Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Morganton earns a D, 216th among North Carolina's 286 graded towns, mostly because of health and incomes. CDC estimates put its residents' health behind 80% of the country. The median household income is $51K, and 26% of residents live below the poverty line. It also has a long history, with 33 places on the National Register. 36% of working residents work locally in Morganton, where North Carolina’s towns sit at 6.8% and U.S. towns at 8%. Its National Register listings include Burke County Courthouse and Creekside.
Where Morganton beats most towns.
Its 33 National Register listings are more than in 95% of North Carolina towns with a listing.
Census counts: 558 in 1850, 17,474 in 2020. The archive holds 5 old photos and papers going back to 1885 and 2 maps from 1956 on.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within North Carolina), ordered by how far Morganton is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Who provides power, water and the rest in Morganton, 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 Morganton.
Morganton draws workers from Hickory and beyond, is healthier than towns with similar incomes and has a longer frost-free season than most of the country, though not than most of North Carolina.
17,388 jobs are based in Morganton, 2.8 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in. The average commute takes 17.7 minutes, against 25.1 across North Carolina.
About one in 3 of Morganton’s working residents works in town. The average trip to work in Morganton is 18 minutes. Since 2013, Morganton has added 3,050 jobs, to 17,388 in 2023.
| Morganton | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 18 minutes | 24 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $51,000 | $69,000 | $80,000 |
| Work from home | 8.1% | 12% | 11% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Its public schools are run by the Burke County Schools. Three of its 12 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mountain View ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 762 | C |
| Freedom HighLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,299 | B+ |
| Burke Middle CollegeTop results in townGrades 11–12 | Grades 11–12 | 130 | A+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NC on state tests and graduation
9.6 miles of trail in 14 parks and preserves. The biggest place to walk is Catawba Meadows Park, 233 acres with 3 miles of trail.
| Morganton | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.5 miles per square mile | 0.2 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 5.4% | 3.4% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Catawba Meadows Park | 3 mi | 233 |
| 2. Cascade Park | 0.3 mi | 6 |
| 3. Freedom Park | 0.1 mi | 52 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Against the 6,263 U.S. towns with household incomes like Morganton’s, it is less healthy than 55%, so its C− isn’t only a matter of income.
17% of adults 18 to 64 have no health insurance in Morganton. Morganton beats the North Carolina average on 0 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 17. 25% of adults say their health is fair or poor in Morganton.
| Morganton | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 10% | 8.1% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 25% | 19% | 19% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 31% | 24% | 25% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 21% | 15% | 14% |
| What stands out | Morganton | NC |
|---|---|---|
| More uninsured adults | 16.6% | 10.4% |
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 21% | 13.9% |
| More adults facing food insecurity | 21.3% | 15.2% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
The typical Morganton home is worth about $258,000, up 1.1% in a year, 22% below the North Carolina typical home. 55% of Morganton households own their home.
| Morganton | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 55% | 67% | 73% |
| Median rent | $944 a month | $1,086 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
The Morganton weather station records that the frost-free season runs about 202 days: longer than most of the country, but shorter than 78% of North Carolina places with climate records. January nights average 28.5°: milder than most of the country, but colder than 81% of North Carolina places with climate records; July afternoons average 88.5°.
Morganton has mild winters and warm summers, with plenty of rain. About 5 inches of snow falls in a winter. Morganton’s January low is 29°F.
| Morganton | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| January low | 29°F | 31°F | 22°F |
| July high | 89°F | 89°F | 85°F |
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
25.7% of residents live below the poverty line, against 13% across North Carolina, which weighs on its C− for jobs and income.
Adults 35 to 64 are 30% of residents (38% statewide); people 65 and older are 22% of residents (17% statewide). Morganton has grown 2.3% since 2020, to 17,849 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate. 26% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 36% across North Carolina.
| Morganton | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aged 65 or older | 22% | 18% | 18% |
| Under 18 | 24% | 22% | 22% |
| Median age | 37.8 years | 40.1 years | 40.5 years |
51% women, 49% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±2.5 points. Across North Carolina, 51.1% of residents are women.
| Morganton | NC | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 12.9% | 11.6% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 11.4% | 10.2% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 7.8% | 9.5% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 16% | 13.4% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 9.7% | 12.8% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 10.4% | 12.6% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 9.8% | 12.8% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 12.7% | 10.3% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 9.3% | 6.9% | 7% |
| No diploma | 18.8% | 9.9% | 10.4% |
| High school | 27.4% | 24.8% | 26% |
| Some college | 15.4% | 19.6% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 12.3% | 10.1% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 15.6% | 22.2% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 10.4% | 13.5% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
Morganton's reported crime rate is above North Carolina's. Most reported incidents are property crimes, mainly thefts. 72 violent crimes were reported in 2022.
| Morganton | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2022) | 33.3 per 1,000 residents | 24.7 | 14.1 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2022) | 4.1 per 1,000 residents | 3.5 | 1.9 |
FBI crime data, 2022 · crimes reported to police
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 56% of U.S. communities. Since 1993, 50 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Morganton.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Morganton. Close and well known come first.
Big draw32 mi MountainMount Mitchell
18 mi ParkwayBlue Ridge Parkway16.5M visitors a year
26 mi MountainGrandfather Mountain4 mi Ancient siteJoara30 mi Theme parkTweetsie Railroad
17 mi Park & preserveLinville Gorge WildernessMount Mitchell: Unknown, Public domain · Blue 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
2 within 15 miles of the center of Morganton
About 6 of every 100 Morganton residents are enrolled in college, about the same as North Carolina.
33 places in Morganton on the National Register of Historic Places.
18 notable people were born in Morganton.
City in North Carolina, United States
Morganton is a city in and the county seat of Burke County, North Carolina, United States. It is located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains along the Catawba River. The population was 17,474 at the 2020 census. Morganton is approximately 75 miles (121 km) northwest of Charlotte and 57 miles (92 km) east of Asheville. It 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)
2 towns share a border with Morganton.
| Town | NC rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Morganton | #216 | D | C+ | — | B | C− |
| Salem | — | — | A− | — | B | D |
| Glen Alpine | — | — | A− | — | B | C− |
Salem and Glen Alpine have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Morganton, Salem and Glen Alpine report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Morganton with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Morganton grades D overall, better than 14% of U.S. towns and #216 of 286 in North Carolina. It grades C− for health and B for schools. Health is its weak spot, with a C−.
That is 4.1 years of the area's median household income ($62,787 across the Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, 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+.
18 notable people were born here, including Sam Ervin and Johnny Bristol.
