Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Sylva earns a D, 241st among North Carolina's 286 graded towns, mostly because of safety and incomes. It reports more crime per resident than 96% of U.S. towns, including 22 violent crimes reported to the FBI in 2025. The median household income is $44K, and 19% of residents live below the poverty line. What it does well: it is easier to get around on foot or by transit than 60% of U.S. towns. Sylva’s violent crime rate is 8.1 per 1,000 residents, above both the North Carolina town median (3.1) and the median of U.S. towns (1.6). Sylva has 3 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Jackson County Courthouse and Dr. D. D. Hooper House. Among 290 North Carolina towns, just 6 have a lower January low than Sylva.
Where Sylva beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
Jackson County CourthouseWhere Sylva’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 Sylva is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 281 in 1900, 2,578 in 2020. The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 1960 and 3 maps from 1891 on.
3 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Sylva. Close and well known come first.
Big draw34 mi Theme parkDollywood3.1M visitors a year
Big draw10 mi National ParkGreat Smoky Mountains National Park11.5M visitors a year
5 mi ParkwayBlue Ridge Parkway16.5M visitors a year
Big draw20 mi MountainKuwohi12 mi Theme parkGhost Town in the Sky
23 mi MountainMount Le ConteDollywood: Brian Stansberry (photographer), CC BY 2.5 · Great Smoky Mountains National Park: Scott Basford, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Blue Ridge Parkway: Ken Thomas, Public domain · Kuwohi: C. Kenneth Dodd, Jr., Public domain · Mount Le Conte: No machine-readable author provided. Blinutne assumed (based on copyright claims, CC BY-SA 3.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Sylva, 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 Sylva.
Sylva draws workers from Cullowhee and beyond and is healthier than towns with similar incomes, but it reports violent crime at about twice the North Carolina rate.
Violent crime runs at 8.1 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−. At 69 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports more crime than 84% of North Carolina’s graded towns.
Sylva’s property crime rate is 40.1 per 1,000 residents. Sylva reports more crime per resident than most U.S. towns we grade: about 96% report less.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
4,855 jobs are based in Sylva, 4.8 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in.
Most working residents leave Sylva for work: only 18% work in town. Since 2013, Sylva has added 857 jobs, to 4,855 in 2023. The top destinations are Cullowhee (7%), Asheville (6%) and Cherokee (5%).
| Sylva | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $44,000 | $69,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 18% | 6.8% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 24 minutes | 24 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 68% of U.S. communities. Since 1991, 4 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Sylva.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
January nights average 26.4°: milder than most of the country, but colder than 95% of North Carolina places with climate records; July afternoons average 83.7°.
Sylva has chilly winters and pleasant summers, with plenty of rain. The July high in Sylva is 84°F. About 4 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Only 45.3% of households own their home, against 66.6% across North Carolina.
Adults 35 to 64 are 31% of residents (38% statewide); children under 18 are 28% of residents (22% statewide). 15% of Sylva residents are 65 or older. Sylva has grown 4.4% since 2020, to 2,691 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate.
| Sylva | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 31.4 years | 40.1 years | 40.5 years |
| Aged 65 or older | 15% | 18% | 18% |
50% women, 50% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±8.5 points. Across North Carolina, 51.1% of residents are women.
| Sylva | NC | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 12.7% | 11.6% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 15.7% | 10.2% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 13.9% | 9.5% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 11.9% | 13.4% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 10.4% | 12.8% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 13.1% | 12.6% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 7.7% | 12.8% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 6.3% | 10.3% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 8.2% | 6.9% | 7% |
| No diploma | 20.8% | 9.9% | 10.4% |
| High school | 32.4% | 24.8% | 26% |
| Some college | 8.8% | 19.6% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 7.3% | 10.1% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 17.4% | 22.2% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 13.3% | 13.5% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 2,700, single groups can be off by several points
Against the 3,702 U.S. towns with household incomes like Sylva’s, it is healthier than 87%, so its C+ isn’t only a matter of income.
Sylva beats the North Carolina average on 0 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 3. 27% of adults have been diagnosed with depression in Sylva.
| Sylva | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 25% | 23% |
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 12% | 10% | 8.1% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 17% | 17% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 34% | 33% | 33% |
| What stands out | Sylva | NC |
|---|---|---|
| More adults with COPD | 8.5% | 7.1% |
| Fewer adults seeing a dentist | 57.3% | 63.6% |
| Fewer adults getting cholesterol checked | 85% | 87.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
0.2 miles of trail in 6 parks and preserves.
| Sylva | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.1 miles per square mile | 0.2 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 2.5% | 3.4% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Mark Watson Park | — | 16 |
| 2. Monteith Farmstead and Community Park | — | 4 |
| 3. Bridge Park | — | 2 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
The median property tax bill is $877, against $1,896 across North Carolina, another input to its cost-of-living grade.
The typical Sylva home is worth about $328,000, down 1.3% in a year, close to the North Carolina typical home.
| Sylva | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 45% | 67% | 73% |
| Median rent | $797 a month | $1,086 a month | $1,185 a month |
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
2 within 15 miles of the center of Sylva
About 5 of every 100 Sylva residents are enrolled in college, about the same as North Carolina.
3 places in Sylva on the National Register of Historic Places.
8 notable people were born in Sylva.
Town in North Carolina, United States
Sylva is an incorporated town located in central Jackson County, in the Plott Balsam Mountains of Western North Carolina, United States. As of the 2020 census, Sylva had a population of 2,578. It is the county seat, taking over the role from nearby Webster in 1913.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
One town shares a border with Sylva.
Dillsboro isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Sylva with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Sylva grades D overall, better than 9% of U.S. towns and #241 of 286 in North Carolina. It grades C+ for health, D− for safety and B− for schools. Safety is its weak spot, with a D−.
That is 5.9 years of the area's median household income ($55,815 across the county). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B−.
8 notable people were born here, including Michael Bingham and Evy Leibfarth.
