RockfishNC
A town of 3,574, settled in 1900.
Is Rockfish a good place to live?
Rockfish is a solid, middle-of-the-road choice. It grades C− overall, ranked 202nd of 286 in North Carolina, with no subject far below average. Its best mark is health: CDC estimates put its residents' health ahead of 66% of the country. Expect to pay for it: homes are expensive, about $200K for a typical one and 3.2 times the Fayetteville metro’s $62K median household income. On walkability, just 35 of North Carolina’s 450 towns do worse. Rockfish has 1 place on the National Register. Among 290 North Carolina towns, just 7 have a lower share of residents 65 or older than Rockfish.
99% of working residents leave Rockfish for work
Where Rockfish’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
How Rockfish grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within North Carolina), ordered by how far Rockfish is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to Rockfish: who provides what
Rockfish is unincorporated, so Hoke County and regional agencies provide most services.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
The data
Ordered by what stands out in Rockfish.
Rockfish is healthier than towns with similar incomes and sends most of its workers to Fayetteville and beyond.
About one in three of Rockfish’s working residents commute to Fayetteville
Rockfish has 135 jobs for its 1,030 working residents: even if every job went to a resident, most would still commute out. The average commute takes 32.7 minutes, against 25.1 across North Carolina.
Most working residents leave Rockfish for work: only 1% work in town. At 33 minutes, Rockfish’s average trip to work is above both the North Carolina town median (24 minutes) and the median of U.S. towns (25 minutes). 15% of Rockfish residents live below the poverty line.
| Rockfish | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 33 minutes | 24 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 15% | 13% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 1.3% | 6.8% | 8% |
| Median household income | $64,000 | $69,000 | $80,000 |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Rockfish’s public schools trail 62% of North Carolina districts
Its public schools are run by the Hoke County Schools. Its one school is below.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rockfish Hoke ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 606 | B+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NC on state tests and graduation
Rockfish’s grade for health is a B+
Against the 9,827 U.S. towns with household incomes like Rockfish’s, it is healthier than 88%, so its B+ isn’t only a matter of income.
33% of Rockfish adults have high blood pressure, below both North Carolina’s towns (38%) and U.S. towns (35%). 10% of adults have diabetes in Rockfish. Rockfish beats the North Carolina average on 5 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 1.
| Rockfish | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 33% | 38% | 35% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 10% | 13% | 12% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 26% | 25% | 23% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 17% | 17% |
| What stands out | Rockfish | NC |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults with heart disease | 4.7% | 6.6% |
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 5.8% | 7.9% |
| Fewer adults treating high blood pressure | 72% | 76.7% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Rockfish has mild winters and hot summers
Rockfish has mild winters and warm summers. The July high in Rockfish is 91°F.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Inland flooding leads a moderate hazard risk in Rockfish
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 51% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
A home in Rockfish sells for about $350K at the median
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
South of the Border and 4 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Rockfish. Close and well known come first.
37 mi Theme parkSouth of the Border
11 mi MuseumAirborne & Special Operations Museum
11 mi Museum82nd Airborne Division War Memorial Museum
20 mi MuseumWeymouth Woods-Sandhills Nature Preserve
13 mi GardenCape Fear Botanical GardenPhoto credits
South of the Border: Leonard J. DeFrancisci, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Airborne & Special Operations Museum: US Army, Public domain · 82nd Airborne Division War Memorial Museum: Dragases (talk), Public domain · Weymouth Woods-Sandhills Nature Preserve: Wyatt Greene, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Cape Fear Botanical Garden: KENPEI, CC BY-SA 3.0
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Everything we know about Rockfish
Colleges nearby
5 within 15 miles of the center of Rockfish
About 7 of every 100 Rockfish residents are enrolled in college, about the same as North Carolina.
About Rockfish
Census-designated place in North Carolina, United States
Rockfish is a census-designated place (CDP) in Hoke County, North Carolina, United States. As of the 2020 census, Rockfish had a population of 3,383.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 5.0 sq mi
- Elevation
- 220 ft
Rockfish’s neighbors
One town shares a border with Rockfish.
| Town | NC rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rockfish | #202 | C− | C | — | C+ | B+ |
| Fayetteville | #245 | D | C | D | C+ | C+ |
Rockfish reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare Rockfish with a neighbor →
Questions about Rockfish
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Rockfish, NC a good place to live?
Rockfish grades C− overall, better than 18% of U.S. towns and #202 of 286 in North Carolina. It grades B+ for health and C+ for schools. Walkability is its weak spot, with a D.
Is Rockfish, NC expensive?
The typical home is worth about $200,000, 40% below the North Carolina typical home. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C.