Horse ShoeNC
Home to 1,490 people, the town was settled in 1878.
Is Horse Shoe a good place to live?
Horse Shoe’s best subject grade is an A− for health; its weakest is a C− for walkability. Horse Shoe’s median age is 55.2 years, against 40.1 years in North Carolina’s towns and 40.5 years across U.S. towns. Only 10 of the 291 North Carolina towns we compare have a lower midsummer high than Horse Shoe. Arthur W. Moore House is on the National Register of Historic Places. Horse Shoe has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
How Horse Shoe grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within North Carolina), ordered by how far Horse Shoe is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
What makes Horse Shoe stand out
Where Horse Shoe beats most towns.
1,490 people, and everyone knows the way
In a town this size, neighbors are the best guide. Ask them anything.
The data
Ordered by what stands out in Horse Shoe.
The typical home in Horse Shoe: about $503K
Typical home values fell 1.7% in the year to September 2026. Horse Shoe: 88% of households own their home.
Typical home value
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Horse Shoe’s schools rank ahead of 66% of North Carolina districts
Its one school is below.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wild Oak Independent School PrivateLargest elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 57 | – |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NC on state tests and graduation
Older than North Carolina overall
The share of residents in Horse Shoe who are under 18: 13%. People 65 and older are 37% of residents (17% statewide); adults 18 to 34 are 10% of residents (23% statewide). Among adults 25 and older, 45% have a four-year degree or more, against 36% across North Carolina.
| Horse Shoe | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 18 | 13% | 22% | 22% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 45% | 29% | 29% |
Ages · share of residents
Education · adults 25 and older
Women and men · all residents
47% women, 53% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±4.6 points. Across North Carolina, 51.1% of residents are women.
| Horse Shoe | NC | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 8.3% | 11.6% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 4.6% | 10.2% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 3.8% | 9.5% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 5.8% | 13.4% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 12.4% | 12.8% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 14.6% | 12.6% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 13.8% | 12.8% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 19.7% | 10.3% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 17% | 6.9% | 7% |
| No diploma | 2.9% | 9.9% | 10.4% |
| High school | 12.2% | 24.8% | 26% |
| Some college | 29.5% | 19.6% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 10.6% | 10.1% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 32.6% | 22.2% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 12.2% | 13.5% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 1,500, single groups can be off by several points
Residents of Horse Shoe are healthier than four in five U.S. towns
16% of adults say their health is fair or poor in Horse Shoe. On the CDC’s 32 measures, Horse Shoe is ahead of North Carolina on 13 and behind on 2. Among adults in the town, 29% have obesity and 15% report frequent mental distress.
| Horse Shoe | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 33% | 33% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 36% | 35% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 17% | 17% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 24% | 25% |
| What stands out | Horse Shoe | NC |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 8.7% | 15.2% |
| Fewer adults facing housing insecurity | 7.2% | 12.2% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 11% | 7.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
With only 0.2 jobs per working resident, most people in Horse Shoe work out of town
The top destinations are Asheville (15%), Hendersonville (14%) and Mills River (7%). Commuting out is the norm in Horse Shoe: 1% of working residents work locally. Among residents in the town, 4.5% live below the poverty line. Half commute less than 10 miles.
| Horse Shoe | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 4.5% | 13% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 1.4% | 6.8% | 8% |
| Median household income | $64,000 | $69,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 23 minutes | 24 minutes | 25 minutes |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Natural hazards: low risk in Horse Shoe, mostly inland flooding
Expected losses in Horse Shoe break down as 49% from inland flooding and 22% from cold waves. For Horse Shoe, the risk rating from FEMA is 27 of 100. Households in the town have drawn federal disaster aid in 3 declared disasters, most recently in 2024.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Horse Shoe has four seasons and pleasant summers
The January low for Horse Shoe comes to 28°F.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Protected land: 9.3% of Horse Shoe
The biggest park or preserve is UNCA Kellogg Center, at 51 acres. Count the trails in 1 park or preserve and they come to 0.2 miles.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. UNCA Kellogg Center | — | 51 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Everything we know about Horse Shoe
Blue Ridge Parkway and 28 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Horse Shoe. Close and well known come first.
9 mi ParkwayBlue Ridge Parkway16.5M visitors a year
Big draw34 mi MountainMount Mitchell
Big draw33 mi National ParkGreat Smoky Mountains National Park11.5M visitors a year
13 mi National forestPisgah National Forest33 mi Theme parkGhost Town in the Sky
33 mi LakeLake JocasseePhoto credits
Blue Ridge Parkway: Ken Thomas, Public domain · Mount Mitchell: Unknown, Public domain · Great Smoky Mountains National Park: Scott Basford, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Pisgah National Forest: Ken Thomas, Public domain · Lake Jocassee: Clemson3564, Public domain
Moving to Horse Shoe: who provides what
Horse Shoe is unincorporated, so Henderson 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.
99% of working residents leave Horse Shoe for work
Where Horse Shoe’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Colleges nearby
3 within 15 miles of the center of Horse Shoe
About 6 of every 100 Horse Shoe residents are enrolled in college, about the same as North Carolina.
About Horse Shoe
Census-designated place in North Carolina, United States
Horse Shoe is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Henderson County, North Carolina, United States. Its ZIP code is 28742. As of the 2020 census, Horse Shoe had a population of 2,430. The community took its name from a nearby meander in the French Broad River.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 7.6 sq mi
- Elevation
- 2,090 ft
- ZIP code
- 28742
Questions about Horse Shoe
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Horse Shoe, NC expensive?
Yes. That is 7 years of the area's median household income ($71,838 across the Asheville, 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−.
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