City · Beaufort County, North Carolina

Washington, North Carolina

Washington is a city in Beaufort County, North Carolina, part of the Washington, NC metro area. It has 9,726 residents. Washington, North Carolina has a quality-of-life score of 19 out of 100 (very low), ranking #12,665 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within North Carolina it ranks #357 of 458 cities and towns. It ranks best on mammography screening (high), voter turnout (high) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) (low). It ranks worst on natural hazard risk (high), distance to an emergency room (high) and primary care shortage (high).

19Very low

Quality-of-life score: #12,665 of 15,651 cities and towns
North Carolina: #357 of 458 in NC
Population: 9,726 (2020-2024)
Land area: 8 mi²
Density: 1,234.7 /mi²
FIPS code: 3771220

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 70 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.

Safety5#14,906/15,637
Economy13#13,623/15,631
Housing22#11,700/14,977
Health12#13,783/15,609
Healthcare17#12,994/15,650
Environment65#5,387/15,453
Education47#8,318/15,649
Infrastructure13#13,613/15,650
Community72#4,316/15,651
Leisure & amenities58#6,611/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Washington, North Carolina ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Beaufort 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 · high56.0%
94/100North Carolina 50.0%United States 46.0%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteBeaufort County value
Voter turnout · high76.8%
90/100North Carolina 72.9%United States 65.2%2024U.S. Election Assistance CommissionBeaufort County value
Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) · low6.1 µg/m³
89/100North Carolina 7.5 µg/m³United States 8.0 µg/m³2022Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyBeaufort County value
Comfortable days · high31.0%
83/100North Carolina 30.0%United States 26.8%2016-2025NOAA National Centers for Environmental InformationBeaufort County value
Average commute time · low19.5 min
80/100North Carolina 25.1 minUnited States 26.4 min2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B08013
Public libraries · high1.1 /10k
79/100North Carolina 0.4 /10kUnited States 0.5 /10k2024Institute of Museum and Library ServicesBeaufort County value

Weaknesses

Natural hazard risk · high98.3
2/100North Carolina 45.12025Federal Emergency Management AgencyBeaufort County value
Distance to an emergency room · high18.9 mi
3/100North Carolina 7.9 miUnited States 5.5 miJul 2026Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesBeaufort County value
Primary care shortage · high18.0
5/100North Carolina 9.9United States 6.2Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationBeaufort County value
Median household income · low$40,186
6/100North Carolina $74,055United States $81,6042020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B19013
Income inequality (Gini index) · high0.498
9/100North Carolina 0.477United States 0.4832020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B19083
Firearm deaths · high22.5 /100k
10/100North Carolina 16.2 /100kUnited States 12.1 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataBeaufort County value

Trends

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

Broadband subscriptionsImproving
62.4% (2015-2019) → 87.3% (2020-2024)
+25 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
New homes permittedWorsening
3.8 /1k (2021) → 0.3 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
−92%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k
Rent-burdened householdsWorsening
51.5% (2015-2019) → 60.9% (2020-2024)
+9.4 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Unemployment rateImproving
10.0% (2015-2019) → 3.5% (2020-2024)
−6.5 pts5 yearsCensus table B23025US 3.7% → 4.0%
High school diploma or higherImproving
83.9% (2015-2019) → 90.0% (2020-2024)
+6.2 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 88.0% → 89.6%
Child poverty rateImproving
42.1% (2015-2019) → 36.3% (2020-2024)
−5.8 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, Washington, North Carolina improved on 2 of 15 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 13 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

