Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Wilson grades D− overall, 264th among North Carolina's 286 graded towns, mostly because of health and safety. CDC estimates put its residents' health behind 89% of the country. Its police reported 232 violent crimes reported to the FBI in 2025, a higher rate per resident than 88% of U.S. towns. It also has a long history, with 13 places on the National Register. 40% of working residents work locally in Wilson, against 6.8% in North Carolina’s towns and 8% across U.S. towns. Its National Register listings include Branch Banking and Wilson County Courthouse.
Where Wilson beats most towns.
Branch Banking| College | Students |
|---|---|
| Barton College | 1,041 |
| Wilson Community College | 1,024 |
Census counts: 960 in 1860, 47,851 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1880 and 3 maps from 1904 on.
13 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within North Carolina), ordered by how far Wilson is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Who provides power, water and the rest in Wilson, 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 Wilson.
Wilson draws workers from Rocky Mount and beyond and has seen reported crime fall beyond ordinary swings, but it has a long record of flood insurance claims.
29,831 jobs are based in Wilson, 1.6 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in.
23% of Wilson residents live below the poverty line. The top destinations are Raleigh (6%), Rocky Mount (5%) and Greenville (4%). The median household income in Wilson is $52,000.
| Wilson | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 23% | 13% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $52,000 | $69,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 21 minutes | 24 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Work from home | 7.4% | 12% | 11% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Its public schools are run by the Wilson County Schools. Three of its 24 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forest Hills MiddleLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 654 | C+ |
| Sallie B Howard SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades K–12 | Grades K–12 | 1,228 | C+ |
| Wilson Academy of Applied TechnologyTop results in townGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 280 | A+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NC on state tests and graduation
18% of adults have diabetes in Wilson. Wilson beats the North Carolina average on 2 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 19. 29% of adults worry about having enough food in Wilson.
| Wilson | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 13% | 12% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 15% | 14% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 46% | 38% | 35% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 19% | 19% |
| What stands out | Wilson | NC |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer binge drinkers | 11.5% | 14.7% |
| More adults treating high blood pressure | 80% | 76.7% |
| More adults facing a utility shut-off | 15.9% | 8.1% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Reported crimes fell from 1,496 to 1,277 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
Wilson’s violent crime rate is 4.8 per 1,000 residents. Wilson reports more crime per resident than most U.S. towns we grade: about 88% report less. Wilson’s property crime rate is 21.5 per 1,000 residents.
| Wilson | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 4.8 per 1,000 residents | 3.1 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 21.5 per 1,000 residents | 21.8 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
The typical Wilson home is worth about $215,000, down 0.8% in a year, 35% below the North Carolina typical home.
| Wilson | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 49% | 67% | 73% |
| Median rent | $971 a month | $1,086 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Renters paying 30%+ of income on rent | 46% | 49% | 48% |
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
7.6 miles of trail in 18 parks and preserves. The biggest place to walk is Lake Wilson Reservoir Park, 122 acres with 1.7 miles of trail.
| Wilson | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.2 miles per square mile | 0.2 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 4.1% | 3.4% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Lake Wilson Reservoir Park | 1.7 mi | 122 |
| 2. Toisnot Park | 1.3 mi | 72 |
| 3. Wilson Recreation Park Swimming Pool | 0.1 mi | 23 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Wilson has mild winters and warm summers, with plenty of rain. July afternoons reach 90°, January nights drop to 31° and about 2 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
338 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 29 properties have flooded more than once.
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 52% of U.S. communities. Since 1978, 338 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Wilson.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
2 within 15 miles of the center of Wilson
About 5 of every 100 Wilson residents are enrolled in college, about the same as North Carolina.
2 colleges in town.
13 places in Wilson on the National Register of Historic Places.
17 notable people were born in Wilson.
City in Wilson County, North Carolina, US
Wilson is a city in and the county seat of Wilson County, North Carolina, United States. It is the 23rd most populous city in North Carolina. Located approximately 40 mi (64 km) east of the capital city of Raleigh, it is served by the interchange of Interstate 95 and U.S. Route 264. As of the 2020 census, Wilson had a population of 47,851. It is also an anchor city of the Rocky Mount-Wilson-Roanoke Rapids CSA, with a total population of 297,726 as of 2018. In the early 21st century, Wilson was ranked as 18th in size among North Carolina's 500-plus municipalities. From 1990 to 2010, the city population increased by more than 40 percent, primarily due to construction of new subdivisions that …
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Wilson grades D− overall, better than 2% of U.S. towns and #264 of 286 in North Carolina. It grades D for health, D for safety and C+ for schools. Health is its weak spot, with a D.
Within North Carolina, it does better than 36% of towns.
That is 3.8 years of the area's median household income ($56,423 across the Wilson, NC area). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C.
17 notable people were born here, including Martha Hunt and G. K. Butterfield.
