City · Catawba County, North Carolina

Hickory, North Carolina

Hickory is a city in Catawba County, North Carolina, part of the Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC metro area. It has 44,258 residents. Hickory, North Carolina has a quality-of-life score of 44 out of 100 (moderate), ranking #8,731 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within North Carolina it ranks #207 of 458 cities and towns. It ranks best on social associations (high), child care cost burden (low) and rent as share of income (low). It ranks worst on hospital quality rating (low), income inequality (Gini index) (high) and drug overdose deaths (high).

44Moderate

Quality-of-life score: #8,731 of 15,651 cities and towns
North Carolina: #207 of 458 in NC
Population: 44,258 (2020-2024)
Land area: 33 mi²
Density: 1,332.9 /mi²
FIPS code: 3731060

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.

Safety19#12,657/15,637
Economy32#10,651/15,631
Housing83#2,567/14,977
Health25#11,749/15,609
Healthcare33#10,449/15,650
Environment78#3,444/15,453
Education50#7,873/15,649
Infrastructure36#10,089/15,650
Community59#6,489/15,651
Leisure & amenities59#6,356/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Hickory, North Carolina ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Catawba 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 · high14.6 /10k
90/100North Carolina 11.2 /10kUnited States 9.1 /10k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteCatawba County value
Child care cost burden · low21.7%
89/100North Carolina 25.1%United States 27.9%2023 & 2024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteCatawba County value
Rent as share of income · low26.0%
89/100North Carolina 29.5%United States 30.6%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25071
Rent-burdened households · low40.3%
88/100North Carolina 48.9%United States 51.1%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25070
Days with unhealthy air · low0.0%
84/1002025U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyCatawba County value
Natural hazard risk · low12.3
80/100North Carolina 45.12025Federal Emergency Management AgencyCatawba County value

Weaknesses

Hospital quality rating · low2.0
9/100North Carolina 3.3United States 3.2Jul 2026Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesCatawba County value
Income inequality (Gini index) · high0.487
10/100North Carolina 0.477United States 0.4832020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B19083
Drug overdose deaths · high29.2 /100k
10/100North Carolina 20.6 /100kUnited States 18.4 /100kMar 2025–Feb 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataCatawba County value
Child poverty rate · high26.3%
13/100North Carolina 16.6%United States 15.5%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B17001
Primary care shortage · high16.0
14/100North Carolina 9.8United States 6.2Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationCatawba County value
Homicide rate · high7.3 /100k
16/100North Carolina 6.9 /100kUnited States 4.8 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataCatawba County value

Trends

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

PopulationRising
40,634 (2015-2019) → 44,258 (2020-2024)
+8.9%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
Median household incomeImproving
$47,652 (2015-2019) → $64,576 (2020-2024)
+36%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
82.0% (2015-2019) → 87.6% (2020-2024)
+5.6 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Unemployment rateImproving
8.5% (2015-2019) → 3.8% (2020-2024)
−4.7 pts5 yearsCensus table B23025US 3.7% → 4.0%
Home price to income ratioWorsening
3.5× (2015-2019) → 4.3× (2020-2024)
+22%5 yearsCensus table B25077US 3.5× → 4.1×
Child poverty rateWorsening
22.3% (2015-2019) → 26.3% (2020-2024)
+4 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%

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, Hickory, North Carolina improved on 4 of 14 measures with a comparison and declined on 1. 8 moved within the margin of error and 1 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.

Improved4

Unemployment−4.7 points8.5% → 3.8%
Household income+36%$47,652 → $64,576
Bachelor's++3.7 points33.3% → 37.1%
Broadband+5.6 points82.0% → 87.6%

Declined1

Price / income+0.8×3.5× → 4.3×

All 14 measures

Change of every measure of Hickory, North Carolina between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	19.6 min2015-2019	21.1 min2020-2024	+1.5 min	Within the margin of error	32%
Bachelor's degree or higher	33.3%2015-2019	37.1%2020-2024	+3.7 points	Improved	58%
Broadband subscriptions	82.0%2015-2019	87.6%2020-2024	+5.6 points	Improved	36%
Child poverty rate	22.3%2015-2019	26.3%2020-2024	+4 points	Within the margin of error	23%
Effective property tax rate	0.94%2015-2019	0.76%2020-2024	−0.2 points	Little change	54%
High school diploma or higher	88.1%2015-2019	90.0%2020-2024	+1.9 points	Within the margin of error	57%
Home price to income ratio	3.5×2015-2019	4.3×2020-2024	+0.8×	Declined	32%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.5122015-2019	0.4872020-2024	−0.025	Within the margin of error	71%
Median household income	$47,6522015-2019	$64,5762020-2024	+36%	Improved	66%
Poverty rate	17.1%2015-2019	17.1%2020-2024	+0 points	Within the margin of error	44%
Rent as share of income	26.4%2015-2019	26.0%2020-2024	−0.4 points	Within the margin of error	58%
Rent-burdened households	43.8%2015-2019	40.3%2020-2024	−3.5 points	Within the margin of error	68%
Unemployment rate	8.5%2015-2019	3.8%2020-2024	−4.7 points	Improved	95%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	14.7%2015-2019	12.9%2020-2024	−1.8 points	Within the margin of error	67%

“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 Hickory, North Carolina five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Hickory, 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, Hickory, North Carolina itself moved +0.3 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

44,258 residents (±117)

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

18,042 households (±568)

Hickory, North Carolina
North Carolina share

Under $25k18%3,307
$25k–50k22%4,012
$50k–75k17%3,042

Homes

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

Owners and renters

18,042 households (±568)

Hickory, North Carolina
North Carolina share

Own55%9,922
Rent45%8,120

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

Table view

Getting to work

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

How people get to work

20,242 workers (±947)

Hickory, North Carolina
North Carolina share

Drive alone72%14,632
Carpool13%2,651
Public transit0.1%†15

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 Catawba County, the county holding most of Hickory's residents.

Catawba County has 4,349 employer establishments, 264 for every 10,000 residents (1.06× the US rate of 248; 1.11× North Carolina's), with 85,704 paid employees at an average annual pay of $52,893. The Census Bureau also counts 13,133 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 4,349; 13,133 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 264; US 248 · North Carolina 237
Paid employees: 85,704
Average annual pay: $52,893; US $68,342

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

Restaurants and other eating places	328	19.9	1.08×About typical	6,954	$20,052	64
Ambulatory health care services	276	16.7	0.80×About typical	4,500	$65,692	545
Specialty trade contractors	270	16.4	1.06×About typical	1,979	$56,185	949
Religious organizations	205	12.4	2.24×More than typical	1,278	$22,930	—
Lessors of real estate	195	11.8	0.96×About typical	647	$38,015	1,420
Limited-service restaurants	141	8.6	1.07×About typical	2,873	$18,551	28
Full-service restaurants	132	8	1.04×About typical	3,411	$22,074	20
Construction of buildings	122	7.4	0.98×About typical	542	$70,411	479
Services to buildings and dwellings	114	6.9	1.03×About typical	709	$35,347	1,027
Building equipment contractors	113	6.9	1.14×About typical	1,045	$57,071	167
Truck transportation	112	6.8	1.34×More than typical	2,877	$56,303	276
Automotive repair and maintenance	105	6.4	1.26×More than typical	630	$46,238	250

Rank places for an industry Open Catawba County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 164,901 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 $211.2K of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Hickory, North Carolina: $4.77 per resident (US $1,995).

Obligations: $211.2K; −98% vs FY2025
Per resident: $4.77; US $1,995
Sole-source: 100%; US 30%
Single offer: 100%; 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

Department of State$700.2K100%
Department of Veterans Affairs$402.9K100%
Federal Prison Industries / Unicor$354.9K100%
Social Security Administration$73.4K35%
Department of the Air Force$65.5K31%
U.S. Geological Survey$5,1742.4%
Department of the Navy$1,4930.7%
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service$4380.2%

Top recipients

Spending by fiscal year

502.9KFY2017
1.4MFY2018
1.5MFY2019
824.9KFY2020
1.6MFY2021
1.7MFY2022
2.5MFY2023
1.6M

Top industries (NAICS)

Household and institutional furniture and kitchen cabinet manufacturing · 3371$425.9K100%
Architectural, engineering, and related services · 5413$373.3K100%
Fabric mills · 3132$354.9K100%
Investigation and security services · 5616$176.1K83%
Office furniture (including fixtures) manufacturing · 3372$172.5K82%
Business support services · 5614

Largest awards whose ZIP code lies mostly in Hickory, North Carolina

SECOND SUPPORT CENTER (SSC) PRESORTING MAIL SERVICES$1.7M
EXPRESS BUSINESS SYSTEMS INC· Catawba County, NC· Professional services· Aug 31, 2021 – Aug 31, 2026· 28321321C00060020
AE DESIGN SLEEP CENTER MURFREESBORO TN$1.6M
ATRIAX, P.L.L.C.· Catawba County, NC· Construction & real property· Mar 8, 2023 – Aug 25, 2026· 36C77623C0034
ENGINEERING SERVICES PER STATEMENT OF WORK (SOW)$1.6M
SQUAREHEAD TECHNOLOGY LLC· Catawba County, NC· Other equipment & supplies· Jul 19, 2024 – Aug 26, 2026· 15F06724C0000979
FY23 PBS WVA MINOR CHROME PLATING TANKS

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 7, 2026, loaded Oct 7, 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 Hickory, North Carolina, so they do not add up across cities.

Hickory, North Carolina's figures are part of those of Catawba County, NC, Caldwell County, NC and Burke County, NC ($7.4M in FY2026), never added to them: 2.8% of that total.

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

See federal money in Catawba 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.

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

House

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.

Catawba County62100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC46

Other cities and towns in Catawba 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/3731060

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends