Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC
Metro Area Profile
368,316 residents. Jobs, income, development, climate and physical risk across the Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC metropolitan area.
Employment conditions sit below most comparable published metro profiles: unemployment is 3.5% and the Opportunity signal places Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton in the bottom 20%.
Development activity is both elevated and accelerating — 3,504 housing units permitted over the past twelve months, up 18% on the prior year.
Rent takes 17% of median household income here, below the 30% threshold conventionally called cost-burdened, and the median home is 3.4 times that income.
At a glance
Jobs & opportunity
Unemployment of 3.5% is lower than 83% of the 379 measured US metros.
Employment fell 3.0% over the past year, to 157,610 employed residents.
| Metric | Value | Compared with peers | Source period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income ±$1,624 | $62,787 | Bottom 36% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Per capita income ±$828 | $34,781 | Bottom 45% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Poverty rate | 13.5% | Top 50% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Average commute | 25.4 min | Top 35% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Bachelor's degree or higher | 22.3% | Bottom 38% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Employment | 157,610 | Top 40% | June 2026 |
| Employment change (3 years) | -5.5% | Bottom 4% | June 2026 |
| Employment change (year over year) | -3.0% | Bottom 8% | June 2026 |
| Labor force | 163,261 | Top 40% | June 2026 |
| Labor force participation | 58.9% | Bottom 42% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Mean annual wage | $54,360 | Bottom 15% | 2025 OEWS |
| Median annual wage | $45,220 | Bottom 23% | 2025 OEWS |
| Metro employment | 154,090 | Top 39% | 2025 OEWS |
| Unemployment change (year over year) | -0.4% | Bottom 22% | June 2026 |
| Unemployment rate | 3.5% | Bottom 17% | June 2026 |
| Occupation | People employed | Median annual wage |
|---|---|---|
| Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand | 4,850 | $40,240 |
| Retail Salespersons | 4,000 | $30,520 |
| Stockers and Order Fillers | 3,500 | $38,130 |
| Cashiers | 3,470 | $27,570 |
| Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators | 3,190 | $42,770 |
| Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers | 3,050 | $57,460 |
Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Housing & affordability
How it’s calculated →Median rent of $869 takes 17% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.
A median home costs 3.4 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.
| Metric | Value | Compared with peers | Source period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home price to income | 3.43 | Top 41% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Homeownership rate | 73.8% | Top 25% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Housing units ±119 | 167,096 | Top 15% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Median gross rent ±$18 | $869 | Bottom 27% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Median home value ±$3,256 | $215,600 | Top 49% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Rent as a share of income | 16.6% | Bottom 27% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Vacancy rate | 10.5% | Bottom 44% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.
Growth & development
How it’s calculated →An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.
Population has grown 2% since 2020, reaching 373,031 in 2024.
New construction is predominantly single-family: only 17% of permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes.
At 9.5 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US metros.
Weather & climate
7 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 87°F and January a low of 30°F.
Normal annual precipitation is 47.1 inches.
| Metric | Value | Source period |
|---|---|---|
| Annual precipitation | 47.1" | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Average January low | 30°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Average July high | 87°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Comfortable months | 7 | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Seasonal temperature swing | 38°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today.
Physical risk
The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, tornado and earthquake.
Low or minimal exposure: landslide, strong wind, hail, drought, heat wave, winter weather, wildfire.
Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. This value is the population-weighted mean of all component counties; expected annual loss is their sum. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.
What this profile does not cover
Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.
- Reported crime
- The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source for reported offences with national coverage and a published method, and it requires an API key AreaProfile does not hold. Arrest counts, news volume and commercial “safety scores” are not substituted in the meantime. What is published above under Safety is a different measurement — deaths rather than offences, from death certificates rather than police returns — and it covers no property crime at all.
- Taxes
- No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, transparent methodology and update cadence. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
- Full cost of living
- No public source publishes one with national coverage and a documented method. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings.
Access
5 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 50 miles away.
| Airport | Code | Distance | Longest runway |
|---|---|---|---|
| Charlotte/Douglas Intl | CLT | 50 mi | 10,000 ft |
| Asheville Rgnl | AVL | 66 mi | 8,002 ft |
| Tri-Cities | TRI | 70 mi | 8,000 ft |
Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.
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Data & methodology
| Used for | Source | Source period | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|
| Access | Federal Aviation Administration Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service | NASR current cycle | 28-day NASR cycle |
| Physical risk | Federal Emergency Management Agency National Risk Index | National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0) | Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current) |
| Climate | NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly) | 1991-2020 Normals | Every ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period) |
| Jobs | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Local Area Unemployment Statistics | June 2026 | Monthly |
| Jobs | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics | 2025 OEWS | Annual (spring release) |
| Demographics | U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program | July 1, 2024 estimate | Annual (vintage released each spring) |
| Development | U.S. Census Bureau Building Permits Survey | 12 months ending July 2026 | Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month |
| Demographics, Housing, Income, Jobs | U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File) | 2024 ACS 5-Year | Annual (5-year estimates released each December) |
Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.