Census-designated place · Camden County, North Carolina

Camden, North Carolina

Camden is a census-designated place in Camden County, North Carolina, part of the Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC metro area. It has 1,115 residents. Camden, North Carolina has a quality-of-life score of 74 out of 100 (high), ranking #4,078 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within North Carolina it ranks #88 of 458 cities and towns. It ranks best on job growth (high), math scores (high) and child care cost burden (low). It ranks worst on grocery stores (low), restaurants and bars (low) and arts, entertainment and recreation (low).

74High

Quality-of-life score: #4,078 of 15,651 cities and towns
North Carolina: #88 of 458 in NC
Population: 1,115 (2020-2024)
Land area: 2 mi²
Density: 706.2 /mi²
FIPS code: 3709780

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 70 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.

Safety83#2,627/15,637
Economy70#4,619/15,631
Housing56#6,635/14,977
Health59#6,415/15,609
Healthcare21#12,402/15,650
Environment93#1,036/15,453
Education92#1,266/15,649
Infrastructure64#5,658/15,650
Community84#2,533/15,651
Leisure & amenities0#15,649/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Camden, North Carolina ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Camden 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 · high16.3%
100/100North Carolina 0.8%United States 0.1%2026 Q1U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsProvisional dataCamden County value
Math scores · high3.70
99/100North Carolina 3.06United States 3.032019University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteCamden County value
Child care cost burden · low17.5%
99/100North Carolina 25.1%United States 27.9%2023 & 2024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteCamden County value
Reading scores · high3.52
98/100North Carolina 3.07United States 3.052019University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteCamden County value
Poverty rate · low1.1%
98/100North Carolina 12.6%United States 12.1%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B17001High uncertainty
Homicide rate · low0.0 /100k
94/100North Carolina 6.9 /100kUnited States 4.8 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataCamden County value

Weaknesses

Grocery stores · low0.0 /10k
0/100North Carolina 1.8 /10kUnited States 1.7 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsCamden County value
Restaurants and bars · low1.8 /10k
0/100North Carolina 8.8 /10kUnited States 9.0 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsCamden County value
Arts, entertainment and recreation · low0.0 /10k
1/100North Carolina 4.9 /10kUnited States 5.5 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsCamden County value
Pharmacies · low0.0 /10k
1/100North Carolina 1.6 /10kUnited States 1.8 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsCamden County value
Public EV charging ports · low0.0 /10k
3/100North Carolina 5.2 /10kUnited States 7.6 /10kOct 2026U.S. Department of EnergyCamden County value
Primary care physicians · low18 /100k
4/100North Carolina 71 /100kUnited States 76 /100k2022University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteCamden County value

Trends

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

PopulationRising
809 (2015-2019) → 1,115 (2020-2024)
+38%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
Rent-burdened householdsImproving
66.7% (2015-2019) → 24.0% (2020-2024)
−43 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
High school diploma or higherImproving
66.0% (2015-2019) → 91.5% (2020-2024)
+25 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 88.0% → 89.6%
Bachelor's degree or higherImproving
21.1% (2015-2019) → 43.6% (2020-2024)
+22 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 32.1% → 35.7%
Median household incomeImproving
$44,630 (2015-2019) → $94,412 (2020-2024)
+112%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Uninsured residents (under 65)Improving
22.1% (2015-2019) → 1.6% (2020-2024)
−20 pts5 yearsCensus table B27010US 10.8% → 9.8%

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, Camden, North Carolina improved on 1 of 8 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 7 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.

Improved1

Household income+112%$44,630 → $94,412

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 8 measures

Change of every measure of Camden, North Carolina between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Bachelor's degree or higher	21.1%2015-2019	43.6%2020-2024	+22 points	Within the margin of error	99%
Broadband subscriptions	77.7%2015-2019	96.2%2020-2024	+18 points	Within the margin of error	88%
Child poverty rate	0.0%2015-2019	0.0%2020-2024	0 points	Within the margin of error	42%
High school diploma or higher	66.0%2015-2019	91.5%2020-2024	+25 points	Within the margin of error	100%
Home price to income ratio	5.7×2015-2019	4.2×2020-2024	−1.5×	Within the margin of error	99%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4492015-2019	0.2922020-2024	−0.158	Within the margin of error	99%
Median household income	$44,6302015-2019	$94,4122020-2024	+112%	Improved	99%
Public transit commuters	0.0%2015-2019	0.0%2020-2024	0 points	Within the margin of error	60%

“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 Camden, North Carolina five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Camden, 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.

No place that looked like Camden, North Carolina five years ago has more measures that improved than declined, with a higher standing among its peers today.

For comparison, Camden, North Carolina itself moved +43.3 points in standing on average over the same 6 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

1,115 residents (±489)

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

370 households (±162)

Camden, North Carolina
North Carolina share

Under $25k12%†45
$25k–50k8.4%†31
$50k–75k

Homes

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

Owners and renters

370 households (±162)

Camden, North Carolina
North Carolina share

Own39%†143
Rent61%†227

No change since 2015–2019 is larger than the margin of error.

† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.

Table view

Getting to work

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

How people get to work

556 workers (±265)

Camden, North Carolina
North Carolina share

Drive alone75%†419
Carpool0.0%0
Public transit0.0%0

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes pay by metro area, not by county or city. The metro area page lists its largest occupations and lets you look up any job.

Pay in the Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC

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 Camden County, the county holding most of Camden's residents.

Camden County has 124 employer establishments, 111 for every 10,000 residents (0.45× the US rate of 248; 0.47× North Carolina's), with 547 paid employees at an average annual pay of $40,607. The Census Bureau also counts 787 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 124; 787 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 111; US 248 · North Carolina 237
Paid employees: 547
Average annual pay: $40,607; US $68,342

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

Specialty trade contractors	14	12.5	0.81×About typical	27	$37,963	86
Religious organizations	11	9.9	1.78×More than typical	30	$13,567	—
Services to buildings and dwellings	10	9	1.33×More than typical	52	$30,000	64
Construction of buildings	9	8.1	1.07×Too few to compare	16	$47,875	40
Landscaping services	7	6.3	1.79×Too few to compare	21	$21,048	22
Restaurants and other eating places	7	6.3	0.34×Too few to compare	89	$14,888	—
Ambulatory health care services	6	5.4	0.26×Too few to compare	26	$56,154	24
Gasoline stations	6	5.4	1.66×Too few to compare	25	$24,880	—
Lessors of real estate	6	5.4	0.44×Too few to compare	10	$27,500	86
Truck transportation	6	5.4	1.06×Too few to compare	11	$56,182	13
Accounting, tax preparation and payroll services	4	3.6	0.88×Too few to compare	7	$41,857	—
Building equipment contractors	4	3.6	0.60×Too few to compare	11	$42,364	26

Rank places for an industry Open Camden County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 11,165 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 $0 of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Camden, North Carolina: $0 per resident (US $2,007).

Obligations: $0
Per resident: $0; US $2,007
Sole-source: —; US 30%
Single offer: —; US 8.7%

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

Top buying agencies

Top recipients

Spending by fiscal year

273.8FY2017
1.9KFY2018
1.9KFY2019
1.8KFY2020
433.7FY2021
-293.1FY2023

What was bought

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 9, 2026, loaded Oct 9, 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 Camden, North Carolina, so they do not add up across cities.

Camden, North Carolina's figures are part of those of Camden County, NC ($32K in FY2026), never added to them: 0.0% of that total.

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

See federal money in Camden 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.

Camden, North Carolina is represented in the 119th Congress by these members.

House

Donald G. DavisD-NC-1 · 100% of residentsWith party 70%Missed 1.8%

Senate

Explore Congress The 2026 races

County

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

Camden County75100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC69

Other cities and towns in Camden County

Largest first.

South Mills230

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/3709780

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends