FairfieldNC
Is Fairfield a good place to live?
40% of residents live below the poverty line in Fairfield, above both the North Carolina town median (13%) and the median of U.S. towns (9.6%). Lake Mattamuskeet Pump Station and Fairfield Historic District is on the National Register of Historic Places. Fairfield has fewer than 1,000 residents, too few for fair grades; the figures below are still real.
What makes Fairfield stand out
Where Fairfield beats most towns.
Fairfield lives by the ocean
Coastal flooding makes up 20% of the storm damage FEMA expects here.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA · OpenStreetMap
Moving to Fairfield: who provides what
Fairfield is unincorporated, so Hyde 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 Fairfield.
Compared with most of North Carolina and the rest of the country, the FEMA risk score in Fairfield is higher
Expected losses in Fairfield break down as 70% from hurricanes and 20% from coastal flooding. Federal disaster aid has reached households in Fairfield after 4 declared disasters, most recently in 2018.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
A typical Fairfield home is worth about $181K
Home values are up 3.9% over the year to September 2026. Fairfield: 80% of households are owner-occupiers.
Typical home value
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Most of Fairfield’s workers commute out: the town has 0.5 jobs for each of them
For half of commuters, work is under 46 miles away. The top destinations are Raleigh (9%), Ocracoke (9%) and Swan Quarter (7%).
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Fairfield has mild winters and hot summers
Expect July afternoons of 89° and January nights of 34°, with about 1 inches of snow a winter.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
How healthy Fairfield is
The share of adults in Fairfield who get no exercise outside work: 32%. On the CDC’s 32 measures, Fairfield is ahead of North Carolina on 2 and behind on 17. In Fairfield, 48% of adults have high blood pressure, and 21% smoke cigarettes.
| Fairfield | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 13% | 12% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 48% | 38% | 35% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 21% | 14% | 14% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 44% | 36% | 35% |
| What stands out | Fairfield | NC |
|---|---|---|
| More adults treating high blood pressure | 81.6% | 76.7% |
| More adults getting cholesterol checked | 89.7% | 87.5% |
| More adults facing a utility shut-off | 13.4% | 8.1% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
In Fairfield, 3.6% of the land is conserved
The biggest park or preserve is Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge, at 30 acres. In 1 park or preserve, walkers have 3.5 miles of trail. Fairfield’s density of trails stands at 0.5 miles per square mile.
| Fairfield | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.5 miles per square mile | 0.2 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 3.6% | 3.4% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge | — | 30 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Everything we know about Fairfield
Colleges nearby
None within 15 miles of Fairfield; the nearest are
About 5 of every 100 Fairfield residents are enrolled in college, about the same as North Carolina.
81 people, and everyone knows the way
In a town this size, neighbors are the best guide. Ask them anything.
About Fairfield
Census-designated place in North Carolina, United States
Fairfield is a census-designated place (CDP) and unincorporated community in Hyde County, North Carolina, United States. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 258. The Fairfield Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 7.0 sq mi
- Elevation
- 4 ft
- ZIP code
- 27826
Questions about Fairfield
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Fairfield, NC a good place to live?
Fairfield has fewer than 1,000 residents, too few for fair grades; the figures below are still real.