Oxford, NC

The affordability dashboard for Oxford, NC aggregates Census ACS 5-Year Estimates across 1 ZIP code covering 25,255 residents, then layers in county-level federal data to produce an overall grade of D (44/100). The headline inputs are median household income of $56,432, median home value of $204,000, median rent of $914 per month, and 21.2% 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 $1,200 per month (studio $1,026, 1BR $1,084, 3BR $1,571, 4BR $1,700). Department of Labor data lists infant center-based childcare at $10,411 per year, consuming 18% 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. Pressure points are education, commute, childcare. Unemployment currently reads 6.7% and poverty 18.7% — numbers worth keeping alongside the headline grade.