Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 97% of U.S. communities, with hurricanes at the top. Overall it grades B−, ranked 93rd of 286 in North Carolina. CDC estimates put its residents' health ahead of 88% of the country and 29% of its land is conserved. Its weakest subject is cost of living: the typical home is worth about $522K, 5.9 years of the Kill Devil Hills area’s $89K median household income. 29% of the land in Kill Devil Hills is conserved, against 3.4% in North Carolina’s towns and 4.3% across U.S. towns. Only 31 of North Carolina’s 331 towns score higher on civic life. Kill Devil Hills has 2 places on the National Register.
Where Kill Devil Hills beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
29.4% of the town is conserved land, across 7 parks and preserves.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within North Carolina), ordered by how far Kill Devil Hills is from typical.
Its grades run from A for health (better than 88% of comparable towns) to D− for hazard risk (better than 2%), so the B− overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Wright Brothers National Memorial is a National Historic Landmark, the National Register’s top tier.
Census counts: 268 in 1960, 7,656 in 2020. The archive holds 1 old photo or paper going back to 1931 and 2 maps from 1940 on.
2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Kill Devil Hills. Close and well known come first.
in town National MemorialWright Brothers National Memorial342K visitors a year
9 mi National SeashoreCape Hatteras National Seashore2.7M visitors a year
4 mi State parkJockey's Ridge State Park
6 mi National Historic SiteFort Raleigh National Historic Site267K visitors a year
15 mi LighthouseBodie Island Light
31 mi MuseumChicamacomico Life-Saving StationWright Brothers National Memorial: Ken Thomas, Public domain · Cape Hatteras National Seashore: Vbofficial, Public domain · Jockey's Ridge State Park: Zach Rudisin, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Fort Raleigh National Historic Site: Sarah Stierch, CC BY 4.0 · Bodie Island Light: RyanGRodgers, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Chicamacomico Life-Saving Station: Elizabeth from burlington, CC BY 2.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Kill Devil Hills, 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 Kill Devil Hills.
Kill Devil Hills is a second-home town and trades workers with Nags Head and other neighbors, but it carries more natural-hazard risk than most of North Carolina (mostly hurricanes).
Its A+ for the outdoors ranks #6 of 290 in North Carolina.
3.7 miles of trail in 7 parks and preserves. Kill Devil Hills’ trail density is 0.7 miles per square mile, where North Carolina’s towns sit at 0.2 and U.S. towns at 0.4. The biggest park or preserve is Wright Brothers National Memorial, at 425 acres.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Nags Head Woods Preserve | 1.8 mi | 398 |
| 2. Wright Brothers National Memorial | 0.1 mi | 425 |
| 3. Run Hill State Natural Area | 0.1 mi | 115 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its public schools are run by the Dare County Schools. Two of its 4 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is First Flight High School, with 874 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| First Flight Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 604 | B |
| First Flight High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 874 | B+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NC on state tests and graduation
The median rent in Kill Devil Hills is $1,626 a month. The typical Kill Devil Hills home is worth about $522,000, up 1.9% in a year, 57% above the North Carolina typical home.
| Kill Devil Hills | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,626 a month | $1,084 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 74% | 67% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 92% of North Carolina towns, with expected losses of about $1,655 per resident a year; that rating is what its D− for hazard risk is built on. 1,308 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 135 properties have flooded more than once.
Since 1978, 1,308 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Kill Devil Hills.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Its widest gap with North Carolina is food insecurity: 8.7% of its 6,299 adults worry about having enough food, against 15.2% statewide.
28% of Kill Devil Hills adults sleep under 7 hours. Kill Devil Hills beats the North Carolina average on 14 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 1. 19% of Kill Devil Hills adults get no exercise outside work.
| Kill Devil Hills | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 34% | 36% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 24% | 25% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 11% | 13% | 14% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 19% | 19% |
| What stands out | Kill Devil Hills | NC |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 8.7% | 15.2% |
| Fewer adults facing a utility shut-off | 5% | 8.1% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 9.5% | 7.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Kill Devil Hills has mild winters and warm summers, with plenty of rain. July afternoons reach 86°, January nights drop to 35° and about 1 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
35.7% of homes are seasonal or vacation homes, against 3.9% statewide, which helps explain the older median age.
Adults 35 to 64 are 46% of residents (38% statewide); adults 18 to 34 are 16% of residents (23% statewide). 45% of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more in Kill Devil Hills.
| Kill Devil Hills | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 48.5 years | 40.1 years | 40.5 years |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 45% | 29% | 29% |
| Under 18 | 19% | 22% | 22% |
51% women, 49% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±3 points. Across North Carolina, 51.1% of residents are women.
| Kill Devil Hills | NC | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 10.2% | 11.6% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 9.1% | 10.2% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 6.1% | 9.5% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 9.4% | 13.4% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 11.6% | 12.8% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 17.1% | 12.6% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 17.6% | 12.8% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 12.4% | 10.3% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 6.6% | 6.9% | 7% |
| No diploma | 5.8% | 9.9% | 10.4% |
| High school | 17.4% | 24.8% | 26% |
| Some college | 22.7% | 19.6% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 9.3% | 10.1% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 30.1% | 22.2% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 14.7% | 13.5% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
Kill Devil Hills has about as many jobs (3,214) as working residents, but only 784 people both live and work here.
About one in 5 of Kill Devil Hills’s working residents works in town. Kill Devil Hills’ average trip to work is 21 minutes. Since 2013, Kill Devil Hills has added 198 jobs, to 3,214 in 2023.
| Kill Devil Hills | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 22% | 6.8% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 21 minutes | 24 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $90,000 | $69,000 | $80,000 |
| Work from home | 14% | 12% | 11% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Kill Devil Hills's reported crime rate is below North Carolina's. Most reported incidents are property crimes, mainly thefts. 17 violent crimes were reported in 2024.
| Kill Devil Hills | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2024) | 15 per 1,000 residents | 24.2 | 11.5 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2024) | 2.2 per 1,000 residents | 3.1 | 1.7 |
FBI crime data, 2024 · crimes reported to police
None within 15 miles of Kill Devil Hills; the nearest are
About 3 of every 100 Kill Devil Hills residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across North Carolina.
6,683 counted in 2010 and 7,656 in 2020; an estimated 7,731 in 2025.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts · Census Bureau estimate, July 1, 2025
2 places in Kill Devil Hills on the National Register of Historic Places.
Town in North Carolina, United States
Kill Devil Hills is a town in Dare County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 7,633 at the 2020 census. It is the most populous settlement in both Dare County and on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. The Kill Devil Hills micropolitan statistical area, consisting of all of Dare County, is part of the larger Virginia Beach–Norfolk combined statistical area. The town was founded and developed on the site of the Wright brothers' first controlled, powered airplane flights on December 17, 1903, chosen for its good winds. It was commemorated by the Wright Brothers National Memorial, which was dedicated in 1932. At the time of the Wright Flyer flights, the town of Kill Devil Hills d…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
2 towns share a border with Kill Devil Hills.
| Town | NC rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kill Devil Hills | #93 | B− | C− | — | B+ | A |
| Nags Head | #89 | B− | B− | D | B+ | A− |
| Kitty Hawk | #97 | B− | C+ | C+ | B+ | A |
Kill Devil Hills reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare Kill Devil Hills with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Kill Devil Hills grades B− overall, better than 51% of U.S. towns and #93 of 286 in North Carolina. It grades A for health and B+ for schools. Hazard risk is its weak spot, with a D−.
Yes. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C−.
