Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Lenoir gives you more for your money than most places: a typical home costs about $211K, 3.4 years of the Hickory metro’s $63K median household income. It grades C− overall, 203rd among North Carolina's 286 graded towns. The low prices come with trade-offs. Its crime rate is higher than 85% of U.S. towns, with 63 violent crimes reported to the FBI in 2025, and CDC estimates put its residents' health behind 76% of the country. Lenoir has 10 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Caldwell County Courthouse and Lenoir High School. Lenoir's civic life (library use, community groups, volunteering) trails 90% of U.S. towns. Only 9 of the 277 North Carolina towns we compare have a lower median rent than Lenoir.
Where Lenoir beats most towns.
Caldwell County Courthouse
Kary Mullis
Census counts: 446 in 1870, 18,352 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1902 and 2 maps from 1956 on.
10 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within North Carolina), ordered by how far Lenoir is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Who provides power, water and the rest in Lenoir, 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 Lenoir.
Lenoir draws workers from Gamewell and beyond and is healthier than towns with similar incomes, but it has seen reported crime rise beyond ordinary swings.
11,842 jobs are based in Lenoir, 1.7 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in.
About one in 4 of Lenoir’s working residents works in town. Lenoir’s median household income is $50,000, where North Carolina’s towns sit at $69,000 and U.S. towns at $80,000. 15% of residents live below the poverty line in Lenoir.
| Lenoir | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 25% | 6.8% | 8% |
| Median household income | $50,000 | $69,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 15% | 13% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Its public schools are run by the Caldwell County Schools. Two of its 8 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| William Lenoir MiddleLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 512 | C+ |
| Hibriten HighLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 818 | B |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NC on state tests and graduation
For Lenoir, that is against 3.4% in North Carolina’s towns and 4.3% across U.S. towns. 11 miles of trail in 11 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is Lenoir Greenway, at 67 acres.
| Lenoir | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 7% | 3.4% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.5 miles per square mile | 0.2 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Mulberry Park | 0.3 mi | 27 |
| 2. Lenoir Greenway | — | 67 |
| 3. T.H. Broyhill Walking Park | 0.1 mi | 32 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Reported crimes rose from 574 to 606 over the last three FBI years, a rise beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
The property crime rate in Lenoir is 29.7 per 1,000 residents. Lenoir reports more crime per resident than most U.S. towns we grade: about 85% report less. The violent crime rate in Lenoir is 3.4 per 1,000 residents.
| Lenoir | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 29.7 per 1,000 residents | 21.8 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 3.4 per 1,000 residents | 3.1 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
The typical Lenoir home is worth about $211,000, about the same as a year ago, 36% below the North Carolina typical home.
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Against the 5,764 U.S. towns with household incomes like Lenoir’s, it is healthier than 56%, so its C− isn’t only a matter of income.
25% of Lenoir adults say their health is fair or poor. Lenoir beats the North Carolina average on 0 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 17. 18% of Lenoir adults smoke cigarettes.
| Lenoir | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 25% | 19% | 19% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 14% | 14% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 13% | 14% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 24% | 25% |
| What stands out | Lenoir | NC |
|---|---|---|
| More adults with COPD | 10.1% | 7.1% |
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 19.5% | 13.9% |
| More smokers | 17.8% | 13.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
January nights average 28.3°: milder than most of the country, but colder than 84% of North Carolina places with climate records; July afternoons average 87.7°.
Lenoir has mild winters and warm summers, with plenty of rain. About 4 inches of snow falls in a winter. Lenoir’s January low is 28°F.
| Lenoir | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| January low | 28°F | 31°F | 22°F |
| July high | 88°F | 89°F | 85°F |
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 65% of U.S. communities. Since 1979, 29 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Lenoir.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Lenoir. Close and well known come first.
17 mi ParkwayBlue Ridge Parkway16.5M visitors a year
22 mi MountainGrandfather Mountain20 mi Theme parkTweetsie Railroad28 mi Theme parkLand of Oz14 mi Ancient siteJoara
22 mi Park & preserveLinville Gorge WildernessBlue Ridge Parkway: Ken Thomas, Public domain · Grandfather Mountain: Original uploader was KyleAndMelissa22 at en.wikipedia, Public domain · Linville Gorge Wilderness: No machine-readable author provided. Amcbride~commonswiki assumed (based on copy, Public domain
1 within 15 miles of the center of Lenoir
About 3 of every 100 Lenoir residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across North Carolina.
Where Lenoir’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
10 places in Lenoir on the National Register of Historic Places.
17 notable people were born in Lenoir.
City in North Carolina, United States
Lenoir ( le-NOR) is a city in and the county seat of Caldwell County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 18,263 at the 2020 census. Lenoir is located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. To the northeast are the Brushy Mountains, a spur of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Hibriten Mountain, located just east of the city limits, marks the western end of the Brushy Mountains range. Lenoir is one of the principal cities in the Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
4 towns share a border with Lenoir.
| Town | NC rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lenoir | #203 | C− | A− | C− | C+ | C− |
| Hudson | #124 | C+ | B+ | B | C+ | C+ |
| Cajah's Mountain | #155 | C | A | — | C+ | C− |
| Gamewell | #204 | C− | A− | — | C+ | C− |
| Sawmills | #158 | C | A− | — | C+ | C |
Cajah's Mountain, Gamewell and Sawmills report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Lenoir with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Lenoir grades C− overall, better than 18% of U.S. towns and #203 of 286 in North Carolina. It grades C− for health, C− for safety and C+ for schools. Safety is its weak spot, with a C−.
Within North Carolina, it does better than 43% of towns.
Not for the area. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades A−.
17 notable people were born here, including Kary Mullis and Jim Broyhill.
