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Place dossier plate
SheetNC-WADESBORO-NC · Wadesboro, NC 4,966 pop · income 4th pct · 9 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 Wadesboro
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Wadesboro on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Lares zona ur… · lowest
21,108
Lares zona ur… · lowest
21,108 median HH income
16.3% of the leader · rank #1
Dodson · near
34,115
Dodson · near
34,115 median HH income
26.3% of the leader · rank #2
Wolf Summit · near
34,120
Wolf Summit · near
34,120 median HH income
26.3% of the leader · rank #3
Port Orford · near
34,122
Port Orford · near
34,122 median HH income
26.3% of the leader · rank #4
Wadesboro · this city
34,125
Wadesboro · this city
34,125 median HH income
26.3% of the leader · rank #5
Quincy · near
34,126
Quincy · near
34,126 median HH income
26.3% of the leader · rank #6
Northwest Har… · highest
129,653
Northwest Har… · highest
129,653 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, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Wadesboro on ACS population and median household income
, plus FBI UCR reporting rate when the extract covers this place. 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: 4,966.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Wadesboro - the verdict
Wadesboro ranks in the 4th percentile for household income and the 0th percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
4th
percentile, household income
9th
percentile, home value
48th
percentile, median rent
0th
percentile, safety
📝 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: Wadesboro, NC
North Carolina's Wadesboro is a small town, with 4,966 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Wadesboro households earn a median of $34,125 annually, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 30.2%. Home values in Wadesboro run a median of $98,600, and the median resident age is 37.6 years. Educational attainment runs 15.5% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 51.6% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Wadesboro's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program logs 9390.9 total incidents per 100,000 residents here, above the national average (agency reporting is voluntary, so this measures reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). The annual average temperature per NOAA climate normals runs 61.7°F with 47.8 inches of precipitation per year and 3.2 inches of snowfall.
Living costs in North Carolina run below the national norm: the state registers 94.3 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Below Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. 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. Commute times here average 24.6 minutes, with 63.2% driving alone and 8.8% working from home, per Census ACS commuting 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 Wadesboro'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 housing and income to population change to comparison shortlist to climate and hazard context to within-city variation to reported crime to work and mobility to schools and households; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Wadesboro, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, within-city Census tract profiles, matched public-school count, annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
How far does income reach against housing in Wadesboro?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 2.9 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 30.2%, 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 Wadesboro growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
The recent population line is broadly flat. That makes the composition of change more important than the headline count: housing turnover, household size, and age structure can shift even when the total barely moves.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +10 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +0.2% 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Wadesboro?
Within North Carolina, the closest population matches are Long View (4,967 residents, $44,156 income); Creedmoor (4,957 residents, $77,799 income); Pleasant Garden (4,989 residents, $88,482 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Northwest Harbor, NY (4,966 residents); Lares zona urbana, PR (4,966 residents); Lake Wildwood, CA (4,967 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. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
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.
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.
Climate and hazard context
What physical conditions frame life in Wadesboro?
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 61.7°F, with 47.8 inches of precipitation and 3.2 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.
Mean temperature
61.7°F
Annual precipitation
47.8 in
FEMA risk index (state avg)
66.7
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Wadesboro?
Treat this as a reporting-rate comparison, not a prediction of personal risk or a neighborhood-level safety grade. Tourism, daytime population, reporting practices, and variation inside the city are not adjusted away. The state rank and same-state peer table are the narrower comparisons available on this page.
The joined FBI UCR record reports 9390.9 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 312% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
7353.8
Violent rate
2037.1
Total reported rate
9390.9
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
What does the journey to work look like in Wadesboro?
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 63.2%. The reported mean trip to work is 24.6 minutes.
Public transit
0.0%
Work from home
8.8%
Drive alone
63.2%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 1,906 workers age 16+.
What does the education layer cover for Wadesboro?
The NCES join finds 4 public schools within the city match. 15.5% 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.
Matched public schools
4
Bachelor's degree+
15.5%
Poverty estimate
30.2%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 30.2% (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 · Wadesboro, NC
17/100
5 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
15.5%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$34,125
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
30.2%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime F
2,037 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Wadesboro profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 67/100 (B-) · 94.3 index
Bachelor's+ share: 21/100 (F) · 15.5%
Household income: 0/100 (F) · $34,125
Poverty rate: 0/100 (F) · 30.2%
Violent crime: 0/100 (F) · 2,037 /100k
Where Wadesboro sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Wadesboro's median home value and FBI crime rate plotted with similar-size and
same-state peers (padded with large cities when the peer set is thin). The second
read: pricey does not always mean safer, check which quadrant this city lands in.
Census ACS median home value vs FBI UCR crime rate - Wadesboro highlighted among 26 peers.Read the chart values
Wadesboro, NC (this city): home $98,600, crime 9,391/100k
Sonora, CA : home $379,300, crime 3,007/100k
Marksville, LA : home $159,500, crime 5,418/100k
Creedmoor, NC : home $260,000, crime 1,915/100k
Granite Falls, NC : home $203,100, crime 3,179/100k
Ayden, NC : home $161,200, crime 1,736/100k
New York, NY : home $751,700, crime 3,039/100k
Los Angeles, CA : home $879,500, crime 2,212/100k
Chicago, IL : home $315,200, crime 4,012/100k
Houston, TX : home $253,400, crime 5,442/100k
Phoenix, AZ : home $381,900, crime 3,125/100k
Philadelphia, PA : home $232,400, crime 5,457/100k
San Antonio, TX : home $219,700, crime 5,218/100k
San Diego, CA : home $848,500, crime 2,082/100k
Dallas, TX : home $295,300, crime 4,010/100k
San Jose, CA : home $1,187,800, crime 3,195/100k
Austin, TX : home $512,700, crime 3,709/100k
Fort Worth, TX : home $277,300, crime 3,158/100k
Columbus, OH : home $234,500, crime 3,088/100k
Indianapolis, IN : home $207,000, crime 4,214/100k
San Francisco, CA : home $1,380,500, crime 4,526/100k
Seattle, WA : home $912,100, crime 5,783/100k
Denver, CO : home $586,700, crime 5,755/100k
Oklahoma City, OK : home $215,100, crime 3,570/100k
El Paso, TX : home $171,700, crime 1,772/100k
Washington, DC : home $724,600, crime 4,514/100k
How does Wadesboro compare to other US cities?
Here's how Wadesboro stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income4% higher than other cities
Home value9% pricier than other cities
Median rent48% pricier than other cities
Safety0% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
Zoom in to just North Carolina and the picture shifts: Wadesboro ranks #193 of 195 North Carolina cities by lowest crime rate, a different read than the national percentile above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Wadesboro 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 Wadesboro near the bottom of North Carolina's cities
Among the 746 North Carolina cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Wadesboro ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Wadesboro only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#645 of 700
8th percentile in North Carolina
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 746
0th percentile in North Carolina
Median Home Value
#634 of 708
10th percentile in North Carolina
Poverty Rate
#58 of 746
92nd percentile in North Carolina
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#520 of 746
30th 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
4th percentile nationally for median household income · 0th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Wadesboro's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Wadesboro's percentile rank on 3 favorable-direction measures (income, affordability, safety) vs. every tracked US city -- higher on every axis is more favorable. Not a composite quality score, just the arithmetic mean of the axes shown.
How Wadesboro's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$98,600Among the most affordablemore affordable than 91% 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
Wadesboro's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.9×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#6,056 of 15,516
More affordable than 61% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#5,204 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.9×, Wadesboro sits in the affordable band:
national rank #6,056 of 15,516 and #5,204 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
The multiple is comparatively compact among tracked cities, but a low ratio can still coexist with slow demand or household-level hardship.
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
$34,125Wadesboro, NC median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Wadesboro, 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 Wadesboro, NC.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)15.5%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)30.2%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)51.6%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
4,966
Median Income
$34,125
Median Home Value
$98,600
Median Age
37.6
Poverty Rate
30.2%
Labor force participation
51.6%
Bachelor's Degree+
15.5%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
9390.9
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
2037.1
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
7353.8
per 100,000 residents
Crime reporting caveat
Reflects incidents reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program — agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies by jurisdiction and year, so this reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score. Not adjusted for tourism, commuter, or daytime population.
Climate
Avg Temperature
61.7°F
Annual Precipitation
47.8"
Annual Snowfall
3.2"
Schools
Total Schools
4
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Wadesboro's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
5,025 residents
2021
5,005 residents
2022
4,982 residents
2023
4,977 residents
2024
4,989 residents
2025
5,035 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
24.6 minutes
Drive Alone
63.2%
Carpool
25.6%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
2.5%
Work from Home
8.8%
Based on 1,906 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 Wadesboro. 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 Wadesboro 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 Wadesboro sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Wadesboro 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, FBI UCR, 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.