Is Wilson's Mills a good place to live?
Wilson's Mills gives you more for your money than most places: homes are within reach, about $270K for a typical one, or 2.7 years of the Raleigh metro’s $100K median household income. It grades B− overall, ranked 108th of 286 in North Carolina. The low prices come with trade-offs. The median household income is $63K, and 32% of residents live below the poverty line. 32% of residents live below the poverty line in Wilson's Mills, where North Carolina’s towns sit at 13% and U.S. towns at 9.6%. Only 39 of North Carolina’s 451 towns score lower on the outdoors. Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 78% of U.S. towns.
What makes Wilson's Mills stand out
Where Wilson's Mills beats most towns.
Wilson's Mills has grown 31% since 2010
2,277 counted in 2010 and 2,534 in 2020; an estimated 2,987 in 2025.
Growth hasn’t slowed: 17.7% since 2020, after 11.3% in the decade before.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts · Census Bureau estimate, July 1, 2025
How Wilson's Mills grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within North Carolina), ordered by how far Wilson's Mills is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to Wilson's Mills: who provides what
Who provides power, water and the rest in Wilson's Mills, 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.
The data
Ordered by what stands out in Wilson's Mills.
Wilson's Mills trades lower home prices for longer drives to work and is healthier than towns with similar incomes, but it has seen reported crime rise by about half.
Wilson's Mills’ schools rank ahead of 65% of North Carolina districts
Its public schools are run by the Johnston County Public Schools. 496 students attend Wilson's Mills’s public school.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wilson's Mills ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 496 | D |
| Star Christian Academy PrivateLargest high schoolGrades K–12 | Grades K–12 | 81 | – |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NC on state tests and graduation
With only 0.4 jobs per working resident, most people in Wilson's Mills work out of town
The top destinations are Raleigh (23%), Durham (6%) and Smithfield (6%). Wilson's Mills’ average trip to work stands at 31 minutes. Since 2013, Wilson's Mills has added 81 jobs, to 460 in 2023. 0.9% of Wilson's Mills working residents work locally.
| Wilson's Mills | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 31 minutes | 24 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 0.9% | 6.8% | 8% |
| Median household income | $63,000 | $69,000 | $80,000 |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
More crime per resident in Wilson's Mills than in 70% of U.S. towns
Reported crimes rose from 32 to 51 over the last three FBI years, a rise beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
Within North Carolina, it does better than 65% of towns. Wilson's Mills’ level of property crime comes in at 13 per 1,000 residents.
| Wilson's Mills | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 4 per 1,000 residents | 3.1 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 13 per 1,000 residents | 21.8 | 9.9 |
Violent crime per 1,000 residents
Property crime per 1,000 residents
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Wilson's Mills ranks healthier than seven in ten of the country’s towns
Against the 9,567 U.S. towns with household incomes like Wilson's Mills’s, it is healthier than 92%, so its B+ isn’t only a matter of income.
For adults in Wilson's Mills, the share who report frequent physical distress is 12%. Among adults locally, 34% have high blood pressure and 15% binge drink.
| Wilson's Mills | North Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 12% | 13% | 14% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 34% | 38% | 35% |
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 12% | 10% | 8.1% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 14% | 16% |
| What stands out | Wilson's Mills | NC |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults with COPD | 5.7% | 7.1% |
| Fewer adults with heart disease | 5.3% | 6.6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
The climate in Wilson's Mills brings mild winters and hot summers
July afternoons reach 90°, January nights drop to 31° and snow is almost unheard of.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
For cost of living, Wilson's Mills earns an A−
Homes are within reach (about $270K for the typical one, A− for cost of living), but half of working residents commute more than 24 miles. At 2.7 years of the Raleigh metro’s $100K median household income, the typical home (about $270K) costs less against local pay than in 93% of North Carolina towns; that ratio is one input to that grade.
In Wilson's Mills, 87% of households are owner-occupiers. Zillow values the typical Wilson's Mills home at about $270,000, down 2.1% in a year, 19% below the North Carolina typical home. A home in Wilson's Mills typically sold within 55 days of listing.
Typical home value
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Top of a moderate hazard risk in Wilson's Mills: inland flooding
62% of Wilson's Mills’s expected losses from natural hazards come from inland flooding, followed by tornadoes at 15%. Expected damage from storms and floods is higher here than in 58% of U.S. communities. Federal disaster aid has reached households in Wilson's Mills after 2 declared disasters, most recently in 2016.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
0% of Wilson's Mills is conserved land
Just 1 of its 4,222 acres are conserved, so there is little public open land in Wilson's Mills itself; its outdoors grade is D.
0.1 miles of trail wind through 1 park or preserve. Parks and preserves in Wilson's Mills: one, of 5 acres.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Wilson's Mills Athletic Complex | — | 5 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Everything we know about Wilson's Mills
Colleges nearby
1 within 15 miles of the center of Wilson's Mills
About 3 of every 100 Wilson's Mills residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across North Carolina.
99% of working residents leave Wilson's Mills for work
Where Wilson's Mills’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
About Wilson's Mills
Town in North Carolina, United States
Wilson's Mills is a town in Johnston County, North Carolina, United States. As of the 2020 census, Wilson's Mills had a population of 2,534.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Established
- 1868
- Area
- 4.5 sq mi
- Elevation
- 230 ft
- ZIP code
- 27593
- Area code
- 919
Questions about Wilson's Mills
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Wilson's Mills, NC a good place to live?
Wilson's Mills grades B− overall, better than 47% of U.S. towns and #108 of 286 in North Carolina. It grades B+ for health, C for safety and B+ for schools. Jobs & income is its weak spot, with a C−.
Is Wilson's Mills, NC safe?
Within North Carolina, it does better than 65% of towns.
Is Wilson's Mills, NC expensive?
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−.
What is Wilson's Mills, NC known for?
2 notable people were born here, including Wayman Britt and Dixie Davis.