Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 8,380, settled in 1806.
Roxboro earns a D, 225th of 286 graded towns in North Carolina, mostly because of incomes and safety. The median household income is $37K, and 33% of residents live below the poverty line. It reports more crime per resident than 97% of U.S. towns, including 66 violent crimes reported to the FBI in 2025. One bright spot: a typical home costs about $214K, 2.6 years of the Durham metro’s $84K median household income. 33% of residents live below the poverty line in Roxboro, above both North Carolina’s towns (13%) and U.S. towns (9.6%). On hazard risk, just 22 of North Carolina’s 451 towns do better. Roxboro has 5 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Person County Courthouse and James Malone House.
Where Roxboro beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
Census counts: 483 in 1880, 8,134 in 2020. The archive holds 5 old photos and papers going back to 1920 and 2 maps from 1943 on.
5 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within North Carolina), ordered by how far Roxboro is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Who provides power, water and the rest in Roxboro, 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 Roxboro.
Roxboro trades lower home prices for longer drives to work and draws workers from Durham and beyond, but it reports violent crime at about twice the North Carolina rate.
Violent crime runs at 7.9 per 1,000 residents, about twice the North Carolina rate; the Safety Grade counts each violent crime four times, so this weighs most on its D−. Reported crimes fell from 438 to 310 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
The violent crime rate in Roxboro is 7.9 per 1,000 residents. Roxboro reports more crime per resident than most U.S. towns we grade: about 97% report less. The property crime rate in Roxboro is 29.3 per 1,000 residents.
| Roxboro | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 7.9 per 1,000 residents | 3.1 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 29.3 per 1,000 residents | 21.8 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Its public schools are run by the Person County Schools. Three of its 7 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Person High, with 1,165 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| South ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 463 | C− |
| Person HighLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,165 | B− |
| Roxboro Community SchoolTop results in townGrades 6–12 | Grades 6–12 | 727 | A |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NC on state tests and graduation
5,794 jobs are based in Roxboro, 1.9 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in.
Most working residents leave Roxboro for work: only 18% work in town. Only 9 of the 290 North Carolina towns we compare have a lower median household income than Roxboro. Since 2013, Roxboro has lost 506 jobs, to 5,794 in 2023.
| Roxboro | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $37,000 | $69,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 18% | 6.8% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 26 minutes | 24 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Against the 1,534 U.S. towns with household incomes like Roxboro’s, it is healthier than 51%, so its D isn’t only a matter of income.
Roxboro beats the North Carolina average on 1 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 19. 18% of adults have diabetes in Roxboro.
| Roxboro | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 13% | 12% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 47% | 38% | 35% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 15% | 14% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 19% | 19% |
| What stands out | Roxboro | NC |
|---|---|---|
| More adults treating high blood pressure | 79.7% | 76.7% |
| More adults facing a utility shut-off | 14.3% | 8.1% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 83% of U.S. communities. Since 1996, 3 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Roxboro.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Homes are within reach (about $214K for the typical one, A− for cost of living), but half of working residents commute more than 28 miles. At 2.6 years of the Durham metro’s $84K median household income, the typical home (about $214K) costs less against local pay than in 94% of North Carolina towns; that ratio is one input to its A− for cost of living.
51% of Roxboro households own their home. The typical Roxboro home is worth about $214,000, up 4.3% in a year, 36% below the North Carolina typical home. Roxboro’s median rent is $860 a month.
| Roxboro | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 51% | 67% | 73% |
| Median rent | $860 a month | $1,086 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
July afternoons average 87.8°: hotter than most of the country, but cooler than 80% of North Carolina places with climate records; January nights average 27.7°.
Roxboro has chilly winters and warm summers. About 3 inches of snow falls in a winter.
| Roxboro | 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
Just 33 of its 5,019 acres are conserved, so there is little public open land in Roxboro itself; its outdoors grade is C−.
0.5 miles of trail in 2 parks and preserves.
| Roxboro | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 0.6% | 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. Huck Sansbury Recreation Complex | 0.5 mi | 12 |
| 2. Longhurst Park | — | 4 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
1 within 15 miles of the center of Roxboro
About 3 of every 100 Roxboro residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across North Carolina.
Where Roxboro’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
5 places in Roxboro on the National Register of Historic Places.
12 notable people were born in Roxboro.
City in North Carolina, United States
Roxboro is a city in and the county seat of Person County in the U.S. state of North Carolina. The population was 8,134 at the 2020 census. The city is 30 miles (48 km) north of Durham and is a part of the four-county Durham–Chapel Hill Metropolitan Statistical Area, which has a population of 649,903 as of the 2020 Census. The Durham–Chapel Hill MSA is a part of the larger Raleigh–Durham–Cary Combined Statistical Area, which has a population of 2,043,867 as of the 2020 Census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Roxboro grades D overall, better than 12% of U.S. towns and #225 of 286 in North Carolina. It grades D for health, D− for safety and C+ for schools. Jobs & income 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 A−.
12 notable people were born here, including Darius McGhee and Henry Slaughter.
