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Place dossier plate
SheetNC-SPINDALE-NC · Spindale, NC 4,244 pop · income 7th 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 Spindale
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Spindale on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Sunol · lowest
38,490
Sunol · lowest
38,490 median HH income
24.4% of the leader · rank #1
Greenway · near
38,500
Greenway · near
38,500 median HH income
24.4% of the leader · rank #2
Canon · near
38,500
Canon · near
38,500 median HH income
24.4% of the leader · rank #3
Golden City · near
38,500
Golden City · near
38,500 median HH income
24.4% of the leader · rank #4
Bridgewater · near
38,500
Bridgewater · near
38,500 median HH income
24.4% of the leader · rank #5
Spindale · this city
38,509
Spindale · this city
38,509 median HH income
24.4% of the leader · rank #6
Garden Ridge · highest
157,824
Garden Ridge · highest
157,824 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 Spindale 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: 4,244.
Spindale ranks in the 7th percentile for household income nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS.
7th
percentile, household income
21st
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: Spindale, NC
4,244 people live in Spindale, North Carolina - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Spindale households earn a median of $38,509 annually, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 13.9%. Typical homes in Spindale are valued around $130,800, and the median resident age is 44.9 years. About 14.3% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 47.8% 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. 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 Spindale'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 to housing and income to population change to schools and households; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Spindale, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, matched public-school count, commute-mode shares.
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. Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Spindale?
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 77.5%. 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 Spindale?
Within North Carolina, the closest population matches are Franklin (4,221 residents, $43,991 income); Mount Olive (4,204 residents, $45,869 income); Wingate (4,169 residents, $65,208 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Hometown, IL (4,244 residents); Osawatomie, KS (4,244 residents); Spackenkill, NY (4,244 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 Spindale?
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 13.9%, 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.
Is Spindale 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 +89 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +2.2% 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.
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 Spindale?
The NCES join finds 2 public schools within the city match. 14.3% 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.
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.
Matched public schools
2
Bachelor's degree+
14.3%
Poverty estimate
13.9%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 13.9% (High poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
94.3 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, North Carolina average
F
City profile score · Spindale, NC
28/100
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.
Poverty rate F
13.9%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
14.3%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$38,509
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).
Spindale profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 67/100 (B-) · 94.3 index
Poverty rate: 25/100 (F) · 13.9%
Bachelor's+ share: 18/100 (F) · 14.3%
Household income: 5/100 (F) · $38,509
How does Spindale compare to other US cities?
Spindale measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income7% higher than other cities
Home value21% 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 Spindale 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 Spindale near the bottom of North Carolina's cities
Among the 746 North Carolina cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Spindale ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Spindale only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#603 of 700
14th percentile in North Carolina
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 746
0th percentile in North Carolina
Median Home Value
#535 of 708
24th percentile in North Carolina
Poverty Rate
#267 of 746
64th percentile in North Carolina
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#549 of 746
26th 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 Spindale's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$130,800Among the most affordablemore affordable than 79% 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
Spindale'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
#8,558 of 15,516
More affordable than 45% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#6,947 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.4×, Spindale sits in the moderate band:
national rank #8,558 of 15,516 and #6,947 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
$38,509Spindale, NC median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Spindale, 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 Spindale, NC.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)14.3%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)13.9%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)47.8%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
4,244
Median Income
$38,509
Median Home Value
$130,800
Median Age
44.9
Poverty Rate
13.9%
Labor force participation
47.8%
Bachelor's Degree+
14.3%
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
Spindale's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
4,091 residents
2021
4,094 residents
2022
4,143 residents
2023
4,173 residents
2024
4,176 residents
2025
4,180 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
77.5%
Carpool
12.5%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
7.6%
Other
2.4%
Based on 1,734 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 Spindale. 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 Spindale 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 Spindale sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Spindale 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.