Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Conover is a solid, middle-of-the-road choice. It grades C+ overall, 126th of 286 graded towns in North Carolina, with no subject far below average. Its best mark is schools: its public schools beat 61% of North Carolina towns on state tests and graduation. Its lowest everyday mark is in cost of living: homes are expensive, about $276K for a typical one and 4.4 times the Hickory metro’s $63K median household income. On hazard risk, just 7 of North Carolina’s 451 towns do better. Conover's civic life (library use, community groups, volunteering) trails 96% of U.S. towns. Conover has 2 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them George Huffman Farm and Bolick Historic District.
Where Conover beats most towns.
Where Conover’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within North Carolina), ordered by how far Conover is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 150 in 1880, 8,421 in 2020. The archive holds 4 old photos and papers going back to 2019 and 4 maps from 1895 on.
2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Conover, 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.
Ordered by what stands out in Conover.
Conover carries less natural-hazard risk than nearly all of North Carolina (mostly inland flooding), draws workers from Hickory and beyond and has hotter summers than most of the country, though not than most of North Carolina.
10,293 jobs are based in Conover, 2.8 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in. The average commute takes 18.7 minutes, against 25.1 across North Carolina.
Most working residents leave Conover for work: only 11% work in town. At 19 minutes, Conover’s average trip to work is below both North Carolina’s towns (24 minutes) and U.S. towns (25 minutes). Jobs based in Conover grew to 10,293 in 2023, 1,803 more than in 2013.
| Conover | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 19 minutes | 24 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 16% | 13% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 11% | 6.8% | 8% |
| Median household income | $66,000 | $69,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Its public schools are run by the Newton Conover City Schools. Two of its 5 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Newton-Conover MiddleLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 559 | B− |
| Conover Special EducationLargest public high schoolGrades PK–12 | Grades PK–12 | 107 | C− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NC on state tests and graduation
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk lower than 99% of North Carolina towns, with expected losses of about $168 per resident a year; that rating is what its A for hazard risk is built on.
At 12 of 100, Conover’s FEMA risk score is against 47 of 100 in North Carolina’s towns and 44 of 100 across U.S. towns. Since 2003, 13 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Conover.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
July afternoons average 88°: hotter than most of the country, but cooler than 79% of North Carolina places with climate records; January nights average 29°.
Conover has mild winters and warm summers, with plenty of rain. About 4 inches of snow falls in a winter. The January low in Conover is 29°F.
| Conover | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| January low | 29°F | 31°F | 22°F |
| July high | 88°F | 89°F | 85°F |
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Conover’s median rent is $898 a month. The typical Conover home is worth about $276,000, up 0.8% in a year, 17% below the North Carolina typical home.
| Conover | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $898 a month | $1,086 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 69% | 67% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Conover beats the North Carolina average on 0 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 6. 32% of adults sleep under 7 hours in Conover.
| Conover | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 32% | 34% | 36% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 14% | 15% | 16% |
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 13% | 10% | 8.1% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 39% | 38% | 35% |
| What stands out | Conover | NC |
|---|---|---|
| More adults with COPD | 8.7% | 7.1% |
| More uninsured adults | 12.6% | 10.4% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 9.4% | 7.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Conover's reported crime rate is well above North Carolina's. Most reported incidents are property crimes, mainly thefts. 33 violent crimes were reported in 2022.
| Conover | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2022) | 39.9 per 1,000 residents | 24.7 | 14.1 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2022) | 3.9 per 1,000 residents | 3.5 | 1.9 |
FBI crime data, 2022 · crimes reported to police
Just 43 of its 7,502 acres are conserved, so there is little public open land in Conover itself; its outdoors grade is C−.
1.8 miles of trail in 7 parks and preserves.
| Conover | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 0.6% | 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. Conover City Park | 0.1 mi | 10 |
| 2. Majestic Park | — | 3 |
| 3. Hines Park | 0.2 mi | 2 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Conover. Close and well known come first.
Big draw40 mi Stadium & arenaBank of America Stadium
37 mi ParkwayBlue Ridge Parkway16.5M visitors a year
23 mi LakeLake Norman38 mi MuseumSullenberger Aviation Museum70K visitors a year40 mi Theme parkTweetsie Railroad39 mi TheatreTruliant AmphitheaterBank of America Stadium: HangingCurve, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Blue Ridge Parkway: Ken Thomas, Public domain · Lake Norman: Prince Grobhelm, CC BY-SA 3.0
2 within 15 miles of the center of Conover
About 2 of every 100 Conover residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across North Carolina.
3 notable people were born in Conover.
City in North Carolina, United States
Conover is a city in Catawba County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 8,421 as of the 2020 census. It is part of the Hickory–Lenoir–Morganton metropolitan area and the Charlotte metropolitan area.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
3 towns share a border with Conover.
| Town | NC rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conover | #126 | C+ | C+ | — | B | C+ |
| Newton | #161 | C | B− | C− | B | C+ |
| St. Stephens | #106 | B− | B− | — | B | B− |
| Hickory | #200 | C− | C | D | B | B− |
Conover and St. Stephens report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Conover with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Conover grades C+ overall, better than 41% of U.S. towns and #126 of 286 in North Carolina. It grades C+ for health and B for schools.
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C+.
3 notable people were born here, including Dale Jarrett and Ned Jarrett.
