Cajah's MountainNC
A town of 2,702.
Is Cajah's Mountain a good place to live?
Cajah's Mountain gives you more for your money than most places: a typical home costs about $238K, 3.8 years of the Hickory metro’s $63K median household income. It grades C overall, ranked 155th of 286 in North Carolina. The low prices come with trade-offs. The median household income is $53K, and 14% of residents live below the poverty line, and CDC estimates put its residents' health behind 78% of the country. On the outdoors, just 8 of North Carolina’s 451 towns do worse. Cajah's Mountain's civic life (library use, community groups, volunteering) trails 90% of U.S. towns. 14% of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more in Cajah's Mountain, where North Carolina’s towns sit at 29% and U.S. towns at 29%.
What makes Cajah's Mountain stand out
Where Cajah's Mountain beats most towns.
99% of working residents leave Cajah's Mountain for work
Where Cajah's Mountain’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
How Cajah's Mountain grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within North Carolina), ordered by how far Cajah's Mountain is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to Cajah's Mountain: who provides what
Who provides power, water and the rest in Cajah's Mountain, and how to reach them.
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 Cajah's Mountain.
Cajah's Mountain is healthier than towns with similar incomes and has milder winter nights than most of the country, though not than most of North Carolina; it also has lost a quarter or more of its jobs in ten years.
Cajah's Mountain’s grade for health is a C−
Against the 6,897 U.S. towns with household incomes like Cajah's Mountain’s, it is less healthy than 55%, so its C− isn’t only a matter of income.
17% of Cajah's Mountain adults report frequent physical distress. Cajah's Mountain beats the North Carolina average on 1 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 14. 44% of Cajah's Mountain adults have high blood pressure.
| Cajah's Mountain | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 13% | 14% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 44% | 38% | 35% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 25% | 19% | 19% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 14% | 14% |
| What stands out | Cajah's Mountain | NC |
|---|---|---|
| More adults treating high blood pressure | 80.6% | 76.7% |
| More adults with COPD | 11.8% | 7.1% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Most of Cajah's Mountain’s workers commute out: the town has 0.3 jobs for each of them
Jobs based here fell from 509 in 2013 to 360.
Most working residents leave Cajah's Mountain for work: only 1% work in town. Jobs based in Cajah's Mountain fell to 360 in 2023, 149 fewer than in 2013. Cajah's Mountain’s average trip to work is 27 minutes.
| Cajah's Mountain | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $53,000 | $69,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 1.1% | 6.8% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 27 minutes | 24 minutes | 25 minutes |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Cajah's Mountain’s grade for cost of living is an A
The median rent in Cajah's Mountain is $729 a month. The typical Cajah's Mountain home is worth about $238,000, about the same as a year ago, 28% below the North Carolina typical home.
| Cajah's Mountain | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $729 a month | $1,086 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 75% | 67% | 73% |
Typical home value
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
In Cajah's Mountain, expect mild winters and pleasant summers
January nights average 28.5°: milder than most of the country, but colder than 81% of North Carolina places with climate records; July afternoons average 87.7°.
Cajah's Mountain has mild winters and warm summers, with plenty of rain. About 4 inches of snow falls in a winter.
| Cajah's Mountain | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| January low | 29°F | 31°F | 22°F |
| July high | 88°F | 89°F | 85°F |
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Low risk in Cajah's Mountain, with inland flooding at the top
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 67% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Blue Ridge Parkway and 12 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Cajah's Mountain. Close and well known come first.
20 mi ParkwayBlue Ridge Parkway16.5M visitors a year
24 mi MountainGrandfather Mountain23 mi Theme parkTweetsie Railroad11 mi Ancient siteJoara30 mi Theme parkLand of Oz
22 mi Park & preserveLinville Gorge WildernessPhoto credits
Blue Ridge Parkway: Ken Thomas, Public domain · Grandfather Mountain: Original uploader was KyleAndMelissa22 at en.wikipedia, Public domain · Linville Gorge Wilderness: No machine-readable author provided. Amcbride~commonswiki assumed (based on copy, Public domain
Everything we know about Cajah's Mountain
Colleges nearby
3 within 15 miles of the center of Cajah's Mountain
About 2 of every 100 Cajah's Mountain residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across North Carolina.
Cajah's Mountain’s neighbors
One town shares a border with Cajah's Mountain.
| Town | NC rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cajah's Mountain | #155 | C | A | — | C+ | C− |
| Lenoir | #203 | C− | A− | C− | C+ | C− |
Cajah's Mountain reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare Cajah's Mountain with a neighbor →
Questions about Cajah's Mountain
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Cajah's Mountain, NC a good place to live?
Cajah's Mountain grades C overall, better than 29% of U.S. towns and #155 of 286 in North Carolina. It grades C− for health and C+ for schools. Jobs & income is its weak spot, with a D.
Is Cajah's Mountain, NC expensive?
Not for the area. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades A.