Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Goldsboro earns a D−, 277th among North Carolina's 286 graded towns, mostly because of safety and health. It reports more crime per resident than 99% of U.S. towns, including 384 violent crimes reported to the FBI in 2025. CDC estimates put its residents' health behind 89% of the country. What it does well: it has 19 miles of trail. Goldsboro’s violent crime rate is 11.1 per 1,000 residents, where North Carolina’s towns sit at 3.1 and U.S. towns at 1.6. Goldsboro is home to Wayne Community College. Only 7 of the 290 North Carolina towns we compare have a lower share of households owning their home than Goldsboro.
Where Goldsboro beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
Goldsboro Union Station
Census counts: 885 in 1860, 33,657 in 2020. The archive holds 11 old photos and papers going back to 1847 and 2 maps from 1983 on.
6 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within North Carolina), ordered by how far Goldsboro is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Who provides power, water and the rest in Goldsboro, 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 Goldsboro.
Goldsboro draws workers from Raleigh and beyond and is healthier than towns with similar incomes, but it reports violent crime at 3 times the North Carolina rate.
Violent crime runs at 11.1 per 1,000 residents, 3 times the North Carolina rate; the Safety Grade counts each violent crime four times, so this weighs most on its D−. Property crime runs at 39.4 per 1,000 residents, about twice the North Carolina rate, most of it theft.
Goldsboro reports more crime per resident than most U.S. towns we grade: about 99% report less. Goldsboro’s property crime rate is 39.4 per 1,000 residents.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Its public schools are run by the Wayne County Public Schools. Three of its 20 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meadow Lane ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–4 | Grades PK–4 | 674 | B |
| Wayne School of EngineeringLargest public high schoolGrades 6–12 | Grades 6–12 | 486 | A |
| Wayne Early / Middle College HighTop results in townGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 239 | A+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NC on state tests and graduation
The biggest place to walk is Old Waynesborough Park, 132 acres with 3.7 miles of trail. The trail density in Goldsboro is 0.7 miles per square mile.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Old Waynesborough Park | 3.7 mi | 132 |
| 2. Stoney Creek Park | 1.3 mi | 66 |
| 3. Bryan Multi-Sports Complex | 1.3 mi | 61 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
24,024 jobs are based in Goldsboro, 2 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in. The average commute takes 18.3 minutes, against 25.1 across North Carolina.
About one in 3 of Goldsboro’s working residents works in town. 23% of residents live below the poverty line in Goldsboro. Jobs based in Goldsboro grew to 24,024 in 2023, 1,627 more than in 2013.
| Goldsboro | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 30% | 6.8% | 8% |
| Below the poverty line | 23% | 13% | 9.6% |
| Average trip to work | 18 minutes | 24 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Work from home | 4.8% | 12% | 11% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Against the 5,225 U.S. towns with household incomes like Goldsboro’s, it is less healthy than 69%, so its D isn’t only a matter of income.
17% of Goldsboro adults have diabetes. Goldsboro beats the North Carolina average on 2 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 18. 28% of Goldsboro adults worry about having enough food.
| Goldsboro | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 13% | 12% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 15% | 14% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 46% | 38% | 35% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 19% | 19% |
| What stands out | Goldsboro | NC |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 7% | 7.9% |
| More adults treating high blood pressure | 79.6% | 76.7% |
| More adults facing a utility shut-off | 15.3% | 8.1% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
The typical Goldsboro home is worth about $190,000, about the same as a year ago, 43% below the North Carolina typical home.
| Goldsboro | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $971 a month | $1,086 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Renters paying 30%+ of income on rent | 49% | 49% | 48% |
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Goldsboro has mild winters and warm summers, with plenty of rain. July afternoons reach 90°, January nights drop to 33° and about 2 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
621 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 56 properties have flooded more than once.
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 57% of U.S. communities. Since 1979, 621 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Goldsboro.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
2 within 15 miles of the center of Goldsboro
About 5 of every 100 Goldsboro residents are enrolled in college, about the same as North Carolina.
6 places in Goldsboro on the National Register of Historic Places.
40 notable people were born in Goldsboro.
City in North Carolina, United States
Goldsboro, originally Goldsborough, is a city in and the county seat of Wayne County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 33,657 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Goldsboro, North Carolina Metropolitan Statistical Area. The nearby town of Waynesboro was founded in 1787, and Goldsboro was incorporated in 1847. The city is situated in North Carolina's Coastal Plain and is bordered on the south by the Neuse River and the west by the Little River, approximately 40 miles (64 km) southwest of Greenville, 50 miles (80 km) southeast of Raleigh, the state capital, and 75 miles (121 km) north of Wilmington in Southeastern North Carolina. Seymour Johnson Air Force Base …
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
2 towns share a border with Goldsboro.
New Hope has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Elroy and New Hope report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Goldsboro with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Goldsboro grades D− overall, in the bottom 2% of U.S. towns and #277 of 286 in North Carolina. It grades D for health, D− for safety and C for schools. Safety is its weak spot, with a D−.
That is 3.2 years of the area's median household income ($59,733 across the Goldsboro, NC metro area). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C.
40 notable people were born here, including Viscera and Anne Jeffreys.
