Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Kannapolis is a solid, middle-of-the-road choice. It grades C+ overall, 125th among North Carolina's 286 graded towns, with no subject far below average. Its best mark is schools: its schools rank ahead of 65% of North Carolina towns. Its lowest everyday mark is in safety: its crime rate is higher than 64% of U.S. towns, with 105 violent crimes reported to the FBI in 2025. A typical home there costs about $276K, 3.3 years of the Charlotte metro’s $83K median household income. Kannapolis's civic life (library use, community groups, volunteering) trails 95% of U.S. towns. Kannapolis has 3 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Mill Hill and Meek House. 15% of residents are 65 or older in Kannapolis, below both North Carolina’s towns (18%) and U.S. towns (18%).
Where Kannapolis beats most towns.
42,625 counted in 2010 and 53,114 in 2020; an estimated 61,708 in 2025.
Growth hasn’t slowed: 16% since 2020, after 24.6% in the decade before.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts · Census Bureau estimate, July 1, 2025
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within North Carolina), ordered by how far Kannapolis is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 29,696 in 1990, 53,114 in 2020. The archive holds 18 old photos and papers going back to 1912 and 2 maps from 1969 on.
3 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Kannapolis, 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 Kannapolis.
Most working residents leave Kannapolis for work: only 9% work in town. Since 2013, Kannapolis has added 2,988 jobs, to 14,424 in 2023. The top destinations are Charlotte (29%), Concord (17%) and Salisbury (4%).
| Kannapolis | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 26 minutes | 24 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 13% | 13% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Its public schools are run by the Kannapolis City Schools. Three of its 18 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Charles E Boger ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 895 | B |
| A L Brown HighLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,753 | C− |
| Cabarrus-Kannapolis Early CollTop results in townGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 234 | A+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NC on state tests and graduation
Kannapolis has mild winters and warm summers. Kannapolis’ July high is 90°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Each of the 3 graded towns on its borders reports less crime per resident, from Landis (B−) to Davidson (A). Reported crimes fell from 1,251 to 1,034 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
Kannapolis reports more crime per resident than most U.S. towns we grade: about 64% report less. The property crime rate in Kannapolis is 15 per 1,000 residents. Within North Carolina, it does better than 72% of towns.
| Kannapolis | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 15 per 1,000 residents | 21.8 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 1.7 per 1,000 residents | 3.2 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
The typical Kannapolis home is worth about $276,000, about the same as a year ago, 17% below the North Carolina typical home.
| Kannapolis | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,319 a month | $1,084 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 66% | 67% | 73% |
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
No broad age group is more than 4 points off the North Carolina average. Kannapolis has grown 16% since 2020, to 61,708 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate. 30% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 36% across North Carolina.
| Kannapolis | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 36.9 years | 40.1 years | 40.5 years |
| Under 18 | 22% | 22% | 22% |
49% women, 51% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±1.4 points. Across North Carolina, 51.1% of residents are women. Among residents 45 to 54, 58% are men (NC 49%). Median age: women 37.1, men 36.8.
| Kannapolis | NC | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 11.9% | 11.6% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 10.4% | 10.2% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 7.5% | 9.5% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 15.9% | 13.4% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 14.6% | 12.8% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 12.9% | 12.6% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 12.2% | 12.8% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 9.5% | 10.3% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 5% | 6.9% | 7% |
| No diploma | 9.7% | 9.9% | 10.4% |
| High school | 27% | 24.8% | 26% |
| Some college | 23.8% | 19.6% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 9.7% | 10.1% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 19.1% | 22.2% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 10.6% | 13.5% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
4.4 miles of trail in 7 parks and preserves. Veterans Park, at 66 acres with 1.3 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve.
| Kannapolis | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.1 miles per square mile | 0.2 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 2% | 3.4% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Veterans Park | 1.3 mi | 66 |
| 2. Walter M. Safrit Park | 0.4 mi | 14 |
| 3. Bakers Creek Park | — | 29 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Kannapolis beats the North Carolina average on 1 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 7. 12% of Kannapolis adults 18 to 64 have no health insurance.
| Kannapolis | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 12% | 10% | 8.1% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 78% | 80% | 79% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 21% | 19% | 19% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 34% | 33% | 33% |
| What stands out | Kannapolis | NC |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 7% | 7.9% |
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 17.5% | 13.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 50% of U.S. communities. Since 2001, 16 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Kannapolis.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Kannapolis. Close and well known come first.
Big draw21 mi Stadium & arenaBank of America Stadium
16 mi LakeLake Norman
31 mi Theme parkCarowinds24 mi MuseumSullenberger Aviation Museum70K visitors a year
21 mi Stadium & arenaBojangles Coliseum11 mi TheatreTruliant AmphitheaterBank of America Stadium: HangingCurve, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Lake Norman: Prince Grobhelm, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Carowinds: Pi.1415926535, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Bojangles Coliseum: James Willamor, CC BY-SA 3.0
5 within 15 miles of the center of Kannapolis
About 5 of every 100 Kannapolis residents are enrolled in college, about the same as North Carolina.
Where Kannapolis’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
3 places in Kannapolis on the National Register of Historic Places.
23 notable people were born in Kannapolis.
City in North Carolina, United States
Kannapolis () is a city in Cabarrus and Rowan counties in North Carolina, northwest of Concord and northeast of Charlotte, and is a suburb in the Charlotte metropolitan area. The city of Kannapolis was incorporated in 1984. The population was 53,114 at the 2020 census, which makes Kannapolis the 19th-most populous city in North Carolina. It is the home of the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers, the Low-A baseball affiliate of the Chicago White Sox, and it is the hometown of the Earnhardt racing family. It is also the headquarters for the Haas F1 racing team. The center of the city is home to the North Carolina Research Campus, a public-private venture that focuses on food, nutrition, and biotech res…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
4 towns share a border with Kannapolis.
Enochville next door grades lower for schools (C to Kannapolis’s B+) and higher for cost of living (A to C+).
| Town | NC rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kannapolis | #125 | C+ | C+ | C+ | B+ | B− |
| Concord | #59 | B | C− | B | B+ | B+ |
| Landis | #121 | C+ | B | B− | C | B− |
| Enochville | #143 | C+ | A | — | C | C− |
| Davidson | #10 | A | D | A | B− | A+ |
Enochville reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare Kannapolis with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Kannapolis grades C+ overall, better than 41% of U.S. towns and #125 of 286 in North Carolina. It grades B− for health, C+ for safety and B+ for schools.
Within North Carolina, it does better than 72% of towns.
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C+.
23 notable people were born here, including George Clinton and Dale Earnhardt.
