BalfourNC
In North Carolina, this town has 1,134 residents.
Is Balfour a good place to live?
Balfour’s best subject grades are an A for cost of living and an A− for health and walkability. On cost of living, just 18 of North Carolina’s 450 towns do better. Balfour has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
What makes Balfour stand out
Where Balfour beats most towns.
| Widest gap | Balfour | NC |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 7.1% | 13.9% |
1,134 people, and everyone knows the way
In a town this size, neighbors are the best guide. Ask them anything.
How Balfour grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within North Carolina), ordered by how far Balfour is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Blue Ridge Parkway and 27 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Balfour. Close and well known come first.
11 mi ParkwayBlue Ridge Parkway16.5M visitors a year
Big draw31 mi MountainMount Mitchell
Big draw35 mi National ParkGreat Smoky Mountains National Park11.5M visitors a year
17 mi National forestPisgah National Forest37 mi Theme parkGhost Town in the Sky
36 mi LakeLake JocasseePhoto credits
Blue Ridge Parkway: Ken Thomas, Public domain · Mount Mitchell: Unknown, Public domain · Great Smoky Mountains National Park: Scott Basford, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Pisgah National Forest: Ken Thomas, Public domain · Lake Jocassee: Clemson3564, Public domain
Moving to Balfour: who provides what
Balfour is unincorporated, so Henderson County and regional agencies provide most services.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
The data
Ordered by what stands out in Balfour.
Balfour is healthier than four in five U.S. towns
Two figures for adults in Balfour: 30% have obesity, 15% report frequent mental distress. In Balfour, 29% of adults feel lonely, below both North Carolina’s towns (33%) and U.S. towns (33%). For adults here, the share who get no exercise outside work is 21%.
| Balfour | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 33% | 33% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 36% | 35% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 17% | 17% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 12% | 13% | 14% |
| What stands out | Balfour | NC |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 7.1% | 13.9% |
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 11.1% | 15.2% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Top of a low hazard risk in Balfour: inland flooding
Balfour’s FEMA hazard score stands at 20 of 100, below both the North Carolina town median (47 of 100) and the median of U.S. towns (44 of 100). Expected losses in Balfour break down as 40% from inland flooding and 29% from cold waves. The national flood insurance program has paid 12 claims here since 1989.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Fewer children than North Carolina overall
The bachelor’s-degree share among adults 25 and older is 32%, against 36% across North Carolina. Children under 18 are 11% of residents (22% statewide); people 65 and older are 26% of residents (17% statewide). Also worth knowing: for Balfour, the age of the median resident is 46.1 years.
| Balfour | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 46.1 years | 40.1 years | 40.5 years |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 32% | 29% | 29% |
Ages · share of residents
Education · adults 25 and older
Women and men · all residents
49% women, 51% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±9.1 points. Across North Carolina, 51.1% of residents are women.
| Balfour | NC | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 7.3% | 11.6% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 3.5% | 10.2% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 0.6% | 9.5% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 18.6% | 13.4% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 17.4% | 12.8% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 17.1% | 12.6% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 9% | 12.8% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 19% | 10.3% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 7.4% | 6.9% | 7% |
| No diploma | 10.1% | 9.9% | 10.4% |
| High school | 27.7% | 24.8% | 26% |
| Some college | 19.9% | 19.6% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 10.2% | 10.1% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 26.7% | 22.2% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 5.5% | 13.5% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 1,100, single groups can be off by several points
Four seasons and pleasant summers in Balfour
July afternoons reach 84°, January nights drop to 28° and about 7 inches of snow falls in a winter.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Balfour has 0.8 jobs per working resident, so most workers leave town for work
The mean commuting time for Balfour comes to 18 minutes. For most workers, Balfour is a place to come home to: only 2% work in town. Jobs based in Balfour grew to 424 in 2023, 133 more than in 2013. In Balfour, 5.6% of residents live below the poverty line.
| Balfour | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 18 minutes | 24 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 5.6% | 13% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 1.6% | 6.8% | 8% |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Protected land: 0.9% of Balfour
Walkers can cover 0.3 miles of trail in 1 park or preserve. Balfour’s concentration of trails is 0.2 miles per square mile.
| Balfour | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 0.9% | 3.4% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.2 miles per square mile | 0.2 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Berkeley Mills Park | — | 1 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
A home in Balfour sells for about $330K at the median
Among households in Balfour, 78% are owner-occupiers.
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Everything we know about Balfour
Colleges nearby
2 within 15 miles of the center of Balfour
About 2 of every 100 Balfour residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across North Carolina.
Balfour has grown 13% from 2010 to 2020
1,187 counted in 2010 and 1,335 in 2020.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts
About Balfour
Census-designated place in North Carolina, United States
Balfour is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Henderson County, North Carolina, United States. As of the 2020 census, Balfour had a population of 1,335. It is part of the Asheville Metropolitan Statistical Area.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 1.6 sq mi
- Elevation
- 2,116 ft
- Area code
- 828
Questions about Balfour
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Balfour, NC expensive?
Not for the area. The typical home is worth about $293,000, 12% below the North Carolina typical home. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades A.