Fayetteville, NC

The affordability dashboard for Fayetteville, NC aggregates Census ACS 5-Year Estimates across 8 ZIP codes covering 238,602 residents, then layers in county-level federal data to produce an overall grade of C (56/100). The headline inputs are median household income of $61,197, median home value of $196,233, median rent of $1,183 per month, and 28.9% of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher. These four metrics alone explain most of the variance between city dashboards.

Cross-agency feeds widen the picture beyond Census demographics. HUD publishes a Fair Market Rent for a 2-bedroom in this county at $1,251 per month (studio $1,090, 1BR $1,113, 3BR $1,667, 4BR $2,068). Department of Labor data lists infant center-based childcare at $9,535 per year, consuming 16% of the local median household income.

Reading the overall grade requires reading all seven dimensions together. The score weights Income 20%, Safety 20%, Housing 15%, Rent 15%, Education 10%, Commute 10%, and Childcare 10%, with each sub-score benchmarked against national percentiles rather than state averages — so the grade is genuinely comparable across any city in the country. Unemployment currently reads 7.2% and poverty 17.6% — numbers worth keeping alongside the headline grade.