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You're going to need a little more than some pocket change and luck to afford to live in one of the Tar Heel state's most expensive places. For many, you're going to need a miracle and a job that pays at least $22,434/year. Unfortunately, HomeSnacks can't help with a miracle, but we did help by creating a list of the top ten most expensive places in North Carolina for 2021 and the list is below.
Incidentally, if you don't currently have a booming bank account, don't worry. Places that made our top ten list like Wilmington and Asheville might be some of the most expensive places to buy a home, but the least expensive to rent.
Yes, in order to determine the most expensive places in North Carolina, we looked at the American Community Survey for the home price to income ratio and the rent to income ratio for North Carolina places with at least 5,000 residents. This gave us 135 North Carolina places that you're going to need to win a hefty Powerball to live comfortably.
Did we mention that this is our seventh time ranking North Carolina's most expensive places? That's right, we know what we're talking about. So, it would be in your best interest to take a look at our list below before you make any major financial decisions.
Here are the 10 most expensive places to live in North Carolina for 2021:
What's the most expensive place to live in North Carolina? Well, HomeSnacks crunched the numbers and discovered that Boone is the most expensive place to live in North Carolina.
So hopefully Sawmills (the cheapest place to live in North Carolina) can show these guys how to live on a budget in the coming years. Read on for how these places had costs rise faster than inflation.
And if you already knew these places were expensive, check out some more reading about North Carolina and the most expensive cities in the country:
The 10 Most Expensive Places To Live In North Carolina For 2021
/10
Population: 19,119
Rank Last Year: 1 (No Change)
Home Price To Income Ratio: 12.0x (most expensive)
Income To Rent Ratio: 24.9x (most expensive)
More on Boone: Real Estate | Data | Photos
The median income in Boone comes in at $22,434 and the median home value is $268,100 for 2021.
/10
Population: 91,560
Rank Last Year: 3 (Up 1)
Home Price To Income Ratio: 5.4x (5th most expensive)
Income To Rent Ratio: 47.9x (22nd most expensive)
More on Asheville: Real Estate | Data | Photos
The median income in Asheville comes in at $49,930 and the median home value is $270,400 for 2021.
/10
Population: 21,230
Rank Last Year: 8 (Up 5)
Home Price To Income Ratio: 6.3x (2nd most expensive)
Income To Rent Ratio: 54.5x (5most expensive)
More on Carrboro: Real Estate | Data | Photos
The median income in Carrboro comes in at $58,702 and the median home value is $368,800 for 2021.
/10
Population: 6,612
Rank Last Year: 5 (Up 1)
Home Price To Income Ratio: 4.7x (11th most expensive)
Income To Rent Ratio: 44.0x (9th most expensive)
More on Woodfin: Real Estate | Data | Photos
The median income in Woodfin comes in at $48,202 and the median home value is $224,400 for 2021.
/10
Population: 120,194
Rank Last Year: 4 (No Change)
Home Price To Income Ratio: 5.2x (7th most expensive)
Income To Rent Ratio: 47.7x (2most expensive)
More on Wilmington: Real Estate | Data | Photos
The median income in Wilmington comes in at $47,580 and the median home value is $246,400 for 2021.
/10
Population: 9,413
Rank Last Year: 10 (Up 4)
Home Price To Income Ratio: 5.2x (6th most expensive)
Income To Rent Ratio: 49.8x (30th most expensive)
More on Morehead City: Real Estate | Data | Photos
The median income in Morehead City comes in at $42,985 and the median home value is $225,200 for 2021.
/10
Population: 5,521
Rank Last Year: 15 (Up 8)
Home Price To Income Ratio: 4.4x (14th most expensive)
Income To Rent Ratio: 56.3x (62nd most expensive)
More on St. James: Real Estate | Data
The median income in St. James comes in at $104,850 and the median home value is $456,600 for 2021.
/10
Population: 7,155
Rank Last Year: 2 (Down 6)
Home Price To Income Ratio: 4.6x (12th most expensive)
Income To Rent Ratio: 50.3x (33rd most expensive)
More on Kill Devil Hills: Real Estate | Data | Photos
The median income in Kill Devil Hills comes in at $53,750 and the median home value is $245,900 for 2021.
/10
Population: 13,908
Rank Last Year: 8 (No Change)
Home Price To Income Ratio: 4.9x (9th most expensive)
Income To Rent Ratio: 44.8x (12th most expensive)
More on Hendersonville: Real Estate | Data
The median income in Hendersonville comes in at $38,696 and the median home value is $188,100 for 2021.
/10
Population: 8,749
Rank Last Year: 6 (Down 4)
Home Price To Income Ratio: 4.1x (18th most expensive)
Income To Rent Ratio: 48.0x (23rd most expensive)
More on Pineville: Real Estate | Data | Photos
The median income in Pineville comes in at $52,967 and the median home value is $219,800 for 2021.
How We Determined The Most Expensive Places To Live In The Tar Heel State For 2021
The two most important things to think about when it comes to being able to afford if you can live comes down to:
- How much do money do I make?
- How much do I have spend to live there?
You need to understand your costs in the context of how much money you make.
For example, if the median household earns $100,000 and spends $40,000 on housing it's actually cheaper to live there than a place with a median income of $50,000 and housing costs of $21,000. You might spend more on housing, but you have more money overall to play with.
With that example in mind, we derived several statistics from the latest Census American Community Survey 2015-2019 around incomes and costs. They are:
- Median Home Price / Median Income (lower is better)
- Median Income / Median Rent (Higher is better)
- Median Home Price
We added simply median home price because high home prices generally correlate with higher expenses for all costs related to homes (heating, electricity, etc).
You can then compare these metrics in each of the places in North Carolina to figure out which is the most expensive.
What you are left with is a "Cost of Living Index" by taking the average rank of each of these metrics for each city.
So we used that cost of living index in order to rank all of the 135 places in North Carolina that have more than 5,000 people.
The place with the highest cost of living in North Carolina according to the data is Boone. You can download the data here.
Taking A Chunk Out Of Your Paycheck In North Carolina For 2021
Well there you have it, the places in North Carolina that have the highest cost of living, with Boone ranking as the most expensive city in the Tar Heel State.
Here's a look at the most affordable cities in North Carolina according to the data:
- Sawmills
- Marion
- Hamlet
For more North Carolina reading, check out:
- Best Places To Live In North Carolina
- Cheapest Places To Live In North Carolina
- Most Dangerous Cities In North Carolina
- Best Places To Raise A Family In North Carolina
- Safest Cities in North Carolina
- Worst Places To Live In North Carolina
Detailed List Of The Most Expensive Cities In North Carolina
| Rank | City | ExpensiveScore |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Boone | 9.0 |
| 2 | Asheville | 16.67 |
| 3 | Carrboro | 20.0 |
| 4 | Woodfin | 20.67 |
| 5 | Wilmington | 20.67 |
| 6 | Morehead City | 25.67 |
| 7 | St. James | 26.33 |
| 8 | Kill Devil Hills | 26.67 |
| 9 | Hendersonville | 26.67 |
| 10 | Pineville | 28.67 |
| 11 | Elon | 29.33 |
| 12 | Chapel Hill | 31.33 |
| 13 | Brevard | 37.67 |
| 14 | Washington | 38.67 |
| 15 | Greenville | 40.0 |
| 16 | Carolina Beach | 40.33 |
| 17 | Dunn | 40.33 |
| 18 | Southern Pines | 41.67 |
| 19 | Pinehurst | 42.0 |
| 20 | Durham | 42.0 |
| 21 | Waynesville | 45.33 |
| 22 | Hillsborough | 45.67 |
| 23 | Jacksonville | 46.67 |
| 24 | New Bern | 47.33 |
| 25 | Marvin | 47.33 |
| 26 | Goldsboro | 47.67 |
| 27 | Black Mountain | 48.0 |
| 28 | Raleigh | 48.0 |
| 29 | Elizabeth City | 48.0 |
| 30 | Lincolnton | 49.0 |
| 31 | Charlotte | 49.33 |
| 32 | Selma | 50.0 |
| 33 | Smithfield | 50.5 |
| 34 | Mint Hill | 52.0 |
| 35 | Leland | 52.0 |
| 36 | Statesville | 52.33 |
| 37 | Graham | 52.67 |
| 38 | Tarboro | 53.33 |
| 39 | Clinton | 53.67 |
| 40 | Mills River | 54.0 |
| 41 | Cornelius | 58.0 |
| 42 | Fletcher | 58.0 |
| 43 | Davidson | 58.67 |
| 44 | Lexington | 59.67 |
| 45 | Monroe | 60.0 |
| 46 | Morganton | 60.0 |
| 47 | Forest City | 60.0 |
| 48 | Mooresville | 60.33 |
| 49 | Oak Island | 60.5 |
| 50 | Oak Ridge | 60.67 |
| 51 | Mount Airy | 62.33 |
| 52 | Oxford | 62.67 |
| 53 | Morrisville | 63.33 |
| 54 | Aberdeen | 63.33 |
| 55 | Cary | 63.67 |
| 56 | Wilson | 64.0 |
| 57 | Summerfield | 64.33 |
| 58 | Laurinburg | 64.33 |
| 59 | High Point | 65.0 |
| 60 | Angier | 66.0 |
| 61 | Stallings | 66.33 |
| 62 | Fuquay-Varina | 66.83 |
| 63 | Whiteville | 67.0 |
| 64 | Greensboro | 67.33 |
| 65 | Clayton | 68.0 |
| 66 | Wendell | 68.33 |
| 67 | Hickory | 68.67 |
| 68 | Matthews | 68.67 |
| 69 | Kernersville | 69.0 |
| 70 | Winston-Salem | 69.33 |
| 71 | Walke | 69.67 |
| 72 | Reidsville | 70.0 |
| 73 | Gastonia | 70.33 |
| 74 | Butner | 70.33 |
| 75 | Wake Forest | 71.0 |
| 76 | Zebulon | 71.67 |
| 77 | Henderson | 72.67 |
| 78 | Fayetteville | 73.33 |
| 79 | Burlington | 73.67 |
| 80 | Wadesboro | 74.33 |
| 81 | Garner | 74.67 |
| 82 | Kings Mountain | 75.0 |
| 83 | Kinston | 75.33 |
| 84 | Waxhaw | 75.33 |
| 85 | Salisbury | 76.67 |
| 86 | Huntersville | 77.0 |
| 87 | Apex | 77.67 |
| 88 | Clemmons | 78.0 |
| 89 | Knightdale | 78.67 |
| 90 | Shelby | 79.67 |
| 91 | Holly Springs | 80.0 |
| 92 | Wesley Chapel | 80.33 |
| 93 | Roanoke Rapids | 80.33 |
| 94 | Mocksville | 81.0 |
| 95 | Harrisburg | 81.33 |
| 96 | Asheboro | 81.67 |
| 97 | Concord | 82.0 |
| 98 | Indian Trail | 82.33 |
| 99 | Havelock | 82.33 |
| 100 | Hope Mills | 83.0 |
