Jacksonville, North Carolina

Area Profile

71,279 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Jacksonville, in Onslow County.

49out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 12% of 2,944 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity3674th of 3,904 published cities29
SchoolsTop 44% of 2,668 published cities56
GrowthTop 35% of 2,973 published cities59
Housing affordability2730th of 4,223 published cities71
ClimateTop 18% of 4,223 published cities80
Physical resilience4009th of 4,182 published cities10
Access3575th of 4,226 published cities74
Economic stabilityTop 46% of 4,226 published cities62
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable published city profiles: unemployment is 4.9% and the Opportunity signal places Jacksonville in the bottom 6%.

Development activity is both elevated and accelerating — 541 housing units permitted over the past twelve months, up 552% on the prior year.

Physical-risk exposure is above the national median, driven mainly by hurricane, coastal flooding and lightning.

At a glance

Population
71,279
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$57,697
Bottom 35% nationally
Density
1,461/sq mi
48.8 sq mi of land
Median age
23.4
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Onslow County
North Carolina
Metro area
Jacksonville, NC
Nearest major airport
ILM
43 mi · Wilmington Intl
Median home value
$210,100
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.9% is lower than 28% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment fell 1.9% over the past year, to 17,510 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$4,961$57,697Bottom 35%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,540$30,271Bottom 38%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate12.7%Top 44%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute16.7 minBottom 8%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher26.3%Top 37%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment17,510Bottom 20%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-5.5%Bottom 2%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-1.9%Bottom 20%June 2026
Labor force18,421Bottom 20%June 2026
Labor force participation77.5%Top 6%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$51,170Bottom 1%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$40,230Bottom 2%2025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.6%Bottom 15%June 2026
Unemployment rate4.9%Top 28%June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/066.84.2
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 4.9% in June 2026. A break in the line is a month the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish for this area — it is left empty rather than estimated.
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202458k47k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $57,697 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 — Jacksonville, NC
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Retail Salespersons2,040$29,480
Fast Food and Counter Workers1,900$27,330
Cooks, Fast Food1,830$22,900
Cashiers1,630$26,380
Stockers and Order Fillers1,330$33,880
Waiters and Waitresses1,140$28,870

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.

42% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 47% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 15.7 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
26
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
15.7
across all schools here
Math proficiency
41.9%
Top 41% in North Carolina
Reading proficiency
47.3%
Top 43% in North Carolina
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Jacksonville HighOnslow County Schools1,44118.5
White Oak HighOnslow County Schools1,25219.6
Northside HighOnslow County Schools1,06717.5
Jacksonville Commons MiddleOnslow County Schools91817.037%52%
Hunters Creek MiddleOnslow County Schools85616.832%52%
Southwest HighOnslow County Schools80319.1
Southwest ElementaryOnslow County Schools72014.148%47%
Morton ElementaryOnslow County Schools71515.954%47%
Northwoods Park MiddleOnslow County Schools63316.727%42%
Hunters Creek ElementaryOnslow County Schools58513.028%36%
Stateside ElementaryOnslow County Schools57915.243%47%
Carolina Forest ElementaryOnslow County Schools57014.654%52%

57.5% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against North Carolina’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $1,321 takes 27% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 3.6 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
27.5%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
3.6×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,321
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$210,100
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income3.64Top 33%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate38.7%Bottom 4%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±80525,417Top 2%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$36$1,321Top 27%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$11,451$210,100Top 44%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income27.5%Top 11%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate10.7%Top 47%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 →
Development Momentum
59/ 100
Top 35% of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is increasing — 2 consecutive years, measured from 2020 to 2025.

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 fallen 3% since 2020, reaching 70,840 in 2024.

80% of recently permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes, so new supply is concentrated in apartments and condominiums rather than detached houses.

At 7.6 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
541
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
7.6
Top 19% nationally
Year over year
+552%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
79.9%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202473k70k
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.
Housing units permitted per year
2020202220232024202510242
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was lower than 2020 (−14%).

Weather & climate

7 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 89°F and January a low of 35°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 56.5 inches.

20°40°60°80°100°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station NEW RIVER MCAF, 2.1 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND7.5"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation56.5"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall0.6"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low35°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high89°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months71991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing35°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

10 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are hurricane, coastal flooding and lightning.

HurricaneHigh
LightningModerate
Coastal floodingModerate

Low or minimal exposure: winter weather, heat wave, wildfire, tornado, strong wind, inland flooding, ice storm, earthquake, cold wave, hail, landslide, drought.

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.

Onslow County records 4.0 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 20.1 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 20.6 per 100,000 residents in Onslow County.

Homicide
4.0
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
20.1
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
20.6
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
23.4
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 Onslow 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 Jacksonville rather than Jacksonville 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

2 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 43 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Wilmington IntlILM43 mi8,016 ft
Kinston Rgnl Jetport At Stallings FldISO43 mi11,498 ft
Raleigh-Durham IntlRDU112 mi10,000 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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Area Score
49
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Other cities in Jacksonville, NC

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
Piney GreenOnslow County14,078vs Jacksonville

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)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
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
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them

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.

ZIP codes in Jacksonville

6 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
2854049,141$65,62552
2854647,256$63,56150
2854721,346$67,58848
2853918,351$66,97650
285436,069$50,64943
285423,508$125,49158