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-WELCOME-NC · Welcome, NC 3,649 pop · income 43rd 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 Welcome
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Welcome on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Wilkesboro · lowest
41,175
Wilkesboro · lowest
41,175 median HH income
33.9% of the leader · rank #1
Easley · near
65,330
Easley · near
65,330 median HH income
53.7% of the leader · rank #2
Everton · near
65,341
Everton · near
65,341 median HH income
53.7% of the leader · rank #3
Welcome · this city
65,342
Welcome · this city
65,342 median HH income
53.7% of the leader · rank #4
Jerome · near
65,343
Jerome · near
65,343 median HH income
53.7% of the leader · rank #5
Onsted · near
65,349
Onsted · near
65,349 median HH income
53.7% of the leader · rank #6
Waikapu · highest
121,618
Waikapu · highest
121,618 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 Welcome 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: 3,649.
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Welcome places in the 43rd percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
43rd
percentile, household income
34th
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: Welcome, NC
North Carolina's Welcome is a small town, with 3,649 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Welcome households earn a median of $65,342 annually, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 9.4%. Typical homes in Welcome are valued around $171,100, and the median resident age is 39.9 years. About 14.7% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 58.8% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
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. 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. The average commute for Welcome workers runs 23.7 minutes, with 88.9% driving alone and 5.1% 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 Welcome'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 comparison shortlist to work and mobility to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Welcome, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count, annual population history, within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
Which cities make useful reference points for Welcome?
Within North Carolina, the closest population matches are Tyro (3,635 residents, $57,198 income); Wilkesboro (3,664 residents, $41,175 income); Eastover (3,666 residents, $80,000 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Moundville, AL (3,649 residents); Emmetsburg, IA (3,651 residents); Moscow Mills, MO (3,647 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Welcome?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. The profile is strongly car-oriented, so a relocation comparison should put trip distance, vehicle access, and household fuel costs ahead of a citywide commute average. The same-state peer links offer a more relevant benchmark than a national label.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 88.9%. The reported mean trip to work is 23.7 minutes.
How far does income reach against housing in Welcome?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 2.6 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 9.4%, 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.
Below median income · poverty 9.4% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
94.3 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, North Carolina average
D
City profile score · Welcome, NC
44/100
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 D
$65,342
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate D
9.4%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
14.7%
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).
Welcome profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 67/100 (B-) · 94.3 index
Household income: 42/100 (D) · $65,342
Poverty rate: 42/100 (D) · 9.4%
Bachelor's+ share: 19/100 (F) · 14.7%
How does Welcome compare to other US cities?
Here's how Welcome stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income43% higher than other cities
Home value34% 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 Welcome 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 Welcome near the bottom of North Carolina's cities
Among the 746 North Carolina cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Welcome ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Welcome only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#274 of 700
61st percentile in North Carolina
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 746
0th percentile in North Carolina
Median Home Value
#425 of 708
40th percentile in North Carolina
Poverty Rate
#372 of 746
50th percentile in North Carolina
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#542 of 746
27th 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
43rd percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Welcome's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$171,100Among the most affordablemore affordable than 66% 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
Welcome's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.6×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#4,610 of 15,516
More affordable than 70% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#4,089 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.6×, Welcome sits in the affordable band:
national rank #4,610 of 15,516 and #4,089 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
$65,342Welcome, NC median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Welcome, 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 Welcome, NC.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)14.7%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)9.4%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)58.8%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
3,649
Median Income
$65,342
Median Home Value
$171,100
Median Age
39.9
Poverty Rate
9.4%
Labor force participation
58.8%
Bachelor's Degree+
14.7%
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
23.7 minutes
Drive Alone
88.9%
Carpool
5.9%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
5.1%
Based on 1,690 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 Welcome. 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 Welcome 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 Welcome sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Welcome 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.