Town · Burke County, North Carolina

Drexel, North Carolina

Drexel is a town in Burke County, North Carolina, part of the Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC metro area. It has 2,146 residents. Drexel, North Carolina has a quality-of-life score of 30 out of 100 (low), ranking #11,029 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within North Carolina it ranks #284 of 458 cities and towns. It ranks best on social associations (high), hospital quality rating (high) and child care cost burden (low). It ranks worst on drug overdose deaths (high), unemployment rate (high) and suicide rate (high).

30Low

Quality-of-life score: #11,029 of 15,651 cities and towns
North Carolina: #284 of 458 in NC
Population: 2,146 (2020-2024)
Land area: 1 mi²
Density: 1,553.2 /mi²
FIPS code: 3717860

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 73 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.

Safety32#10,602/15,637
Economy20#12,437/15,631
Housing54#6,856/14,977
Health11#13,965/15,609
Healthcare38#9,777/15,650
Environment75#3,877/15,453
Education46#8,454/15,649
Infrastructure43#8,968/15,650
Community35#10,112/15,651
Leisure & amenities29#11,146/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Drexel, North Carolina ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Burke 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

Social associations · high14.3 /10k
88/100North Carolina 11.2 /10kUnited States 9.1 /10k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteBurke County value
Hospital quality rating · high4.0
80/100North Carolina 3.3United States 3.2Jul 2026Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesBurke County value
Child care cost burden · low24.5%
77/100North Carolina 25.1%United States 27.9%2023 & 2024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteBurke County value
High ozone days · low0 days
76/100North Carolina 1 daysUnited States 7 days2022Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyBurke County value
Comfortable days · high29.4%
75/100North Carolina 30.0%United States 26.8%2016-2025NOAA National Centers for Environmental InformationBurke County value
Pharmacies · high2.0 /10k
74/100North Carolina 1.6 /10kUnited States 1.8 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsBurke County value

Weaknesses

Drug overdose deaths · high40.8 /100k
3/100North Carolina 20.6 /100kUnited States 18.4 /100kMar 2025–Feb 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataBurke County value
Unemployment rate · high13.6%
4/100North Carolina 3.8%United States 4.3%2020-2024U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Census table B23025
Suicide rate · high23.8 /100k
11/100North Carolina 14.7 /100kUnited States 14.1 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataBurke County value
Premature death · high12,352 /100k
11/100North Carolina 9,400 /100kUnited States 8,123 /100k2021-2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteBurke County value
Mental health care shortage · high18.0
11/100North Carolina 12.3United States 9.9Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationBurke County value
Food environment index · low6.8
12/100North Carolina 6.9United States 7.62019 & 2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteBurke County value

Trends

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

PopulationRising
1,862 (2015-2019) → 2,146 (2020-2024)
+15%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
72.7% (2015-2019) → 89.2% (2020-2024)
+17 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Child poverty rateImproving
23.3% (2015-2019) → 8.7% (2020-2024)
−15 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Unemployment rateWorsening
2.8% (2015-2019) → 13.7% (2020-2024)
+11 pts5 yearsCensus table B23025US 3.7% → 4.0%
Median household incomeImproving
$42,703 (2015-2019) → $61,992 (2020-2024)
+45%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Rent-burdened householdsWorsening
37.4% (2015-2019) → 44.4% (2020-2024)
+6.9 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%

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, Drexel, North Carolina improved on 1 of 12 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 11 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+45%$42,703 → $61,992

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 12 measures

Change of every measure of Drexel, North Carolina between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	17.8 min2015-2019	20.2 min2020-2024	+2.4 min	Within the margin of error	24%
Bachelor's degree or higher	17.6%2015-2019	23.2%2020-2024	+5.6 points	Within the margin of error	72%
Broadband subscriptions	72.7%2015-2019	89.2%2020-2024	+17 points	Within the margin of error	84%
Effective property tax rate	0.95%2015-2019	0.70%2020-2024	−0.2 points	Within the margin of error	67%
High school diploma or higher	87.2%2015-2019	84.2%2020-2024	−3 points	Within the margin of error	11%
Home price to income ratio	2.7×2015-2019	3.5×2020-2024	+0.8×	Within the margin of error	33%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.3952015-2019	0.4492020-2024	+0.054	Within the margin of error	15%
Median household income	$42,7032015-2019	$61,9922020-2024	+45%	Improved	80%
Poverty rate	15.3%2015-2019	11.7%2020-2024	−3.6 points	Within the margin of error	73%
Public transit commuters	0.0%2015-2019	0.0%2020-2024	0 points	Within the margin of error	60%
Rent as share of income	22.5%2015-2019	28.4%2020-2024	+5.9 points	Within the margin of error	19%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	10.0%2015-2019	11.1%2020-2024	+1.1 points	Within the margin of error	33%

“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 Drexel, North Carolina five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Drexel, 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, Drexel, North Carolina itself moved −6.1 points in standing on average over the same 9 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

2,146 residents (±459)

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

865 households (±186)

Drexel, North Carolina
North Carolina share

Under $25k25%†213
$25k–50k18%†159
$50k–75k

Homes

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

Owners and renters

865 households (±186)

Drexel, North Carolina
North Carolina share

Own72%623
Rent28%†242

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

793 workers (±200)

Drexel, North Carolina
North Carolina share

Drive alone83%661
Carpool11%†87
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 Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, 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 Burke County, the county holding most of Drexel's residents.

Burke County has 1,540 employer establishments, 175 for every 10,000 residents (0.70× the US rate of 248; 0.74× North Carolina's), with 24,509 paid employees at an average annual pay of $44,806. The Census Bureau also counts 5,809 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 1,540; 5,809 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 175; US 248 · North Carolina 237
Paid employees: 24,509
Average annual pay: $44,806; US $68,342

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

Restaurants and other eating places	130	14.7	0.80×About typical	2,735	$18,845	28
Ambulatory health care services	122	13.8	0.66×Fewer than typical	1,580	$83,934	257
Religious organizations	115	13	2.35×More than typical	546	$22,500	—
Specialty trade contractors	89	10.1	0.65×Fewer than typical	512	$44,883	527
Limited-service restaurants	69	7.8	0.98×About typical	1,632	$18,679	9
Lessors of real estate	64	7.3	0.59×Fewer than typical	101	$40,832	503
Construction of buildings	62	7	0.93×About typical	153	$43,092	261
Building equipment contractors	53	6	1.00×About typical	340	$49,212	92
Full-service restaurants	50	5.7	0.74×Fewer than typical	975	$19,816	18
Services to buildings and dwellings	44	5	0.74×Fewer than typical	376	$26,149	560
Gasoline stations	42	4.8	1.47×More than typical	199	$24,126	3
Offices of physicians	40	4.5	0.70×Fewer than typical	707	$132,201	55

Rank places for an industry Open Burke County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 88,217 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 Drexel, North Carolina: $0 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $0
Per resident: $0; US $1,994
Sole-source: —; US 30%
Single offer: —; 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

Top recipients

Spending by fiscal year

750KFY2017
653KFY2018
454.7KFY2019
1.2MFY2020
2.7MFY2021
1.5MFY2022
1.9MFY2023

What was bought

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 Drexel, North Carolina, so they do not add up across cities.

Drexel, North Carolina's figures are part of those of Burke County, NC ($5.4M 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: Drexel is mostly in Burke County.

See federal money in Burke 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.

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

House

Tim MooreR-NC-14 · 100% of residentsWith party 99%Missed 0.3%

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.

Burke County42100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC46

Other cities and towns in Burke 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/3717860

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends