Census-designated place · Craven County, North Carolina

James City, North Carolina

James City is a census-designated place in Craven County, North Carolina, part of the New Bern, NC metro area. It has 4,789 residents. James City, North Carolina has a quality-of-life score of 44 out of 100 (moderate), ranking #8,711 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within North Carolina it ranks #207 of 458 cities and towns. It ranks best on mammography screening (high), fine particulate matter (PM2.5) (low) and comfortable days (high). It ranks worst on natural hazard risk (high), primary care shortage (high) and premature death (high).

44Moderate

Quality-of-life score: #8,711 of 15,651 cities and towns
North Carolina: #207 of 458 in NC
Population: 4,789 (2020-2024)
Land area: 8 mi²
Density: 622.0 /mi²
FIPS code: 3734260

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.

Safety18#12,872/15,637
Economy39#9,495/15,631
Housing53#7,093/14,977
Health27#11,323/15,609
Healthcare46#8,397/15,650
Environment65#5,400/15,453
Education46#8,449/15,649
Infrastructure59#6,375/15,650
Community71#4,559/15,651
Leisure & amenities45#8,598/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

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

Mammography screening · high63.0%
100/100North Carolina 50.0%United States 46.0%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteCraven County value
Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) · low6.0 µg/m³
90/100North Carolina 7.5 µg/m³United States 8.0 µg/m³2022Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyCraven County value
Comfortable days · high31.7%
85/100North Carolina 30.0%United States 26.8%2016-2025NOAA National Centers for Environmental InformationCraven County value
Public transit commuters · high1.8%
82/100North Carolina 0.6%United States 3.2%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B08301High uncertainty
Hospital quality rating · high4.0
80/100North Carolina 3.3United States 3.2Jul 2026Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesCraven County value
High school diploma or higher · high93.6%
78/100North Carolina 90.2%United States 89.6%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B15003

Weaknesses

Natural hazard risk · high98.8
1/100North Carolina 45.12025Federal Emergency Management AgencyCraven County value
Primary care shortage · high17.0
9/100North Carolina 9.9United States 6.2Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationCraven County value
Premature death · high12,828 /100k
9/100North Carolina 9,400 /100kUnited States 8,123 /100k2021-2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteCraven County value
Homicide rate · high9.8 /100k
9/100North Carolina 6.9 /100kUnited States 4.8 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataCraven County value
Job growth · low-2.5%
9/100North Carolina 0.8%United States 0.1%2026 Q1U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsProvisional dataCraven County value
Injury deaths · high129 /100k
10/100North Carolina 97 /100kUnited States 87 /100k2019-2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteCraven County value

Trends

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

PopulationFalling
5,354 (2015-2019) → 4,789 (2020-2024)
−11%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
Rent-burdened householdsImproving
61.6% (2015-2019) → 44.3% (2020-2024)
−17 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Child poverty rateImproving
21.2% (2015-2019) → 9.9% (2020-2024)
−11 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
High school diploma or higherImproving
85.1% (2015-2019) → 93.6% (2020-2024)
+8.4 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 88.0% → 89.6%
Rent as share of incomeImproving
35.7% (2015-2019) → 28.0% (2020-2024)
−7.7 pts5 yearsCensus table B25071US 29.8% → 30.6%
Unemployment rateImproving
9.1% (2015-2019) → 2.5% (2020-2024)
−6.6 pts5 yearsCensus table B23025US 3.7% → 4.0%

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, James City, North Carolina improved on 2 of 12 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 10 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

Inequality−0.1080.542 → 0.434
High school++8.4 points85.1% → 93.6%

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 12 measures

Change of every measure of James City, North Carolina between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	17.0 min2015-2019	21.7 min2020-2024	+4.8 min	Within the margin of error	11%
Bachelor's degree or higher	23.0%2015-2019	28.1%2020-2024	+5.1 points	Within the margin of error	69%
Broadband subscriptions	84.8%2015-2019	90.9%2020-2024	+6 points	Within the margin of error	38%
Effective property tax rate	0.54%2015-2019	0.83%2020-2024	+0.3 points	Within the margin of error	1%
High school diploma or higher	85.1%2015-2019	93.6%2020-2024	+8.4 points	Improved	93%
Home price to income ratio	2.9×2015-2019	3.5×2020-2024	+0.6×	Within the margin of error	42%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.5422015-2019	0.4342020-2024	−0.108	Improved	97%
Median household income	$53,5142015-2019	$58,9732020-2024	+10%	Within the margin of error	17%
Poverty rate	13.7%2015-2019	11.7%2020-2024	−2 points	Within the margin of error	62%
Rent as share of income	35.7%2015-2019	28.0%2020-2024	−7.7 points	Within the margin of error	90%
Rent-burdened households	61.6%2015-2019	44.3%2020-2024	−17 points	Within the margin of error	91%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	12.4%2015-2019	7.4%2020-2024	−5 points	Within the margin of error	87%

