Lumberton, North Carolina

Area Profile

18,859 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Lumberton, in Robeson County.

43out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 3% of 2,944 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity3821st of 3,904 cities measured22
Schools2630th of 2,668 cities measured9
GrowthTop 29% of 2,973 cities measured62
Housing affordability2193rd of 4,223 cities measured79
ClimateTop 32% of 4,223 cities measured74
Physical resilience3273rd of 4,182 cities measured27
Access3890th of 4,226 cities measured63
Economic stability4168th of 4,226 cities measured19
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable published city profiles: unemployment is 4.8% and the Opportunity signal places Lumberton in the bottom 2%.

Development activity is both elevated and accelerating — 123 housing units permitted over the past twelve months, up 105% on the prior year.

Physical-risk exposure is above the national median, driven mainly by hurricane, earthquake and strong wind.

At a glance

Population
18,859
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$42,877
Bottom 13% nationally
Density
1,035/sq mi
18.2 sq mi of land
Median age
34.6
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Robeson County
North Carolina
Metro area
Lumberton, NC
Nearest major airport
MYR
66 mi · Myrtle Beach Intl
Median home value
$152,600
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.8% is lower than 32% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment fell 2.6% over the past year, to 41,029 employed residents.

Median household income of $42,877 is below 87% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$5,546$42,877Bottom 13%of 29,5732024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,876$24,340Bottom 18%of 31,4202024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate30.8%Top 10%of 31,9002024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute21.4 minBottom 23%of 31,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher19.2%Bottom 46%of 31,9192024 ACS 5-Year
Employment41,029Bottom 45%of 3,904June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-5.1%Bottom 3%of 3,903June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-2.6%Bottom 13%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force43,102Bottom 46%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force participation50.5%Bottom 23%of 31,9332024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.8%Bottom 10%of 3,904June 2026
Unemployment rate4.8%Top 32%of 3,904June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202443k39k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $42,877 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.

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

21% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 27% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 17.2 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
15
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
17.2
across all schools here
Math proficiency
21.4%
Bottom 5% in North Carolina
Reading proficiency
27.2%
Bottom 1% in North Carolina
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Lumberton Senior HighPublic Schools of Robeson County1,89416.5
Magnolia ElementaryPublic Schools of Robeson County77916.612%20%
Lumberton JuniorPublic Schools of Robeson County65517.212%22%
Littlefield MiddlePublic Schools of Robeson County63219.814%29%
East Robeson PrimaryPublic Schools of Robeson County55616.837%37%
Rowland Norment ElementaryPublic Schools of Robeson County49517.722%32%
L Gilbert CarrollPublic Schools of Robeson County49419.88%22%
Piney Grove ElementaryPublic Schools of Robeson County45215.619%22%
Long Branch ElementaryPublic Schools of Robeson County42818.620%25%
W H KnucklesPublic Schools of Robeson County38215.312%12%
Deep Branch ElementaryPublic Schools of Robeson County37416.327%18%
Tanglewood ElementaryPublic Schools of Robeson County35516.947%42%

97.1% 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 $866 takes 24% 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
24.2%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
3.6×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$866
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$152,600
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price to income3.56Top 35%of 28,4732024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate43.9%Bottom 6%of 31,8432024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±2688,322Top 7%of 32,3302024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$58$866Bottom 37%of 23,4322024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$11,889$152,600Bottom 38%of 29,3422024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income24.2%Top 20%of 23,2012024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate17.1%Top 29%of 32,0012024 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
62/ 100
Top 29% of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is increasing — 2 consecutive years, measured from 2022 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 been broadly flat since 2020, at 18,882 in 2024.

85% 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 6.5 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
123
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
6.5
Top 23% nationally
Year over year
+105%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
84.6%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202419k19k
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
202220232024202513210
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2022 (+1000%).

Weather & climate

6 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 91°F and January a low of 35°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 42.6 inches.

20°40°60°80°100°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station LUMBERTON MUNI AP, 2.8 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.9"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation42.6"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low35°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high91°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months61991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing37°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

27 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are hurricane, earthquake and strong wind.

Strong windHigh
HurricaneElevated
EarthquakeModerate
LightningModerate
Ice stormModerate
WildfireModerate
Cold waveModerate

Low or minimal exposure: tornado, winter weather, heat wave, inland flooding, hail, drought, landslide.

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.

Robeson County records 29.0 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, higher than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 34.1 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 33.2 per 100,000 residents in Robeson County.

Homicide
29.0
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
34.1
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
33.2
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
8.5
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 Robeson 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 Lumberton rather than Lumberton 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
Offences reported to police are published by department rather than by town, and only where a department reported every month of the year. No municipal department reports for this place — many smaller communities are policed by the county — so there is no figure to show. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
Taxes and full cost of living
No public source publishes either with national coverage and a method open enough to check. 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. Nothing here is individualised tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house. School attendance zones, insurance pricing and the character of a neighbourhood all vary within the places measured here.

Access

4 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 66 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Myrtle Beach IntlMYR66 mi9,503 ft
Wilmington IntlILM68 mi8,016 ft
Raleigh-Durham IntlRDU87 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
43
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Put Lumberton side by side with a similar place.

Lumberton vs AlbanyLumberton vs OkmulgeeLumberton vs TarboroLumberton vs Bogalusa

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
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 Lumberton

2 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
2835833,071$48,46745
2836012,550$46,59845