Metro area · North Carolina

Fayetteville, NC metro area

Fayetteville, NC is a metropolitan area of 2 counties in North Carolina, home to 395,412 residents. Fayetteville, NC metro area has a quality-of-life score of 25 out of 100 (low), ranking #690 of 925 US metro and micro areas. Among metro and micro areas based in North Carolina it ranks #27 of 38. It ranks best on dentists (high), distance to an Amtrak station (low) and new business applications (high). It ranks worst on property crime rate (high), homicide rate (high) and violent crime rate (high).

25Low
Quality-of-life score
#690 of 925 metro and micro areas
North Carolina
#27 of 38 in NC
Population
395,412 (2025)
Land area
1,043 mi²
Density
379.2 /mi²
CBSA code
22180

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 69 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map
Location of Fayetteville, NC metro area

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US metro and micro areas.

  • Safety5#882/924
  • Economy24#705/925
  • Housing23#709/925
  • Health25#695/925
  • Healthcare42#536/923
  • Environment50#461/917
  • Education68#296/925
  • Infrastructure60#367/925
  • Community24#707/925
  • Leisure & amenities28#669/925

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Fayetteville, NC metro area ranks highest and lowest among US metro and micro areas (score = percentile, 100 = best).

Strengths

Weaknesses

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.

Metro and micro areas like Fayetteville, NC metro area five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Fayetteville, NC metro area 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.

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).

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Homes

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

Getting to work

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

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

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.

Federal contract spending

Federal grants & assistance

Grants, loans (counted at their subsidy cost), direct payments and insurance, by fiscal year of the action (USAspending.gov, FABS). Reported apart from contracts and never added to them.

Counties in Fayetteville, NC

Whole counties, as the U.S. Office of Management and Budget delineates the area. Federal spending below is the exact sum of these counties.

  1. Cumberland CountyCentral county33338,473
  2. Hoke CountyCentral county1656,939

Principal cities

The cities the area is named for.

  1. FayettevillePrincipal city210,815

Largest cities and towns

By population, for places with most of their residents in the area.

  1. Fayetteville210,815
  2. Hope Mills17,939
  3. Spring Lake11,573
  4. Raeford4,552
  5. Eastover3,666
  6. Rockfish3,574
  7. Vander1,922
  8. Stedman1,670
  9. Five Points940
  10. Silver City592
  11. Wade518
  12. Ashley Heights282
  13. Falcon272
  14. Godwin203
  15. Linden129
  16. Bowmore88
  17. Dundarrach0

Other metro and micro areas in North Carolina

Areas based in North Carolina, best score first.

Neighboring metro and micro areas

Places that share a border, best score first.

Similar metro and micro areas

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.

JSON · /api/v1/places/M22180