Hendersonville, North Carolina

Area Profile

15,408 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Hendersonville, in Henderson County.

Area Score unavailable

Missing required signal: growth. AreaProfile withholds a score rather than inferring the missing dimensions.

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity2139th of 3,904 published cities54
Housing affordability3925th of 4,223 published cities45
ClimateTop 43% of 4,223 published cities72
Physical resilienceTop 40% of 4,182 published cities67
AccessTop 14% of 4,226 published cities99
Economic stability3589th of 4,226 published cities38
The quick read

Unemployment is 3.0% and median household income $53,449, putting employment conditions in the middle range of published city profiles.

Buying strains local incomes far more than renting does — the median home is 5.9 times median household income, against a historic benchmark near three — while rent takes 30% of it.

A major airport is 9 miles away, giving the area unusually direct access to the national air network.

At a glance

Population
15,408
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$53,449
Bottom 28% nationally
Density
1,953/sq mi
7.9 sq mi of land
Median age
53.2
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Henderson County
North Carolina
Metro area
Asheville, NC
Nearest major airport
AVL
9 mi · Asheville Rgnl
Median home value
$317,000
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.0% is lower than 96% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment fell 1.5% over the past year, to 54,481 employed residents.

38% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 79% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$2,835$53,449Bottom 28%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$4,866$40,007Top 33%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate14.6%Top 37%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute21.0 minBottom 21%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher38.1%Top 21%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment54,481Top 48%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-4.7%Bottom 4%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-1.5%Bottom 35%June 2026
Labor force56,179Top 48%June 2026
Labor force participation52.2%Bottom 26%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$60,490Bottom 16%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$46,870Bottom 15%2025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.5%Bottom 17%June 2026
Unemployment rate3.0%Bottom 4%June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202453k46k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $53,449 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.
Largest occupations — Asheville, NC
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Retail Salespersons5,570$34,110
Registered Nurses4,680$81,590
Cashiers4,240$29,400
Stockers and Order Fillers3,980$37,120
Fast Food and Counter Workers3,850$28,810
Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand3,360$38,440

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.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes city-level labor data only for places of 25,000 or more. This is the figure for Henderson County, NC, which contains this city.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $1,332 takes 30% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 5.9 times median household income here, well above the historic benchmark, at a level conventionally described as seriously unaffordable.

Rent as a share of income
29.9%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
5.9×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,332
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$317,000
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income5.93Top 9%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate46.1%Bottom 7%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±4538,884Top 7%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$76$1,332Top 26%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$18,328$317,000Top 26%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income29.9%Top 7%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate8.3%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 →

Population has grown 3% since 2020, reaching 15,656 in 2024.

Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202416k15k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population.

No building-permit activity is published for this location by the Census Building Permits Survey.

Weather & climate

6 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 83°F and January a low of 27°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 51.4 inches.

20°40°60°80°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station ASHEVILLE 13 S, 8.7 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND5.3"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation51.4"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low27°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high83°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months61991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing36°F1991-2020 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

67 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are cold wave, earthquake and ice storm.

Ice stormElevated
Cold waveModerate
LandslideModerate
LightningModerate
HailModerate
EarthquakeElevated
DroughtModerate
HurricaneModerate

Low or minimal exposure: strong wind, inland flooding, tornado, wildfire, winter weather, heat wave.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Henderson County records 5.3 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, near the middle of counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 15.9 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 8.4 per 100,000 residents in Henderson County.

Homicide
5.3
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
15.9
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
8.4
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
16.8
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Henderson County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around Hendersonville rather than Hendersonville itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

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 9 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Asheville RgnlAVL9 mi8,002 ft
Donaldson FldGYH39 mi8,000 ft
Tri-CitiesTRI80 mi8,000 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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Other cities in Asheville, NC

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
AshevilleBuncombe County94,53564vs Hendersonville

Every city here is measured on the same scale from the same source releases, so the comparison is like for like. A higher Area Score reflects AreaProfile’s standardized weighting rather than a judgment about which is the better place to live.

Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years

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.