Unemployment−6.5 points10.0% → 3.5%
Broadband+25 points62.4% → 87.3%

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 15 measures

Change of every measure of Washington, North Carolina between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	16.2 min2015-2019	19.5 min2020-2024	+3.3 min	Within the margin of error	18%
Bachelor's degree or higher	22.1%2015-2019	24.0%2020-2024	+1.8 points	Within the margin of error	41%
Broadband subscriptions	62.4%2015-2019	87.3%2020-2024	+25 points	Improved	95%
Child poverty rate	42.1%2015-2019	36.3%2020-2024	−5.8 points	Within the margin of error	71%
Effective property tax rate	1.06%2015-2019	0.81%2020-2024	−0.2 points	Within the margin of error	67%
High school diploma or higher	83.9%2015-2019	90.0%2020-2024	+6.2 points	Within the margin of error	87%
Home price to income ratio	4.3×2015-2019	5.1×2020-2024	+0.8×	Within the margin of error	30%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.5532015-2019	0.4982020-2024	−0.055	Within the margin of error	86%
Median household income	$32,1962015-2019	$40,1862020-2024	+25%	Within the margin of error	44%
Poverty rate	27.8%2015-2019	23.1%2020-2024	−4.6 points	Within the margin of error	79%
Public transit commuters	0.0%2015-2019	0.0%2020-2024	0 points	Within the margin of error	60%
Rent as share of income	31.1%2015-2019	35.6%2020-2024	+4.5 points	Within the margin of error	25%
Rent-burdened households	51.5%2015-2019	60.9%2020-2024	+9.4 points	Within the margin of error	25%
Unemployment rate	10.0%2015-2019	3.5%2020-2024	−6.5 points	Improved	97%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	11.8%2015-2019	10.0%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 Washington, North Carolina five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Washington, 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, Washington, North Carolina itself moved +0.7 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

9,726 residents (±33)

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

4,709 households (±259)

Washington, North Carolina
North Carolina share

Under $25k30%1,436
$25k–50k25%1,200
$50k–75k20%926

Homes

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

Owners and renters

4,709 households (±259)

Washington, North Carolina
North Carolina share

Own46%2,185
Rent54%2,524

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

4,340 workers (±443)

Washington, North Carolina
North Carolina share

Drive alone79%3,435
Carpool9.7%†422
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 Washington, 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 Beaufort County, the county holding most of Washington's residents.

Beaufort County has 1,138 employer establishments, 256 for every 10,000 residents (1.03× the US rate of 248; 1.08× North Carolina's), with 13,893 paid employees at an average annual pay of $46,404. The Census Bureau also counts 3,601 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 1,138; 3,601 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 256; US 248 · North Carolina 237
Paid employees: 13,893
Average annual pay: $46,404; US $68,342

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

Ambulatory health care services	92	20.7	0.99×About typical	746	$66,851	121
Restaurants and other eating places	77	17.3	0.94×About typical	1,366	$18,239	6
Specialty trade contractors	57	12.8	0.83×About typical	316	$40,500	359
Religious organizations	44	9.9	1.78×More than typical	226	$22,416	—
Lessors of real estate	40	9	0.73×Fewer than typical	136	$34,757	379
Construction of buildings	37	8.3	1.10×About typical	357	$77,384	177
Insurance agencies and brokerages	37	8.3	1.89×More than typical	155	$54,084	60
Limited-service restaurants	36	8.1	1.01×About typical	753	$18,660	3
Offices of physicians	36	8.1	1.25×About typical	276	$95,674	22
Full-service restaurants	34	7.6	0.99×About typical	557	$17,919	—
Automotive repair and maintenance	32	7.2	1.43×More than typical	141	$40,709	85
Services to buildings and dwellings	31	7	1.03×About typical	149	$35,611	429

Rank places for an industry Open Beaufort County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 44,508 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 $8,058 of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Washington, North Carolina: $0.83 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $8,058; −51% vs FY2025
Per resident: $0.83; US $1,994
Sole-source: 95%; US 30%
Single offer: 6.2%; 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

SESAME TECHNOLOGIES INC$3,89148%
CAMFIL USA INC$2,46031%
MISCELLANEOUS FOREIGN AWARDEES$1,19815%
CADENCE CAPITAL LLC$5096.3%

Spending by fiscal year

13.2KFY2017
56.4KFY2018
16.2KFY2019
20KFY2020
24.4KFY2021
27.1KFY2022
14.8KFY2023
9.6KFY2024

Top industries (NAICS)

Aerospace product and parts manufacturing · 3364$3,89148%
Ventilation, heating, air-conditioning, and refrigeration equipment manufacturing · 3334$3,75047%
Commercial and industrial machinery and equipment repair and maintenance · 8113$5096.3%

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

Washington, North Carolina's figures are part of those of Beaufort County, NC ($2.4M in FY2026), never added to them: 0.3% of that total.

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

See federal money in Beaufort 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.

Washington, 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.

Beaufort County40100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Washington, NC37

Other cities and towns in Beaufort 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/3771220

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends