St. StephensNC
A town of 9,457.
Is St. Stephens a good place to live?
St. Stephens is a solid, middle-of-the-road choice. It grades B− overall, 106th among North Carolina's 286 graded towns, with no subject far below average. Its best mark is schools: its public schools beat 60% of North Carolina towns on state tests and graduation. A typical home there costs about $213K, 3.4 years of the Hickory metro’s $63K median household income. On the outdoors, just 33 of North Carolina’s 451 towns do worse. Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 78% of U.S. towns. 16% of residents live below the poverty line in St. Stephens, where North Carolina’s towns sit at 13% and U.S. towns at 9.6%.
98% of working residents leave St. Stephens for work
Where St. Stephens’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
How St. Stephens grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within North Carolina), ordered by how far St. Stephens is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to St. Stephens: who provides what
St. Stephens is unincorporated, so Catawba 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 St. Stephens.
St. Stephens is healthier than towns with similar incomes and has hotter summers than most of the country, though not than most of North Carolina; it also has little public open land.
With 0.3 jobs for every working resident, most of St. Stephens’ workers commute out
Most working residents leave St. Since 2013, St. Stephens has added 134 jobs, to 1,206 in 2023. 1.9% of St. Stephens working residents work locally.
| St. Stephens | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 1.9% | 6.8% | 8% |
| Median household income | $60,000 | $69,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 22 minutes | 24 minutes | 25 minutes |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
For schools, St. Stephens earns a B
Its public schools are run by the Catawba County Schools. Three of its 5 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Saint Stephens High, with 1,268 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Harry M Arndt MiddleLargest public middle schoolGrades 7–8 | Grades 7–8 | 601 | B |
| Saint Stephens HighLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,268 | A− |
| Clyde Campbell ElementaryTop results in townGrades PK–6 | Grades PK–6 | 505 | A− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NC on state tests and graduation
Low risk in St. Stephens, with inland flooding at the top
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 78% of U.S. communities. Since 2019, 7 flood insurance claims have been paid out in St. Stephens.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Mild winters and pleasant summers in St. Stephens
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 29.1°.
Stephens has mild winters and warm summers, with plenty of rain. Snow is almost unheard of. The January low in St. Stephens is 29°F.
| St. Stephens | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| January low | 29°F | 31°F | 22°F |
| July high | 88°F | 89°F | 85°F |
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
St. Stephens is less healthy than 52% of U.S. towns
Against the 9,029 U.S. towns with household incomes like St. Stephens’s, it is healthier than 74%, so its B− isn’t only a matter of income.
31% of adults sleep under 7 hours in St. Stephens. Stephens beats the North Carolina average on 0 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 3. 26% of adults have been diagnosed with depression in St. Stephens.
| St. Stephens | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 31% | 34% | 36% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 26% | 25% | 23% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 38% | 36% | 35% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 14% | 16% |
| What stands out | St. Stephens | NC |
|---|---|---|
| More uninsured adults | 12.5% | 10.4% |
| More adults with COPD | 8.2% | 7.1% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 8.9% | 7.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
St. Stephens has set aside 0.1% of its land for conservation
Just 7 of its 5,973 acres are conserved, so there is little public open land in St. Stephens itself; its outdoors grade is D.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Saint Stephens Park | — | 5 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
The median home in St. Stephens sells for about $272K
St. Stephens’ median rent is $958 a month.
| St. Stephens | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 84% | 67% | 73% |
| Median rent | $958 a month | $1,086 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Everything we know about St. Stephens
Colleges nearby
3 within 15 miles of the center of St. Stephens
About 6 of every 100 St. Stephens residents are enrolled in college, about the same as North Carolina.
About St. Stephens
Census-designated place in North Carolina, United States
St. Stephens is a census-designated place (CDP) in Catawba County, North Carolina, United States. As of the 2020 census, St. Stephens had a population of 8,852. It is part of the Hickory–Lenoir–Morganton Metropolitan Statistical Area .
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 9.8 sq mi
- Elevation
- 1,119 ft
St. Stephens’s neighbors
3 towns share a border with St. Stephens.
| Town | NC rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Stephens | #106 | B− | B− | — | B | B− |
| Hickory | #200 | C− | C | D | B | B− |
| Conover | #126 | C+ | C+ | — | B | C+ |
| Bethlehem | #65 | B | B | — | B | B |
St. Stephens, Conover and Bethlehem report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare St. Stephens with a neighbor →
Questions about St. Stephens
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is St. Stephens, NC a good place to live?
St. Stephens grades B− overall, better than 47% of U.S. towns and #106 of 286 in North Carolina. It grades B− for health and B for schools. Walkability is its weak spot, with a C−.
Is St. Stephens, NC expensive?
The typical home is worth about $213,000, 36% 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 B−.