“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 James City, North Carolina five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of James City, 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, James City, North Carolina itself moved +8.6 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

4,789 residents (±728)

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

2,111 households (±276)

James City, North Carolina
North Carolina share

Under $25k18%†372
$25k–50k23%†495
$50k–75k

Homes

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

Owners and renters

2,111 households (±276)

James City, North Carolina
North Carolina share

Own85%1,797
Rent15%†314

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: Own (+8.5 points).

† 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

2,115 workers (±529)

James City, North Carolina
North Carolina share

Drive alone83%1,761
Carpool6.6%†139
Public transit1.7%†

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 New Bern, 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 Craven County, the county holding most of James City's residents.

Craven County has 2,224 employer establishments, 215 for every 10,000 residents (0.87× the US rate of 248; 0.91× North Carolina's), with 30,858 paid employees at an average annual pay of $48,609. The Census Bureau also counts 7,514 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 2,224; 7,514 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 215; US 248 · North Carolina 237
Paid employees: 30,858
Average annual pay: $48,609; US $68,342

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

Ambulatory health care services	194	18.8	0.90×About typical	2,341	$64,378	374
Restaurants and other eating places	181	17.5	0.95×About typical	3,732	$18,913	38
Lessors of real estate	118	11.4	0.93×About typical	321	$41,583	810
Specialty trade contractors	113	10.9	0.71×Fewer than typical	915	$59,220	494
Limited-service restaurants	92	8.9	1.11×About typical	1,949	$16,582	12
Religious organizations	86	8.3	1.50×More than typical	679	$24,283	—
Construction of buildings	77	7.4	0.99×About typical	267	$53,502	263
Full-service restaurants	74	7.2	0.93×About typical	1,630	$22,061	16
Services to buildings and dwellings	68	6.6	0.98×About typical	414	$36,570	593
Automotive repair and maintenance	57	5.5	1.10×About typical	223	$42,592	78
Offices of physicians	55	5.3	0.82×About typical	845	$99,853	85
Real estate agents and brokers	55	5.3	1.09×About typical	110	$44,064	251

Rank places for an industry Open Craven County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 103,370 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 $910.4K of federal contract obligations were for work performed in James City, North Carolina: $190 per resident (US $1,995).

Obligations: $910.4K; +146% vs FY2025
Per resident: $190; US $1,995
Sole-source: 0.4%; US 30%
Single offer: 0.7%; 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

Defense Logistics Agency$517.6K57%
Public Buildings Service$196.9K22%
Forest Service$135.3K15%
Department of the Navy$34.3K3.8%
Department of Veterans Affairs$13K1.4%
U.S. Coast Guard$7,3390.8%
Federal Prison System / Bureau of Prisons$2,5090.3%
Department of the Army$2,3560.3%

Top recipients

Spending by fiscal year

325KFY2017
319.1KFY2018
345.8KFY2019
449.4KFY2020
522.7KFY2021
287.9KFY2022
847.1KFY2023
1.7M

Top industries (NAICS)

Petroleum and coal products manufacturing · 3241$514.4K57%
Facilities support services · 5612$196.9K22%
Nonresidential building construction · 2362$42.9K4.7%
Nonscheduled air transportation · 4812$23.9K2.6%
Office furniture (including fixtures) manufacturing · 3372$23.6K2.6%
Basic chemical manufacturing · 3251$20.7K2.3%

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

James City, North Carolina's figures are part of those of Craven County, NC ($196.5M in FY2026), never added to them: 0.5% of that total.

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

See federal money in Craven 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.

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

House

Gregory F. MurphyR-NC-3 · 100% of residentsWith party 98%Missed 12.9%

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.

Craven County51100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

New Bern, NC58

Other cities and towns in Craven 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/3734260

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends