Town · Granville County, North Carolina

Butner, North Carolina

Butner is a town in Granville County, North Carolina. It has 8,065 residents. Butner, North Carolina has a quality-of-life score of 22 out of 100 (low), ranking #12,218 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within North Carolina it ranks #334 of 458 cities and towns. It ranks best on job growth (high), child care cost burden (low) and income inequality (Gini index) (low). It ranks worst on restaurants and bars (low), drought exposure (high) and primary care shortage (high).

22Low

Quality-of-life score: #12,218 of 15,651 cities and towns
North Carolina: #334 of 458 in NC
Population: 8,065 (2020-2024)
Land area: 14 mi²
Density: 584.7 /mi²
FIPS code: 3709360

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 75 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.

Safety15#13,272/15,637
Economy49#7,998/15,631
Housing68#4,825/14,977
Health18#12,756/15,609
Healthcare19#12,750/15,650
Environment71#4,405/15,453
Education32#10,699/15,649
Infrastructure11#13,994/15,650
Community41#9,226/15,651
Leisure & amenities5#14,919/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Butner, North Carolina ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Granville County value” are the county’s: the source publishes no figure for this city or town, and the county holding most of its residents stands in.

Strengths

Job growth · high2.5%
91/100North Carolina 0.8%United States 0.1%2026 Q1U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsProvisional dataGranville County value
Child care cost burden · low21.5%
90/100North Carolina 25.1%United States 27.9%2023 & 2024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteGranville County value
Income inequality (Gini index) · low0.362
88/100North Carolina 0.477United States 0.4832020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B19083
Days with unhealthy air · low0.0%
84/1002025U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyGranville County value
Mental health providers · high406 /100k
75/100North Carolina 351 /100kUnited States 348 /100k2025University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteGranville County value
Comfortable days · high28.9%
73/100North Carolina 30.0%United States 26.8%2016-2025NOAA National Centers for Environmental InformationGranville County value

Weaknesses

Restaurants and bars · low3.3 /10k
2/100North Carolina 8.8 /10kUnited States 9.0 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsGranville County value
Drought exposure · high94%
4/100North Carolina 79%United States 43%Oct 2025–Sep 2026National Drought Mitigation Center (University of Nebraska–Lincoln), USDA and NOAAGranville County value
Primary care shortage · high18.0
5/100North Carolina 9.9United States 6.2Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationGranville County value
Suicide rate · high25.7 /100k
8/100North Carolina 14.7 /100kUnited States 14.1 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataGranville County value
Dentists · low27 /100k
9/100North Carolina 62 /100kUnited States 75 /100k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteGranville County value
Hospital quality rating · low2.0
9/100North Carolina 3.3United States 3.2Jul 2026Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesGranville County value

Trends

The largest changes over about five years, next to the country's over the same periods.

Median household incomeImproving
$45,366 (2015-2019) → $74,739 (2020-2024)
+65%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Bachelor's degree or higherImproving
15.5% (2015-2019) → 27.0% (2020-2024)
+11 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 32.1% → 35.7%
Rent-burdened householdsImproving
52.5% (2015-2019) → 41.1% (2020-2024)
−11 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Rent as share of incomeImproving
31.5% (2015-2019) → 26.5% (2020-2024)
−5 pts5 yearsCensus table B25071US 29.8% → 30.6%
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
81.8% (2015-2019) → 86.0% (2020-2024)
+4.1 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
High school diploma or higherImproving
75.9% (2015-2019) → 79.1% (2020-2024)
+3.2 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 88.0% → 89.6%

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

Over about five years, Butner, North Carolina improved on 2 of 14 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 12 moved within the margin of error and 0 barely changed.

Earlier (2015-2019)
Latest (2020-2024)
Lower standingHigher standing

Position is the place's standing among cities and towns: further right is better, whichever way the measure counts.

Improved2

Household income+65%$45,366 → $74,739
Bachelor's++11 points15.5% → 27.0%

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 14 measures

Change of every measure of Butner, North Carolina between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	26.4 min2015-2019	24.1 min2020-2024	−2.2 min	Within the margin of error	73%
Bachelor's degree or higher	15.5%2015-2019	27.0%2020-2024	+11 points	Improved	93%
Broadband subscriptions	81.8%2015-2019	86.0%2020-2024	+4.1 points	Within the margin of error	26%
Child poverty rate	23.3%2015-2019	20.7%2020-2024	−2.6 points	Within the margin of error	59%
Effective property tax rate	1.07%2015-2019	0.84%2020-2024	−0.2 points	Within the margin of error	65%
High school diploma or higher	75.9%2015-2019	79.1%2020-2024	+3.2 points	Within the margin of error	70%
Home price to income ratio	3.0×2015-2019	3.1×2020-2024	+0.1×	Within the margin of error	75%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.3932015-2019	0.3622020-2024	−0.030	Within the margin of error	74%
Median household income	$45,3662015-2019	$74,7392020-2024	+65%	Improved	93%
Poverty rate	18.1%2015-2019	15.0%2020-2024	−3 points	Within the margin of error	70%
Rent as share of income	31.5%2015-2019	26.5%2020-2024	−5 points	Within the margin of error	83%
Rent-burdened households	52.5%2015-2019	41.1%2020-2024	−11 points	Within the margin of error	84%
Unemployment rate	8.5%2015-2019	5.5%2020-2024	−3.1 points	Within the margin of error	90%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	16.2%2015-2019	16.8%2020-2024	+0.6 points	Within the margin of error	39%

“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 14640 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.

Sources: American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Values are the latest and the one five years earlier of the same publisher dataset; datasets that changed publisher in between are never compared.

Survey estimates (American Community Survey) compare the two most recent 5-year windows that do not share years, so the margin of error of the difference holds. The 2015-2019 window predates the pandemic and 2020-2024 includes it.
A change counts only when it is larger than 1.645 times the square root of the two standard errors squared, summed (a 90% margin). Measures published without a margin must change by at least 5% to count.
“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 15651 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.
Standing is a percentile among the same places: 0 is the lowest value on the measure (or the worst when lower is better), 100 the best.

Cities and towns like Butner, North Carolina five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Butner, North Carolina in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

For comparison, Butner, North Carolina itself moved +15.2 points in standing on average over the same 10 measures (standings of all places average about zero).

How the ranking works

Similarity is the root-mean-square difference of standings in the earlier period over the measures most places have. Places are ranked by measures that improved beyond the margin of error minus those that declined (a count that estimation noise in small places cannot inflate), then by the mean change of standing over the measures a place has in both periods. Only places with more improvements than declines and a rise in standing are listed. Standings are relative, so a place can improve in absolute terms and still lose standing.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Age and sex

8,065 residents (±46)

Men
Women

80 and over†
70–79†
60–69†

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Household income

2,683 households (±240)

Butner, North Carolina
North Carolina share

Under $25k11%†288
$25k–50k16%†431
$50k–75k

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Owners and renters

2,683 households (±240)

Butner, North Carolina
North Carolina share

Own74%1,980
Rent26%703

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: Own (+12.3 points).

Table view

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

How people get to work

3,339 workers (±391)

Butner, North Carolina
North Carolina share

Drive alone75%2,488
Carpool11%†382
Public transit0.0%0

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of Granville County, the county holding most of Butner's residents.

Granville County has 962 employer establishments, 157 for every 10,000 residents (0.63× the US rate of 248; 0.66× North Carolina's), with 18,335 paid employees at an average annual pay of $51,514. The Census Bureau also counts 4,404 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 962; 4,404 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 157; US 248 · North Carolina 237
Paid employees: 18,335
Average annual pay: $51,514; US $68,342

Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Granville County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation

Specialty trade contractors	101	16.4	1.06×About typical	441	$47,247	427
Religious organizations	63	10.3	1.85×More than typical	236	$19,288	—
Restaurants and other eating places	63	10.3	0.56×Fewer than typical	1,192	$18,864	23
Ambulatory health care services	56	9.1	0.44×Fewer than typical	516	$82,430	187
Building equipment contractors	52	8.5	1.41×More than typical	283	$47,640	84
Lessors of real estate	42	6.8	0.56×Fewer than typical	59	$43,271	345
Construction of buildings	34	5.5	0.73×Fewer than typical	89	$78,247	161
Limited-service restaurants	33	5.4	0.67×Fewer than typical	726	$18,096	11
Plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractors	33	5.4	1.63×More than typical	192	$44,240	42
Services to buildings and dwellings	31	5	0.75×Fewer than typical	140	$45,793	450
Gasoline stations	30	4.9	1.51×More than typical	107	$23,393	5
Landscaping services	26	4.2	1.21×About typical	117	$48,897	198

