Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Red Oak gives you more for your money than most places: a typical home costs about $334K, 5.6 years of the Rocky Mount metro’s $60K median household income. It grades B overall, 67th of 286 graded towns in North Carolina. The low prices come with trade-offs. Its public schools trail 77% of North Carolina towns on state tests and graduation. On the plus side, the median household earns $90K. Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 97% of U.S. towns. Red Oak's civic life (library use, community groups, volunteering) trails 91% of U.S. towns. Red Oak has 2 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Gen. Joseph Arrington House and Black Jack.
Where Red Oak beats most towns.
Where Red Oak’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within North Carolina), ordered by how far Red Oak is from typical.
Its grades run from A for jobs and income (better than 89% of comparable towns) to D− for walkability (better than 3%), so the B overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 359 in 1970, 3,342 in 2020. The archive holds 4 old photos and papers going back to 2004 and 2 maps from 1963 on.
2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Red Oak, 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 Red Oak.
Red Oak has less tooth loss than most of North Carolina and sends most of its workers to Rocky Mount and beyond, but it has little public open land.
Its widest gap with North Carolina is tooth loss: 8.5% of those 65+ have lost all their teeth, against 13.9% statewide.
Red Oak beats the North Carolina average on 10 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 1. 30% of adults sleep under 7 hours in Red Oak, below both North Carolina’s towns (34%) and U.S. towns (36%). 29% of Red Oak adults feel lonely.
| Red Oak | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 34% | 36% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 33% | 33% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 17% | 17% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 9.4% | 15% | 14% |
| What stands out | Red Oak | NC |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 8.5% | 13.9% |
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 9.4% | 15.2% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 10% | 7.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Its public schools are run by the Nash County Public Schools. One of its 2 schools is below, with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Red Oak MiddleLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 840 | C |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NC on state tests and graduation
People 65 and older are 31% of residents (17% statewide); adults 18 to 34 are 12% of residents (23% statewide). Red Oak’s median age is 49.5 years, above both the North Carolina town median (40.1 years) and the median of U.S. towns (40.5 years). 19% of residents are under 18 in Red Oak.
| Red Oak | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 49.5 years | 40.1 years | 40.5 years |
| Under 18 | 19% | 22% | 22% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 37% | 29% | 29% |
50% women, 50% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±4.3 points. Across North Carolina, 51.1% of residents are women.
| Red Oak | NC | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 6.1% | 11.6% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 12.7% | 10.2% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 3.5% | 9.5% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 8.9% | 13.4% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 10.2% | 12.8% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 16.5% | 12.6% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 11.4% | 12.8% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 23.2% | 10.3% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 7.5% | 6.9% | 7% |
| No diploma | 4.9% | 9.9% | 10.4% |
| High school | 27.6% | 24.8% | 26% |
| Some college | 12.6% | 19.6% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 18% | 10.1% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 22% | 22.2% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 14.9% | 13.5% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 3,500, single groups can be off by several points
Red Oak has 229 jobs for its 1,585 working residents: even if every job went to a resident, most would still commute out.
Most working residents leave Red Oak for work: only 2% work in town. Only 9 of the 290 North Carolina towns we compare have a lower share of residents below the poverty line than Red Oak. Red Oak’s average trip to work is 23 minutes.
| Red Oak | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 2.2% | 13% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 1.9% | 6.8% | 8% |
| Median household income | $90,000 | $69,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 23 minutes | 24 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Red Oak has mild winters and warm summers. The July high in Red Oak is 90°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Just 115 of its 12,449 acres are conserved, so there is little public open land in Red Oak itself; its outdoors grade is C−.
1.7 miles of trail in 1 park or preserve. The biggest park or preserve is Ennis Park, at 26 acres.
| Red Oak | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 0.9% | 3.4% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.1 miles per square mile | 0.2 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Ennis Park | 0.5 mi | 26 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 51% of U.S. communities. Since 2006, 5 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Red Oak.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Among 290 North Carolina towns, just 6 have a higher share of households owning their home than Red Oak. The typical Red Oak home is worth about $334,000, up 0.6% in a year, close to the North Carolina typical home.
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
2 within 15 miles of the center of Red Oak
About 2 of every 100 Red Oak residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across North Carolina.
Town in North Carolina, United States
Red Oak is a town in Nash County, North Carolina, United States. It is part of the Rocky Mount, North Carolina Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2020 census, Red Oak had a population of 3,342.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
One town shares a border with Red Oak.
Dortches has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Red Oak and Dortches report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Red Oak with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Red Oak grades B overall, better than 58% of U.S. towns and #67 of 286 in North Carolina. It grades A− for health and C− for schools. Walkability is its weak spot, with a D−.
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 B+.
