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Place dossier plate
SheetNC-SWANNANOA-NC · Swannanoa, NC 6,043 pop · income 54th 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 Swannanoa
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Swannanoa on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Hamlet · lowest
38,500
Hamlet · lowest
38,500 median HH income
24.9% of the leader · rank #1
St. George · near
72,974
St. George · near
72,974 median HH income
47.2% of the leader · rank #2
Avon · near
72,976
Avon · near
72,976 median HH income
47.2% of the leader · rank #3
South Coatesv… · near
72,976
South Coatesv… · near
72,976 median HH income
47.2% of the leader · rank #4
Swannanoa · this city
72,978
Swannanoa · this city
72,978 median HH income
47.2% of the leader · rank #5
Windsor · near
72,981
Windsor · near
72,981 median HH income
47.2% of the leader · rank #6
Briar Chapel · highest
154,583
Briar Chapel · highest
154,583 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 Swannanoa 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: 6,043.
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Swannanoa lands in the 54th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
54th
percentile, household income
60th
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: Swannanoa, NC
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 6,043 residents in Swannanoa, a small town within North Carolina. Households in Swannanoa report a median income of $72,978 per year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 11.8%. Swannanoa's housing stock carries a median value of $270,800, and the median resident age is 32.9 years. 30.8% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 50.2% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
NOAA climate normals record an annual average temperature of 51.4°F with 53.0 inches of precipitation per year and 28.5 inches of snowfall.
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. 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 Swannanoa'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 schools and households to climate and hazard context to housing and income to 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 Swannanoa, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, annual population history, local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
What does the education layer cover for Swannanoa?
The NCES join finds 4 public schools within the city match. 30.8% 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 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.
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 51.4°F, with 53.0 inches of precipitation and 28.5 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.
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.
How far does income reach against housing in Swannanoa?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.7 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 11.8%, 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Swannanoa?
Within North Carolina, the closest population matches are Dallas (6,012 residents, $57,755 income); Briar Chapel (6,084 residents, $154,583 income); Mocksville (6,001 residents, $55,544 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Kingston, TN (6,042 residents); Moores Mill, AL (6,041 residents); Vandalia, IL (6,041 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.
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.
Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Swannanoa?
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 83.3%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Public transit
0.0%
Work from home
11.3%
Drive alone
83.3%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 2,257 workers age 16+.
Above median income · poverty 11.8% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
94.3 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, North Carolina average
C-
City profile score · Swannanoa, NC
52/100
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 C
30.8%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income C-
$72,978
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
11.8%
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).
Swannanoa profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 67/100 (B-) · 94.3 index
Bachelor's+ share: 59/100 (C) · 30.8%
Household income: 52/100 (C-) · $72,978
Poverty rate: 33/100 (F) · 11.8%
How does Swannanoa compare to other US cities?
Swannanoa measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income54% higher than other cities
Home value60% 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 Swannanoa 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 Swannanoa near the bottom of North Carolina's cities
Among the 746 North Carolina cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Swannanoa ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Swannanoa only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#214 of 700
69th percentile in North Carolina
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 746
0th percentile in North Carolina
Median Home Value
#198 of 708
72nd percentile in North Carolina
Poverty Rate
#317 of 746
57th percentile in North Carolina
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#224 of 746
70th 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
54th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Swannanoa's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$270,80040th percentilemore affordable than 40% 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
Swannanoa's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.7×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#9,752 of 15,516
More affordable than 37% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#7,750 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.7×, Swannanoa sits in the moderate band:
national rank #9,752 of 15,516 and #7,750 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
$72,978Swannanoa, NC median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Swannanoa, 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 Swannanoa, NC.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)30.8%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)11.8%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)50.2%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
6,043
Median Income
$72,978
Median Home Value
$270,800
Median Age
32.9
Poverty Rate
11.8%
Labor force participation
50.2%
Bachelor's Degree+
30.8%
Climate
Avg Temperature
51.4°F
Annual Precipitation
53.0"
Annual Snowfall
28.5"
Schools
Total Schools
4
Public schools in this city
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
83.3%
Carpool
0.7%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
4.6%
Work from Home
11.3%
Based on 2,257 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 Swannanoa. 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 Swannanoa 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 Swannanoa sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Swannanoa 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.