City · Wake County, North Carolina

Raleigh, North Carolina

Raleigh is a city in Wake County, North Carolina, part of the Raleigh-Cary, NC metro area. It has 481,031 residents. Raleigh, North Carolina has a quality-of-life score of 90 out of 100 (very high), ranking #1,526 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within North Carolina it ranks #11 of 458 cities and towns. It ranks best on hospital quality rating (high), voter turnout (high) and gyms and fitness centers (high). It ranks worst on drought exposure (high), public libraries (low) and income inequality (Gini index) (high).

90Very high

Quality-of-life score: #1,526 of 15,651 cities and towns
North Carolina: #11 of 458 in NC
Population: 481,031 (2020-2024)
Land area: 152 mi²
Density: 3,159.2 /mi²
FIPS code: 3755000

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 76 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.

Safety58#6,572/15,637
Economy69#4,826/15,631
Housing40#8,923/14,977
Health88#1,853/15,609
Healthcare76#3,743/15,650
Environment58#6,425/15,453
Education93#1,141/15,649
Infrastructure95#754/15,650
Community93#1,050/15,651
Leisure & amenities84#2,467/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

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

Hospital quality rating · high4.7
96/100North Carolina 3.3United States 3.2Jul 2026Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesWake County value
Voter turnout · high80.3%
96/100North Carolina 72.9%United States 65.2%2024U.S. Election Assistance CommissionWake County value
Gyms and fitness centers · high2.2 /10k
95/100North Carolina 1.5 /10kUnited States 1.3 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsWake County value
New business applications · high23.0 /1k
94/100North Carolina 16.3 /1kUnited States 16.6 /1k2025U.S. Census BureauWake County value
Access to exercise opportunities · high98.6%
94/100North Carolina 78.0%United States 84.5%2022 & 2024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteWake County value
Flu vaccinations · high55.0%
93/100North Carolina 48.0%United States 44.0%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteWake County value

Weaknesses

Drought exposure · high96%
4/100North Carolina 79%United States 43%Oct 2025–Sep 2026National Drought Mitigation Center (University of Nebraska–Lincoln), USDA and NOAAWake County value
Public libraries · low0.2 /10k
7/100North Carolina 0.4 /10kUnited States 0.5 /10k2024Institute of Museum and Library ServicesWake County value
Income inequality (Gini index) · high0.484
9/100North Carolina 0.477United States 0.4832020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B19083
Home price to income ratio · high4.9×
21/100North Carolina 4.0×United States 4.1×2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25077
Time spent in the emergency room · high201 min
22/100North Carolina 189 minUnited States 170 minOct 2024–Sep 2025Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesWake County value
Property crime rate · high1,584 /100k
24/100North Carolina 1,780 /100kUnited States 1,535 /100k2025Federal Bureau of InvestigationWake County value

Trends

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

Rent-burdened householdsWorsening
45.6% (2015-2019) → 52.1% (2020-2024)
+6.5 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Home price to income ratioWorsening
3.7× (2015-2019) → 4.9× (2020-2024)
+32%5 yearsCensus table B25077US 3.5× → 4.1×
New homes permittedWorsening
14.0 /1k (2021) → 9.9 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
−29%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k
Median household incomeImproving
$67,266 (2015-2019) → $85,395 (2020-2024)
+27%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
89.9% (2015-2019) → 94.7% (2020-2024)
+4.8 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Bachelor's degree or higherImproving
50.9% (2015-2019) → 54.0% (2020-2024)
+3.1 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 32.1% → 35.7%

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, Raleigh, North Carolina improved on 5 of 15 measures with a comparison and declined on 5. 4 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.

Improved5

Uninsured−0.9 points11.4% → 10.4%
Child poverty−1.8 points17.8% → 16.0%
Bachelor's++3.1 points50.9% → 54.0%
Household income+27%$67,266 → $85,395
Broadband+4.8 points89.9% → 94.7%

Declined5

Price / income+1.2×3.7× → 4.9×
Rent burden+6.5 points45.6% → 52.1%
Inequality+0.0180.467 → 0.485
Rent / income+2.6 points28.3% → 30.9%
Transit use−0.6 points2.0% → 1.4%

All 15 measures

Change of every measure of Raleigh, North Carolina between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	24.0 min2015-2019	23.0 min2020-2024	−0.9 min	Within the margin of error	59%
Bachelor's degree or higher	50.9%2015-2019	54.0%2020-2024	+3.1 points	Improved	52%
Broadband subscriptions	89.9%2015-2019	94.7%2020-2024	+4.8 points	Improved	30%
Child poverty rate	17.8%2015-2019	16.0%2020-2024	−1.8 points	Improved	55%
Effective property tax rate	0.95%2015-2019	0.72%2020-2024	−0.2 points	Little change	64%
High school diploma or higher	91.8%2015-2019	92.6%2020-2024	+0.8 points	Within the margin of error	43%
Home price to income ratio	3.7×2015-2019	4.9×2020-2024	+1.2×	Declined	16%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4672015-2019	0.4852020-2024	+0.018	Declined	35%
Median household income	$67,2662015-2019	$85,3952020-2024	+27%	Improved	48%
Poverty rate	12.6%2015-2019	11.9%2020-2024	−0.7 points	Within the margin of error	50%
Public transit commuters	2.0%2015-2019	1.4%2020-2024	−0.6 points	Declined	20%
Rent as share of income	28.3%2015-2019	30.9%2020-2024	+2.6 points	Declined	36%
Rent-burdened households	45.6%2015-2019	52.1%2020-2024	+6.5 points	Declined	33%
Unemployment rate	4.1%2015-2019	4.4%2020-2024	+0.3 points	Within the margin of error	43%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	11.4%2015-2019	10.4%2020-2024	−0.9 points	Improved	58%

“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 Raleigh, North Carolina five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Raleigh, 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, Raleigh, North Carolina itself moved −3.9 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

481,031 residents (±391)

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

203,443 households (±1,758)

Raleigh, North Carolina
North Carolina share

Under $25k12%25,146
$25k–50k17%33,590
$50k–75k15%31,281

Homes

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

Owners and renters

203,443 households (±1,758)

Raleigh, North Carolina
North Carolina share

Own51%103,241
Rent49%100,202

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

263,822 workers (±3,533)

Raleigh, North Carolina
North Carolina share

Drive alone62%164,343
Carpool6.7%17,743
Public transit1.4%3,649

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 Raleigh-Cary, 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 Wake County, the county holding most of Raleigh's residents.

Wake County has 33,873 employer establishments, 282 for every 10,000 residents (1.14× the US rate of 248; 1.19× North Carolina's), with 556,250 paid employees at an average annual pay of $71,192. The Census Bureau also counts 122,430 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 33,873; 122,430 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 282; US 248 · North Carolina 237
Paid employees: 556,250
Average annual pay: $71,192; US $68,342

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

Ambulatory health care services	2,727	22.7	1.09×About typical	38,058	$76,307	6,012
Restaurants and other eating places	2,317	19.3	1.05×About typical	51,021	$23,159	497
Lessors of real estate	2,179	18.1	1.47×More than typical	7,879	$73,042	14,747
Specialty trade contractors	1,964	16.4	1.06×About typical	24,259	$67,861	6,410
Management, scientific and technical consulting	1,609	13.4	2.00×More than typical	13,802	$104,817	7,060
Computer systems design and related services	1,235	10.3	2.38×More than typical	15,099	$122,180	2,470
Construction of buildings	1,172	9.8	1.29×More than typical	8,912	$97,111	2,466
Real estate agents and brokers	1,117	9.3	1.91×More than typical	2,442	$86,167	4,196
Full-service restaurants	1,021	8.5	1.11×About typical	24,672	$26,885	192
Services to buildings and dwellings	995	8.3	1.23×About typical	11,412	$40,899	5,034
Limited-service restaurants	984	8.2	1.02×About typical	21,922	$19,913	210
Offices of other health practitioners	939	7.8	1.29×More than typical	6,042	$54,803	3,104

Rank places for an industry Open Wake County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 1,200,630 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 $86.8M of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Raleigh, North Carolina: $181 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $86.8M; −40% vs FY2025
Per resident: $181; US $1,994
Sole-source: 29%; US 30%
Single offer: 24%; 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 Threat Reduction Agency$13.8M16%
Department of Veterans Affairs$13.4M15%
Department of the Navy$11.6M13%
Department of the Army$11.5M13%
Federal Aviation Administration$8.1M9.3%
U.S. Customs and Border Protection$6.2M7.1%
Public Buildings Service$5.2M6.0%
Department of the Air Force$4.4M5.1%

Top recipients

APPLIED RESEARCH ASSOCIATES, INC.$18.1M21%
GRAHAM ADVISORY NETWORK INC$8.8M10%
EATON CORPORATION$8.5M9.8%
TMC-TELESOLV$6.2M7.1%
POWERHOUSE RESOURCES INTERNATIONAL LLC$5.6M6.5%

Spending by fiscal year

71.5MFY2017
93.7MFY2018
109.2MFY2019
123.9MFY2020
102.2MFY2021
90MFY2022
94.1MFY2023
108.8M

Top industries (NAICS)

Scientific research and development services · 5417$26.6M31%
Web search portals, libraries, archives, and other information services · 5192$8.7M10%
Office administrative services · 5611$6.2M7.1%
Aerospace product and parts manufacturing · 3364$5.8M6.7%
Electronic and precision equipment repair and maintenance · 8112$5.7M6.6%
Nonresidential building construction · 2362

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

COMBATING WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION ANALYSIS AND PLANNING TOOL DEVELOPMENT$171.2M
APPLIED RESEARCH ASSOCIATES, INC.· Wake County, NC· Research & development· Mar 29, 2019 – May 5, 2026· HDTRA119F0005
CONSTRUCT CDC$24.2M
COOPER TACIA GENERAL CONTRACTING COMPANY· Wake County, NC· Construction & real property· Jun 11, 2025 – Mar 25, 2026· W912HN25C4001
ANALYSIS AND PLANNING TOOLS$24M
APPLIED RESEARCH ASSOCIATES, INC.· Wake County, NC· Research & development· Feb 10, 2026 – Apr 28, 2026· HDTRA126FE015
INSTALLATION AND LONG TERM MEASUREMENT&VERIFICATION OF ENERGY CONSERVATION MEASURES IN 9 FEDERAL BUILDINGS IN NORTH CAROLINA, MISSISSIPPI, AND ALABAMA.

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

Raleigh, North Carolina's figures are part of those of Wake County, NC and Durham County, NC ($1.3B in FY2026), never added to them: 6.8% of that total.

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

See federal money in Wake 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.

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

House

Senate

Thom TillisR-

County

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

Wake County94100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Raleigh-Cary, NC94

Other cities and towns in Wake 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
Building Permits SurveyU.S. Census Bureau · release 2026-08
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/3755000

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends