Avg Temperature
52.6°F
Annual Precipitation
57.1"
Annual Snowfall
18.6"
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
Sparta's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
1,831 residents
2021
1,865 residents
2022
1,883 residents
2023
1,890 residents
2024
1,910 residents
2025
1,918 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
11.6 minutes
Drive Alone
67.5%
Carpool
11.5%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
2.7%
Work from Home
18.4%
Based on 713 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 Sparta. 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 Sparta 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 Sparta sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Sparta 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 ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.