Town · Nash County, North Carolina

Sharpsburg, North Carolina

Sharpsburg is a town in Nash County, North Carolina, part of the Rocky Mount, NC metro area. It has 1,605 residents. Sharpsburg, North Carolina has a quality-of-life score of 18 out of 100 (very low), ranking #12,894 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within North Carolina it ranks #370 of 458 cities and towns. It ranks best on unemployment rate (low), home price to income ratio (low) and social associations (high). It ranks worst on drought exposure (high), homicide rate (high) and bachelor's degree or higher (low).

18Very low

Quality-of-life score: #12,894 of 15,651 cities and towns
North Carolina: #370 of 458 in NC
Population: 1,605 (2020-2024)
Land area: 1 mi²
Density: 1,584.1 /mi²
FIPS code: 3761060

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.

Safety4#15,002/15,637
Economy34#10,315/15,631
Housing47#7,924/14,977
Health19#12,621/15,609
Healthcare29#11,085/15,650
Environment56#6,861/15,453
Education4#14,986/15,649
Infrastructure12#13,761/15,650
Community68#5,073/15,651
Leisure & amenities34#10,276/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

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

Unemployment rate · low0.0%
98/100North Carolina 3.8%United States 4.3%2020-2024U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Census table B23025
Home price to income ratio · low2.2×
82/100North Carolina 4.0×United States 4.1×2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25077
Social associations · high12.5 /10k
80/100North Carolina 11.2 /10kUnited States 9.1 /10k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteNash County value
Distance to an Amtrak station · low8 mi
80/100North Carolina 23 miUnited States 43 mi2026Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauNash County value
Hospital quality rating · high4.0
80/100North Carolina 3.3United States 3.2Jul 2026Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesNash County value
Voter turnout · high72.4%
77/100North Carolina 72.9%United States 65.2%2024U.S. Election Assistance CommissionNash County value

Weaknesses

Drought exposure · high100%
1/100North Carolina 80%United States 43%Nov 2025–Oct 2026National Drought Mitigation Center (University of Nebraska–Lincoln), USDA and NOAANash County value
Homicide rate · high14.5 /100k
3/100North Carolina 6.9 /100kUnited States 4.8 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataNash County value
Bachelor's degree or higher · low8.1%
6/100North Carolina 35.7%United States 35.7%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B15003High uncertainty
Job growth · low-3.3%
6/100North Carolina 0.8%United States 0.1%2026 Q1U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsProvisional dataNash County value
Firearm deaths · high24.9 /100k
6/100North Carolina 16.2 /100kUnited States 12.1 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataNash County value
Students per teacher · high20.4×
7/100North Carolina 16.0×United States 15.2×2024National Center for Education StatisticsNash County value

Trends

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

PopulationFalling
2,133 (2015-2019) → 1,605 (2020-2024)
−25%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
60.9% (2015-2019) → 82.4% (2020-2024)
+21 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Median household incomeImproving
$26,977 (2015-2019) → $54,709 (2020-2024)
+103%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Child poverty rateImproving
41.7% (2015-2019) → 27.7% (2020-2024)
−14 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Poverty rateImproving
32.2% (2015-2019) → 19.3% (2020-2024)
−13 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 12.3% → 12.1%
Unemployment rateImproving
7.6% (2015-2019) → 0.0% (2020-2024)
−7.6 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, Sharpsburg, 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

Household income+103%$26,977 → $54,709
Broadband+21 points60.9% → 82.4%

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 12 measures

Change of every measure of Sharpsburg, North Carolina between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	26.0 min2015-2019	28.5 min2020-2024	+2.5 min	Within the margin of error	24%
Broadband subscriptions	60.9%2015-2019	82.4%2020-2024	+21 points	Improved	92%
Child poverty rate	41.7%2015-2019	27.7%2020-2024	−14 points	Within the margin of error	88%
Effective property tax rate	1.14%2015-2019	0.87%2020-2024	−0.3 points	Within the margin of error	71%
High school diploma or higher	78.9%2015-2019	80.1%2020-2024	+1.2 points	Within the margin of error	49%
Home price to income ratio	3.1×2015-2019	2.2×2020-2024	−0.8×	Within the margin of error	97%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4912015-2019	0.4032020-2024	−0.088	Within the margin of error	94%
Median household income	$26,9772015-2019	$54,7092020-2024	+103%	Improved	99%
Poverty rate	32.2%2015-2019	19.3%2020-2024	−13 points	Within the margin of error	96%
Rent as share of income	34.5%2015-2019	41.2%2020-2024	+6.7 points	Within the margin of error	16%
Rent-burdened households	62.4%2015-2019	63.2%2020-2024	+0.8 points	Within the margin of error	53%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	10.1%2015-2019	7.6%2020-2024	−2.5 points	Within the margin of error	73%

“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 Sharpsburg, North Carolina five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Sharpsburg, 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, Sharpsburg, North Carolina itself moved +12.2 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

1,605 residents (±408)

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

648 households (±137)

Sharpsburg, North Carolina
North Carolina share

Under $25k21%†135
$25k–50k23%†151
$50k–75k

Homes

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

Owners and renters

648 households (±137)

Sharpsburg, North Carolina
North Carolina share

Own53%342
Rent47%†306

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

807 workers (±212)

Sharpsburg, North Carolina
North Carolina share

Drive alone68%†549
Carpool14%†114
Public transit

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 Rocky Mount, 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 Nash County, the county holding most of Sharpsburg's residents.

Nash County has 2,114 employer establishments, 217 for every 10,000 residents (0.87× the US rate of 248; 0.91× North Carolina's), with 38,350 paid employees at an average annual pay of $48,656. The Census Bureau also counts 7,165 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 2,114; 7,165 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 217; US 248 · North Carolina 237
Paid employees: 38,350
Average annual pay: $48,656; US $68,342

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

Restaurants and other eating places	159	16.3	0.89×About typical	3,707	$18,593	34
Ambulatory health care services	144	14.8	0.71×Fewer than typical	1,859	$60,602	284
Specialty trade contractors	134	13.8	0.89×About typical	1,493	$58,509	596
Religious organizations	100	10.3	1.85×More than typical	560	$23,600	—
Limited-service restaurants	78	8	1.00×About typical	2,032	$18,799	8
Lessors of real estate	74	7.6	0.62×Fewer than typical	233	$39,717	679
Building equipment contractors	70	7.2	1.20×About typical	903	$60,615	125
Services to buildings and dwellings	67	6.9	1.02×About typical	471	$28,932	681
Full-service restaurants	64	6.6	0.86×About typical	1,421	$18,757	13
Construction of buildings	63	6.5	0.86×About typical	406	$68,030	209
Gasoline stations	62	6.4	1.97×More than typical	468	$23,656	3
Clothing and accessories stores	49	5	1.39×More than typical	437	$18,574	92

Rank places for an industry Open Nash County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 97,319 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 Sharpsburg, 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

296.8FY2017

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

Sharpsburg, North Carolina's figures are part of those of Nash County, NC, Wilson County, NC and Edgecombe County, NC ($33.9M 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: Sharpsburg is mostly in Nash County.

See federal money in Nash 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.

Sharpsburg, 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.

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Rocky Mount, NC24

Other cities and towns in Nash 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/3761060

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends