CricketNC
A town of 2,317, settled in 1888.
Is Cricket a good place to live?
The best of Cricket’s subject grades are a B+ for cost of living and schools; the weakest is a D for health. 27% of residents live below the poverty line in Cricket, above both the North Carolina town median (13%) and the median of U.S. towns (9.6%). On health, just 27 of North Carolina’s 450 towns do worse. The median household income is $40K, and 27% of residents live below the poverty line. On the outdoors, just 23 of North Carolina’s 451 towns do worse. Cricket has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
100% of working residents leave Cricket for work
Where Cricket’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
How Cricket grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within North Carolina), ordered by how far Cricket is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to Cricket: who provides what
Cricket is unincorporated, so Wilkes 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 Cricket.
A larger share of adults in Cricket report frequent physical distress than in the typical North Carolina or U.S. town
In Cricket, 31% of adults say their health is fair or poor, against 19% in North Carolina’s towns and 19% across U.S. towns. Only 10 of the 290 North Carolina towns we compare have a higher share of adults who smoke cigarettes than Cricket. Among adults here, 47% have high blood pressure. Against the North Carolina average, Cricket comes out ahead on 2 CDC measures out of 32, and behind on 19.
| Cricket | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 31% | 19% | 19% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 13% | 12% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 13% | 14% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 47% | 38% | 35% |
| What stands out | Cricket | NC |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer binge drinkers | 12% | 14.7% |
| More adults treating high blood pressure | 81.5% | 76.7% |
| More adults with COPD | 14.7% | 7.1% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
With 0.1 jobs for every working resident, most of Cricket’s workers commute out
Cricket’s mean commuting time comes in at 19 minutes. Jobs based locally fell to 56 in 2023, 279 fewer than in 2013. The top destinations are Wilkesboro (24%), North Wilkesboro (14%) and Winston-Salem (8%). The median commute is under 20 miles.
| Cricket | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $40,000 | $69,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 19 minutes | 24 minutes | 25 minutes |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Four seasons and pleasant summers: that is Cricket’s year
Expect July afternoons of 88° and January nights of 28°, with about 6 inches of snow a winter.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Homes in Cricket sell for about $225K
For households in Cricket, the share who live in a home they own is 49%. Its typical rent stands at $773 a month.
| Cricket | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 49% | 67% | 73% |
| Median rent | $773 a month | $1,085 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Cricket faces a moderate natural-hazard risk, led by inland flooding
Expected losses in Cricket break down as 75% from inland flooding and 7% from tornadoes. Federal disaster aid has reached households in Cricket once, in 2024. In Cricket, the FEMA risk score is 50 of 100.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Everything we know about Cricket
Colleges nearby
1 within 15 miles of the center of Cricket
College town 16 of every 100 Cricket residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across North Carolina.
About Cricket
CDP in North Carolina, United States
Cricket is a census-designated place (CDP) located between Wilkesboro and North Wilkesboro in Wilkes County, North Carolina, United States. As of the 2020 census, Cricket had a population of 1,966.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 3.6 sq mi
- Elevation
- 1,280 ft
Cricket’s neighbors
3 towns share a border with Cricket.
| Town | NC rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cricket | — | — | B+ | — | B+ | D |
| Wilkesboro | #209 | C− | C | D | B+ | B− |
| North Wilkesboro | #187 | C− | B− | C− | B+ | C |
| Millers Creek | — | — | A− | — | B+ | C |
Cricket and Millers Creek have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Cricket and Millers Creek report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Cricket with a neighbor →
Questions about Cricket
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Cricket, NC expensive?
Not for the area. The typical home is worth about $141,000, 58% 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 B+.