Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Newton is a solid, middle-of-the-road choice. It grades C overall, 161st among North Carolina's 286 graded towns, with no subject far below average. Its best mark is schools: its schools outperform 61% of the state's. Its lowest everyday mark is in safety: its crime rate is higher than 81% of U.S. towns, with 60 violent crimes reported to the FBI in 2025. A typical home there costs about $257K, 4.1 years of the Hickory metro’s $63K median household income. No town in North Carolina scores higher than Newton on hazard risk. Newton has 11 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them St. Paul's Church and Cemetery and Catawba County Courthouse. Newton's civic life (library use, community groups, volunteering) trails 88% of U.S. towns.
Where Newton beats most towns.
Census counts: 84 in 1850, 13,148 in 2020. The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 1908 and 4 maps from 1895 on.
11 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within North Carolina), ordered by how far Newton is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Who provides power, water and the rest in Newton, 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 Newton.
Newton carries less natural-hazard risk than nearly all of North Carolina (mostly inland flooding), draws workers from Hickory and beyond and is healthier than towns with similar incomes.
9,681 jobs are based in Newton, 1.7 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in.
Most working residents leave Newton for work: only 12% work in town. Since 2013, Newton has added 1,806 jobs, to 9,681 in 2023. 5.6% of Newton workers work from home, below both the North Carolina town median (12%) and the median of U.S. towns (11%).
| Newton | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 5.6% | 12% | 11% |
| Average trip to work | 22 minutes | 24 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 12% | 6.8% | 8% |
| Median household income | $62,000 | $69,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Its public schools are run by the Newton Conover City Schools. Three of its 5 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Newton-Conover High, with 724 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Startown ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–6 | Grades PK–6 | 540 | B+ |
| Newton-Conover HighLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 724 | B+ |
| Discovery High SchoolTop results in townGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 146 | A+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NC on state tests and graduation
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk lower than 99% of North Carolina towns, with expected losses of about $118 per resident a year; that rating is what its A for hazard risk is built on.
Newton’s FEMA risk score is 12 of 100, where North Carolina’s towns sit at 47 of 100 and U.S. towns at 44 of 100. Since 2013, 3 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Newton.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
5.6 miles of trail in 8 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is Jacob Fork Park, at 93 acres.
| Newton | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 5.4% | 3.4% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.4 miles per square mile | 0.2 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Southside Park | 1.4 mi | 48 |
| 2. Jacob Fork Park | 0.7 mi | 93 |
| 3. Northside/Broyhill Park | 0.7 mi | 15 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
The violent crime rate in Newton is 4.4 per 1,000 residents. Newton reports more crime per resident than most U.S. towns we grade: about 81% report less. The property crime rate in Newton is 23.5 per 1,000 residents.
| Newton | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 4.4 per 1,000 residents | 3.1 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 23.5 per 1,000 residents | 21.8 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
The typical Newton home is worth about $257,000, up 1.4% in a year, 23% below the North Carolina typical home.
| Newton | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 73% | 67% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,091 a month | $1,084 a month | $1,185 a month |
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Newton has mild winters and warm summers. July afternoons reach 88°, January nights drop to 29° and about 6 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Against the 9,418 U.S. towns with household incomes like Newton’s, it is healthier than 66%, so its C+ isn’t only a matter of income.
Newton beats the North Carolina average on 0 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 1. 12% of Newton adults 18 to 64 have no health insurance.
| Newton | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 12% | 10% | 8.1% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 33% | 34% | 36% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 38% | 36% | 35% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 34% | 33% | 33% |
| What stands out | Newton | NC |
|---|---|---|
| More uninsured adults | 12.4% | 10.4% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
2 within 15 miles of the center of Newton
About 3 of every 100 Newton residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across North Carolina.
Where Newton’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
11 places in Newton on the National Register of Historic Places.
13 notable people were born in Newton.
City in North Carolina, United States
Newton is a city in Catawba County, North Carolina, United States. As of the 2020 census, Newton had a population of 13,148. It is the county seat of Catawba County. Newton is part of the Hickory–Lenoir–Morganton Metropolitan Statistical Area.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
2 towns share a border with Newton.
Conover reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare Newton with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Newton grades C overall, better than 27% of U.S. towns and #161 of 286 in North Carolina. It grades C+ for health, C− for safety and B for schools. Safety is its weak spot, with a C−.
Within North Carolina, it does better than 50% 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 B−.
13 notable people were born here, including Tori Amos and Hoke Smith.
