FairplainsNC
A town of 1,803.
Is Fairplains a good place to live?
The best of Fairplains’ subject grades is an A for cost of living; the weakest is a D− for health. 36% of residents live below the poverty line in Fairplains, above both the North Carolina town median (13%) and the median of U.S. towns (9.6%). On cost of living, just 10 of North Carolina’s 450 towns do better. The median household income is $39K, and 36% of residents live below the poverty line. Fairplains has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
What makes Fairplains stand out
Where Fairplains beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
| Widest gap | Fairplains | NC |
|---|---|---|
| More adults with COPD | 12.8% | 7.1% |
99% of working residents leave Fairplains for work
Where Fairplains’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
How Fairplains grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within North Carolina), ordered by how far Fairplains is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to Fairplains: who provides what
Fairplains 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 Fairplains.
A larger share of adults in Fairplains report frequent physical distress than in the typical North Carolina or U.S. town
19% of Fairplains adults report frequent physical distress, where North Carolina’s towns sit at 13% and U.S. towns at 14%. 30% of adults say their health is fair or poor in Fairplains. Fairplains beats the North Carolina average on 0 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 20.
| Fairplains | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 13% | 14% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 19% | 19% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 21% | 14% | 14% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 13% | 12% |
| What stands out | Fairplains | NC |
|---|---|---|
| More adults with COPD | 12.8% | 7.1% |
| More adults facing food insecurity | 26.2% | 15.2% |
| More uninsured adults | 16.6% | 10.4% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Very low risk in Fairplains, with inland flooding at the top
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 82% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Fairplains has 0.3 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
Most working residents leave Fairplains for work: only 1% work in town. Since 2013, Fairplains has added 69 jobs, to 254 in 2023. The top destinations are Wilkesboro (22%), North Wilkesboro (16%) and Charlotte (5%).
| Fairplains | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $39,000 | $69,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 1% | 6.8% | 8% |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Four seasons and pleasant summers in Fairplains
Fairplains has chilly winters and warm summers, with plenty of rain. July afternoons reach 88°, January nights drop to 28° and about 6 inches of snow falls in a winter.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Fairplains stands out in North Carolina and nationally: the median rent there is lower
The median rent in Fairplains is $653 a month.
| Fairplains | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $653 a month | $1,085 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 62% | 67% | 73% |
| Renters paying 30%+ of income on rent | 41% | 49% | 48% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Everything we know about Fairplains
Colleges nearby
1 within 15 miles of the center of Fairplains
About 2 of every 100 Fairplains residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across North Carolina.
About Fairplains
CDP in North Carolina, United States
Fairplains is a census-designated place (CDP) in Wilkes County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 2,029 at the 2020 census. The community was named "fairplains" because it was located at the geographic point where the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains begin to level off to the gently rolling Piedmont region of central North Carolina.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 4.2 sq mi
- Elevation
- 1,325 ft
Fairplains’s neighbors
2 towns share a border with Fairplains.
| Town | NC rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fairplains | — | — | A | — | B+ | D− |
| North Wilkesboro | #187 | C− | B− | C− | B+ | C |
| Mulberry | — | — | A | — | B+ | C+ |
Fairplains and Mulberry have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Fairplains and Mulberry report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Fairplains with a neighbor →
Questions about Fairplains
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Fairplains, NC expensive?
Not for the area. The typical home is worth about $140,000, 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 A.