Rank places for an industry Open Granville County

County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 61,411 residents here, 336,755,052 in the United States. County Business Patterns counts establishments in 2023; the Nonemployer Statistics count businesses in 2024.
“More than typical” is a density at least 1.25 times the nation's per resident, “fewer” at most 0.8 times, with at least 10 establishments. It compares counts of businesses with counts of people: it says nothing about demand, incomes, size, quality or profit, and visitors and commuters are not residents.
The Census Bureau adds noise to employment and payroll to protect confidentiality, and withholds some figures: an industry with few establishments can show employees or pay as unavailable.
Industries overlap: a narrower industry (full-service restaurants) is part of a broader one (restaurants), so the rows do not add up.
Industries follow the North American Industry Classification System; the two surveys use different editions (NAICS 2017 and 2022), which this page matches industry by industry.

Federal contracts performed here

In FY2026, an estimated $5.7M of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Butner, North Carolina: $703 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $5.7M; +60% vs FY2025
Per resident: $703; US $1,994
Sole-source: 72%; US 30%
Single offer: 11%; US 8.8%

A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.

Top buying agencies

Federal Prison System / Bureau of Prisons$5M88%
Federal Prison Industries / Unicor$517.1K9.1%
Federal Acquisition Service$67.5K1.2%
Department of the Army$43.8K0.8%
U.S. Marshals Service$26K0.5%
Department of the Navy$25K0.4%
Drug Enforcement Administration$18.3K0.3%
Defense Logistics Agency$8,7140.2%

Top recipients

SOUTH GRANVILLE WATER & SEWER AUTH$2.5M44%
UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS MEDICAL SCHOOL$1.7M30%
FEDERAL PRISON INDUSTRIES, INC$308.8K5.4%
CARL ZEISS VISION INC$229.2K4.0%
AMERICAN & EFIRD LLC$138.6K2.4%

Spending by fiscal year

26.1MFY2017
26.1MFY2018
25.9MFY2019
25.2MFY2020
11.5MFY2021
1.8MFY2022
2.7MFY2023
2.5M

Top industries (NAICS)

Water, sewage and other systems · 2213$2.5M44%
General medical and surgical hospitals · 6221$1.7M30%
Apparel accessories and other apparel manufacturing · 3159$239K4.2%
Industrial machinery manufacturing · 3332$229.2K4.0%
Fiber, yarn, and thread mills · 3131$138.6K2.4%
Employment services · 5613$116.4K

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 3, 2026, loaded Oct 3, 2026.

How this is estimated

Agencies report each contract action's place of performance as a county and a ZIP code. A ZIP code's money is split among the cities it covers by the share of its land inside each (Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation areas); the part outside city limits stays with the county.

The place of performance is what the contracting agency reports, often the contractor's office rather than where the work happens.
Shares are of land, not of people or businesses: a ZIP code that is mostly rural land but has its offices in town gives the town less than it should.
ZIP codes that are not mapped areas (post office boxes, the unique ZIP codes of large federal sites and companies) stay with their county, unless one city covers nearly all of it.
Counts of actions and awards include those only partly in Butner, North Carolina, so they do not add up across cities.

Butner, North Carolina's figures are part of those of Granville County, NC ($19.6M in FY2026), never added to them: 29% of that total.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Butner is mostly in Granville County.

See federal money in Granville County

Representation in Congress

Members serving today, with their record in the current Congress (party-unity votes cast with their caucus, roll calls missed). Not a grade.

Butner, North Carolina is split between congressional districts: each representative is shown with the share of its residents in their district (current boundaries).

House

Senate

County

A city can lie in several counties. Some indicators are published for counties only: the page marks them.

Granville County37100% of residents

Other cities and towns in Granville County

Largest first.

Similar cities and towns

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

PLACES: Local Data for Better HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · release 2025
Local Area Unemployment StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · release 2025
American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2017-2024
Population Estimates ProgramU.S. Census Bureau · release 2025
Small Area Health Insurance EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
Small Area Income and Poverty EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
County Health Rankings & RoadmapsUniversity of Wisconsin Population Health Institute · release 2022-2025+2026-03-supplement

JSON · /api/v1/places/3709360

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends