Like all states, North Carolina has certain places that are going on hard times. These North Carolina places have an above-average percentage of people living in poverty, out of work, or not making as much as they should be.
Even as the economy continues to improve, it’s worthwhile to look at the places in each state struggling to make ends meet. So we set our sites on locating the poorest places in North Carolina.
To do so, we used Saturday Night Science to analyze the newest Census data from the American Community Survey for the 142 cities in North Carolina with more than 5,000 people.
$30,065 median income · 51.2% poverty · #1 lowest income in North Carolina
Located in
Watauga County, North CarolinaBoone, unfortunately, ranks as the poorest place in North Carolina thanks to combination of low pay and and a lack of jobs.
The city of 20,032 people averages the lowest median household income in North Carolina and the highest poverty rate. At the very least, the cost of living ranks in the bottom 15% of place in the state, so things like housing are relatively affordable.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$35,524 median income · 32.1% poverty · #2 lowest income in North Carolina
The second poorest city in North Carolina is Forest City.
The city ranks as having the 5th highest incidence of poverty and 2nd lowest median household income. However, the unemployment rate ‘only’ ranks as the 19th highest in the Tar Heel State.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$36,553 median income · 33.3% poverty · #3 lowest income in North Carolina
Located in
Person County, North CarolinaPlacing as the third poorest city, Roxboro’s median income ranks as the 3rd lowest.
And that’s a sign that there’s a relatively substantial jump in the quality of the economy from second to third place on our list. The poverty rate is 33.3% and ranks near the bottom of places in the state.
But what makes up for the relatively low incomes of the city is its low cost of living. The income you do make here goes further than in most parts of the Tar Heel State.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$38,738 median income · 36.3% poverty · #6 lowest income in North Carolina
Located in
Martin County, North CarolinaWilliamston ranks as the fourth poorest place in North Carolina.
The town ranks as having the 6th lowest median household income and the 2nd highest incidence of poverty in the state.
That being said, there’s still a ton of cultural diversity in the city as it hosts many events throughout the year.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$37,224 median income · 30.6% poverty · #5 lowest income in North Carolina
Located in
Richmond County, North CarolinaThe fifth poorest city in North Carolina is Rockingham.
The city ranks as having the 5th lowest median income in the state. However, an extremely low cost of living prevents a good number of folks from living in poverty as the poverty rate only ranks as the 8th highest in North Carolina.
Still not the best news for Rockingham.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$36,878 median income · 27.9% poverty · #4 lowest income in North Carolina
Located in
Lenoir County, North CarolinaKinston ranks as the sixth poorest place in the Tar Heel State.
It ranks as having the 10th highest incidence of poverty and the highest unemployment rate.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$42,170 median income · 31.1% poverty · #12 lowest income in North Carolina
Located in
Scotland County, North CarolinaLaurinburg places as the seventh poorest city in North Carolina.
The city of over 15,087 ranks as having the 6th highest incidence of poverty in the state. However, it has a very low cost of living which helps to pay the bills each month.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$39,969 median income · 27.3% poverty · #7 lowest income in North Carolina
Located in
Vance County, North CarolinaHenderson ranks as the eighth poorest city in North Carolina.
The big issue for the town is the unemployment rate which ranks as one of the highest in the state.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$42,877 median income · 30.8% poverty · #14 lowest income in North Carolina
Located in
Robeson County, North CarolinaLumberton couldn’t stay out of the top ten poorest places in North Carolina; it ranks number 9.
While the median income is the 14th lowest, there are a substantial number of people that live below the poverty line. Overall, Lumberton ranks as having the 7th most people living in poverty of all the places we analyzed in North Carolina.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$40,275 median income · 26.9% poverty · #9 lowest income in North Carolina
Located in
Surry County, North CarolinaAnd rounding out the top ten poorest cities in North Carolina is Mount Airy.
The city of 10,633 people ranks in the bottom 20% for both median income and poverty rate in the Tar Heel State.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is North Carolina’s statewide median.
North Carolina statewide median: $72,388
North Carolina statewide median: 13.0%
North Carolina statewide median: 4.7%
On the map
Where poverty hits hardest in North Carolina
Saturday Night Science
How we determined the poorest places in North Carolina for 2026
The first thing that comes to most people’s minds when they think about determining the poorest places is to simply the poverty rate. That is, the number of people living below a federally established level of income for a household of a certain size.
However, we don’t think that one statistic wholly encompasses what it means to be one of the “poorest places”. So we used Saturday Night Science to look at this set of criteria from the newly released 2020-2024 American Community Survey:
- Poverty Level
- Median Household Income
After we collected the data for all 142 places with more than 5,000 people in North Carolina, we ranked each place from 1 to 142 for each of the criteria, with 1 being the poorest.
We then averaged all the rankings for a place into a “Poor Score” with the place having the lowest overall Poor Score, Boone, crowned the “Poorest Place In North Carolina For 2026”. The median North Carolina home is 33 years old — old enough that it pays to compare home warranty plans before something expensive breaks.
The full plate
Detailed list of the poorest places to live in North Carolina
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Poor Score | Population | Median income | Poverty | Unemployment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Boone | 1.00 | 20,032 | $30,065 | 51.2% | 12.0% |
| 2 | Forest City | 3.50 | 7,363 | $35,524 | 32.1% | 7.5% |
| 3 | Roxboro | 3.50 | 8,182 | $36,553 | 33.3% | 13.5% |
| 4 | Williamston | 4.00 | 5,112 | $38,738 | 36.3% | 9.8% |
| 5 | Rockingham | 6.50 | 8,967 | $37,224 | 30.6% | 11.3% |
| 6 | Kinston | 7.00 | 19,505 | $36,878 | 27.9% | 16.1% |
| 7 | Laurinburg | 9.00 | 15,087 | $42,170 | 31.1% | 11.0% |
| 8 | Henderson | 10.00 | 14,885 | $39,969 | 27.3% | 9.4% |
| 9 | Lumberton | 10.50 | 18,859 | $42,877 | 30.8% | 5.6% |
| 10 | Mount Airy | 11.50 | 10,633 | $40,275 | 26.9% | 4.1% |
| 11 | Siler City | 12.00 | 7,995 | $46,566 | 33.9% | 4.7% |
| 12 | Oxford | 12.50 | 8,914 | $43,054 | 28.3% | 7.0% |
| 13 | Selma | 14.00 | 6,817 | $41,368 | 24.7% | 4.9% |
| 14 | Lexington | 14.00 | 19,690 | $43,128 | 27.8% | 6.0% |
| 15 | Smithfield | 15.00 | 12,116 | $43,270 | 27.3% | 7.2% |
| 16 | Washington | 15.00 | 9,726 | $40,186 | 23.1% | 3.5% |
| 17 | Clinton | 19.50 | 8,304 | $44,953 | 23.6% | 4.9% |
| 18 | Hamlet | 20.00 | 5,961 | $41,590 | 21.6% | 8.7% |
| 19 | Ayden | 20.00 | 5,150 | $42,413 | 22.4% | 6.7% |
| 20 | Albemarle | 20.50 | 16,762 | $46,881 | 24.9% | 5.6% |
| 21 | Reidsville | 22.50 | 14,585 | $42,921 | 21.1% | 6.4% |
| 22 | Lincolnton | 23.00 | 11,783 | $46,320 | 22.7% | 3.8% |
| 23 | Greenville | 24.50 | 92,857 | $49,748 | 24.6% | 9.0% |
| 24 | Morganton | 25.00 | 17,646 | $51,355 | 25.7% | 3.8% |
| 25 | Kings Mountain | 26.50 | 12,039 | $49,564 | 23.0% | 7.7% |
| 26 | Goldsboro | 26.50 | 34,383 | $48,540 | 22.8% | 8.0% |
| 27 | Marion | 27.00 | 7,579 | $51,314 | 23.5% | 5.4% |
| 28 | Salisbury | 28.50 | 35,825 | $53,716 | 26.3% | 5.8% |
| 29 | Dunn | 29.00 | 8,559 | $46,830 | 19.7% | 3.2% |
| 30 | Asheboro | 29.00 | 27,580 | $47,197 | 19.7% | 4.0% |
| 31 | Wilson | 30.50 | 48,370 | $52,485 | 23.0% | 6.7% |
| 32 | Eden | 31.50 | 15,356 | $47,260 | 19.2% | 8.3% |
| 33 | Tarboro | 35.00 | 10,770 | $49,796 | 18.5% | 4.5% |
| 34 | Statesville | 35.00 | 29,894 | $52,880 | 20.4% | 6.8% |
| 35 | Shelby | 36.00 | 22,100 | $48,376 | 17.6% | 3.6% |
| 36 | Sanford | 39.00 | 31,478 | $57,586 | 22.0% | 4.4% |
| 37 | Spring Lake | 39.50 | 11,573 | $51,958 | 17.7% | 5.4% |
| 38 | Rocky Mount | 40.00 | 54,297 | $55,534 | 19.7% | 8.0% |
| 39 | Mocksville | 40.50 | 6,068 | $55,367 | 19.2% | 4.2% |
| 40 | Roanoke Rapids | 40.50 | 14,856 | $53,690 | 18.4% | 8.1% |
| 41 | Morehead City | 44.00 | 9,806 | $56,233 | 18.1% | 2.0% |
| 42 | Lenoir | 47.00 | 18,299 | $49,910 | 14.6% | 4.6% |
| 43 | Fayetteville | 48.50 | 210,815 | $58,407 | 17.7% | 7.9% |
| 44 | Winston-Salem | 49.00 | 252,037 | $59,268 | 17.7% | 5.7% |
| 45 | Graham | 49.50 | 18,048 | $56,239 | 16.8% | 6.8% |
| 46 | Waynesville | 50.50 | 10,502 | $54,923 | 15.9% | 1.9% |
| 47 | Burlington | 51.00 | 59,610 | $56,880 | 16.4% | 6.5% |
| 48 | Brevard | 51.50 | 7,897 | $54,103 | 15.1% | 3.6% |
| 49 | Long View | 51.50 | 5,011 | $46,739 | 11.3% | 2.5% |
| 50 | Hendersonville | 51.50 | 15,408 | $53,449 | 14.6% | 3.2% |
| 51 | Elizabeth City | 53.00 | 18,871 | $52,141 | 13.3% | 7.0% |
| 52 | New Bern | 53.50 | 32,734 | $61,031 | 17.3% | 4.6% |
| 53 | Nashville | 54.50 | 5,729 | $61,000 | 16.9% | 7.0% |
| 54 | Bessemer City | 54.50 | 5,580 | $60,300 | 16.4% | 5.9% |
| 55 | Greensboro | 55.00 | 301,198 | $61,515 | 17.0% | 5.1% |
| 56 | Thomasville | 56.50 | 27,321 | $60,935 | 16.3% | 4.6% |
| 57 | Hickory | 57.00 | 44,258 | $64,576 | 17.1% | 3.8% |
| 58 | Gastonia | 59.00 | 82,884 | $64,059 | 16.3% | 5.7% |
| 59 | Havelock | 59.50 | 17,691 | $58,408 | 14.3% | 4.9% |
| 60 | Angier | 60.00 | 6,241 | $52,214 | 10.6% | 5.1% |
| 61 | Jacksonville | 61.00 | 71,279 | $57,697 | 12.7% | 7.4% |
| 62 | High Point | 62.00 | 116,245 | $64,561 | 15.7% | 5.2% |
| 63 | Wilmington | 63.00 | 120,805 | $66,738 | 16.0% | 4.3% |
| 64 | Conover | 63.50 | 8,580 | $65,972 | 15.7% | 3.3% |
| 65 | Elon | 64.00 | 11,032 | $84,773 | 20.0% | 5.1% |
| 66 | Hope Mills | 67.00 | 17,939 | $65,774 | 14.1% | 8.2% |
| 67 | Dallas | 68.50 | 6,104 | $58,403 | 10.5% | 4.5% |
| 68 | Newton | 69.00 | 13,333 | $62,015 | 12.0% | 6.2% |
| 69 | Chapel Hill | 69.00 | 61,607 | $85,989 | 18.6% | 4.5% |
| 70 | Pineville | 69.50 | 11,055 | $69,354 | 13.8% | 5.2% |
| 71 | Asheville | 69.50 | 94,535 | $71,102 | 14.3% | 5.1% |
| 72 | Butner | 70.00 | 8,065 | $74,739 | 15.0% | 5.5% |
| 73 | Woodfin | 71.00 | 8,048 | $71,384 | 14.1% | 3.0% |
| 74 | Cherryville | 73.00 | 6,226 | $70,625 | 12.4% | 3.0% |
| 75 | Monroe | 73.00 | 36,759 | $72,540 | 13.3% | 4.6% |
| 76 | Kernersville | 74.00 | 27,830 | $71,918 | 12.6% | 2.7% |
| 77 | Kannapolis | 75.50 | 57,890 | $73,836 | 12.6% | 4.1% |
| 78 | Archer Lodge | 76.50 | 5,186 | $91,188 | 17.4% | 0.0% |
| 79 | Sawmills | 80.00 | 5,042 | $71,067 | 9.9% | 8.0% |
| 80 | Boiling Spring Lakes | 80.00 | 6,347 | $62,676 | 8.5% | 3.5% |
| 81 | King | 80.50 | 7,408 | $57,817 | 7.0% | 1.0% |
| 82 | Aberdeen | 82.50 | 9,228 | $75,078 | 10.5% | 3.7% |
| 83 | Durham | 83.50 | 291,467 | $81,619 | 11.7% | 3.8% |
| 84 | Charlotte | 84.50 | 903,844 | $82,068 | 11.7% | 4.6% |
| 85 | Trinity | 86.50 | 7,111 | $82,664 | 11.6% | 3.2% |
| 86 | Carrboro | 86.50 | 21,204 | $85,743 | 12.2% | 3.6% |
| 87 | Walke | 87.00 | 5,873 | $82,615 | 10.8% | 2.5% |
| 88 | Raleigh | 87.00 | 481,031 | $85,395 | 11.9% | 4.4% |
| 89 | Locust | 89.00 | 5,840 | $76,504 | 8.7% | 3.6% |
| 90 | Zebulon | 90.50 | 8,711 | $79,112 | 9.0% | 7.1% |
| 91 | Garner | 91.50 | 34,473 | $78,756 | 8.4% | 6.2% |
| 92 | Winterville | 91.50 | 10,725 | $83,193 | 9.8% | 5.4% |
| 93 | Fletcher | 92.50 | 8,098 | $75,272 | 7.6% | 3.0% |
| 94 | Mount Holly | 94.50 | 18,208 | $79,385 | 8.2% | 5.5% |
| 95 | Concord | 95.50 | 108,719 | $86,921 | 9.6% | 5.5% |
| 96 | Archdale | 95.50 | 12,087 | $64,757 | 5.2% | 2.5% |
| 97 | Pleasant Garden | 96.00 | 5,060 | $88,204 | 9.7% | 1.9% |
| 98 | Oak Island | 97.50 | 9,030 | $85,872 | 8.7% | 3.0% |
| 99 | Southern Pines | 97.50 | 16,420 | $88,535 | 9.6% | 6.7% |
| 100 | Black Mountain | 99.50 | 8,513 | $77,042 | 5.9% | 3.9% |
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024. 142 cities with more than 5,000 residents.
Summary
The poorest cities in North Carolina for 2026
Like we said earlier, when we set out to identify the poorest places in North Carolina, we weren’t sure what we’d encounter, but it ended up being some of the best places to live in North Carolina.
When you look at the data, the cities and places mentioned above meet the criteria for being at the very bottom of the income ladder for everyone that lives there. Not sold on North Carolina? Take the two-minute Find Your Place quiz and see which state actually fits you.
