Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Jamestown's standout: the median household earns $105K. Overall it grades B+, ranked 37th of 286 in North Carolina. Residents are healthier than 91% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates and 10% of its land is conserved. Its weakest subject is hazard risk: FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 77% of U.S. communities, with inland flooding at the top. Jamestown’s average trip to work is 13 minutes, against 24 minutes in North Carolina’s towns and 25 minutes across U.S. towns. Jamestown is home to Guilford Technical Community College. Jamestown has 5 places on the National Register.
Where Jamestown beats most towns.
Census counts: 90 in 1880, 3,668 in 2020. The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 1968 and 5 maps from 1950 on.
5 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within North Carolina), ordered by how far Jamestown is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Jamestown. Close and well known come first.
20 mi Stadium & arenaAllegacy Federal Credit Union Stadium
18 mi MuseumOld Salem
27 mi Zoo & aquariumNorth Carolina Zoo700K visitors a year
38 mi MountainPilot Mountain
21 mi MuseumReynolda House Museum of American Art
10 mi National Military ParkGuilford Courthouse National Military Park450K visitors a yearAllegacy Federal Credit Union Stadium: BobHWS, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Old Salem: David Bjorgen, CC BY-SA 3.0 · North Carolina Zoo: Diane Villa, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Pilot Mountain: Berean Hunter, CC BY-SA 2.5 · Reynolda House Museum of American Art: Zsrarticle, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Guilford Courthouse National Military Park: National Park Service Digital Image Archives, Public domain
Who provides power, water and the rest in Jamestown, 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 Jamestown.
Jamestown trades workers with Greensboro and other neighbors and is one of North Carolina’s best towns for the outdoors, but it carries more natural-hazard risk than most of North Carolina (mostly inland flooding).
Its A+ for the outdoors ranks #5 of 290 in North Carolina.
4.8 miles of trail in 3 parks and preserves. The trail density in Jamestown is 1.6 miles per square mile. Jamestown Recreation Park, at 150 acres with 4.2 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Jamestown Recreation Park | 4.2 mi | 150 |
| 2. Wrenn Miller Park | 0.2 mi | 1 |
| 3. City Lake | — | 1 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its public schools are run by the Guilford County Schools. Three of its 4 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Lucy Ragsdale High, with 1,292 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jamestown ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 453 | B |
| Lucy Ragsdale HighLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,292 | B+ |
| Millis Road ElementaryTop results in townGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 444 | A− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NC on state tests and graduation
Its widest gap with North Carolina is tooth loss: 6.5% of those 65+ have lost all their teeth, against 13.9% statewide.
13% of adults report frequent mental distress in Jamestown. Jamestown beats the North Carolina average on 18 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 1. 9.2% of adults smoke cigarettes in Jamestown.
| Jamestown | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 13% | 17% | 17% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 9.2% | 14% | 14% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 34% | 36% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 11% | 13% | 14% |
| What stands out | Jamestown | NC |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 6.5% | 13.9% |
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 8.2% | 15.2% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 10.4% | 7.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 78% of North Carolina towns, with expected losses of about $301 per resident a year; that rating is what its C− for hazard risk is built on.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Jamestown has mild winters and warm summers. July afternoons reach 89°, January nights drop to 30° and about 7 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Jamestown has about as many jobs (1,855) as working residents, but only 50 people both live and work here. The average commute takes 13.4 minutes, against 25.1 across North Carolina.
Most working residents leave Jamestown for work: only 3% work in town. 2.5% of Jamestown residents live below the poverty line. Jobs based in Jamestown fell to 1,855 in 2023, 378 fewer than in 2013.
| Jamestown | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 2.5% | 13% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $105,000 | $69,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 2.9% | 6.8% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
The typical Jamestown home is worth about $349,000, about the same as a year ago, 5% above the North Carolina typical home.
| Jamestown | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 78% | 67% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,153 a month | $1,084 a month | $1,185 a month |
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
9 within 15 miles of the center of Jamestown
About 7 of every 100 Jamestown residents are enrolled in college, about the same as North Carolina.
10.4% of the town is conserved land, across 3 parks and preserves.
5 places in Jamestown on the National Register of Historic Places.
4 notable people were born in Jamestown.
Town in North Carolina, United States
Jamestown is a town in Guilford County, North Carolina, United States. It is a suburb of the nearby cities of Greensboro and High Point. As of the 2020 census, Jamestown had a population of 3,668.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
2 towns share a border with Jamestown.
| Town | NC rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jamestown | #37 | B+ | C+ | — | B− | A |
| High Point | #206 | C− | C | D | B− | B− |
| Greensboro | #215 | D | C− | D− | B− | B− |
Jamestown reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare Jamestown with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Jamestown grades B+ overall, better than 70% of U.S. towns and #37 of 286 in North Carolina. It grades A for health and B− for schools. Hazard risk is its weak spot, with a C−.
That is 5.3 years of the area's median household income ($65,565 across the Greensboro-High Point, 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+.
4 notable people were born here, including Clyde Simms and Nereus Mendenhall.
