Mount Holly, North Carolina

Area Profile

18,208 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Mount Holly, in Gaston 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
OpportunityTop 34% of 3,904 published cities64
SchoolsTop 23% of 2,668 published cities73
Housing affordabilityTop 45% of 4,223 published cities84
ClimateTop 39% of 4,223 published cities72
Physical resilienceTop 42% of 4,182 published cities66
AccessTop 14% of 4,226 published cities99
Economic stabilityTop 24% of 4,226 published cities72
The quick read

Unemployment is 3.6% and median household income $79,385, putting employment conditions in the middle range of published city profiles.

In the public schools here, 61% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 17.2 students for every teacher.

A major airport is 8 miles away, giving the area unusually direct access to the national air network.

At a glance

Population
18,208
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$79,385
Top 34% nationally
Density
1,616/sq mi
11.3 sq mi of land
Median age
39.0
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Gaston County
North Carolina
Metro area
Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC
Nearest major airport
CLT
8 mi · Charlotte/Douglas Intl
Median home value
$337,800
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.6% is lower than 80% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment fell 0.6% over the past year, to 111,032 employed residents.

37% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 78% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$5,630$79,385Top 34%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$3,285$42,722Top 27%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate8.2%Bottom 39%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute29.2 minTop 38%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher36.7%Top 22%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment111,032Top 38%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-1.1%Bottom 29%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-0.6%Top 46%June 2026
Labor force115,214Top 38%June 2026
Labor force participation69.6%Top 19%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$68,900Top 49%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$49,990Bottom 40%2025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.5%Bottom 21%June 2026
Unemployment rate3.6%Bottom 20%June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202479k65k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $79,385 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 — Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand40,540$38,850
Retail Salespersons35,150$33,580
Cashiers27,350$29,610
Fast Food and Counter Workers27,050$28,880
Registered Nurses27,010$90,620
Customer Service Representatives26,120$44,980

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 Gaston County, NC, which contains this city.

61% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 57% 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
5
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
17.2
across all schools here
Math proficiency
60.6%
Top 13% in North Carolina
Reading proficiency
57.2%
Top 23% in North Carolina
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Mountain Island Charter School · charterMountain Island Charter1,78218.869%65%
East Gaston HighGaston County Schools91718.7
Mount Holly MiddleGaston County Schools57015.447%47%
Ida Rankin Elementary SchoolGaston County Schools53314.454%49%
Pinewood ElementaryGaston County Schools50815.952%50%

69.5% 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 $1,256 takes 19% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 4.3 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
19.0%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
4.3×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,256
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$337,800
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income4.26Top 23%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate68.8%Bottom 35%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±3577,598Top 8%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$115$1,256Top 30%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$19,371$337,800Top 24%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income19.0%Top 47%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate3.8%Bottom 23%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 5% since 2020, reaching 18,723 in 2024.

Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202419k18k
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 90°F and January a low of 32°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 43.6 inches, including 3.5 inches of snow.

20°40°60°80°100°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station CHARLOTTE DOUGLAS AP, 6.9 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.3"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation43.6"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall3.5"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low32°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high90°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months61991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing38°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

66 / 100
Physical resilience

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

Ice stormElevated
TornadoModerate
LightningModerate
EarthquakeModerate
HurricaneModerate
Cold waveModerate
LandslideModerate

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

Gaston County records 6.7 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 16.4 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 25.3 per 100,000 residents in Gaston County.

Homicide
6.7
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
16.4
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
25.3
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
14.3
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 Gaston 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 Mount Holly rather than Mount Holly 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 8 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Charlotte/Douglas IntlCLT8 mi10,000 ft
Piedmont Triad IntlGSO81 mi10,001 ft
Donaldson FldGYH86 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 Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
CharlotteMecklenburg County903,844vs Mount Holly
ConcordCabarrus County108,719vs Mount Holly
GastoniaGaston County82,884vs Mount Holly
Rock HillYork County75,25970vs Mount Holly
HuntersvilleMecklenburg County63,969vs Mount Holly
KannapolisCabarrus County57,890vs Mount Holly
MooresvilleIredell County52,38168vs Mount Holly
Indian TrailUnion County42,036vs Mount Holly
MonroeUnion County36,75962vs Mount Holly
SalisburyRowan County35,825vs Mount Holly
CorneliusMecklenburg County32,783vs Mount Holly
Fort MillYork County30,77584vs Mount Holly

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
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 Mount Holly

1 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
2812025,805$78,231