Northwest, NC population, income and ZIP codes

Northwest city is a very small community in North Carolina, with 690 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #529 of 777 ranked by population — larger than 31% of them. The median age here is 51.9 years against 39.1 nationally, a markedly older profile that usually tracks retirees staying put and younger households leaving for work. At this population the ACS sample is small, so the margin of error around every dollar figure below is wide — treat the numbers as a band, not a point, and expect them to move between annual releases without the place itself changing.

Households in Northwest city earn a median of $53,143 a year, 32.3% below the national figure of $78,538 and 13% below the $61,228 median for the 459 North Carolina cities we cover. Median household income counts every pre-tax dollar arriving at an address — wages, self-employment, Social Security, pensions, interest and public assistance — for everyone living there, so multi-earner households pull the figure up even where individual pay is modest. Poverty reaches 17.1% of residents here, above the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in Northwest city is valued at $183,700, 39.5% below the national figure and 16% below the $219,800 peer median, while median gross rent runs $1,006 a month, 28.4% below the national figure, or roughly $12,072 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 22.7% of gross pay toward that rent against the federal 30% cost-burden threshold, so renting here is within the standard affordability guideline. The home-price-to-income ratio works out to 3.5×, against roughly 3.9× nationally, so buying is easier here than in the average US market. 87.1% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, an owner-dominated market where rental listings are scarce and rent medians rest on a thin sample. Gross rent folds in the utilities a tenant pays separately, so it is closer to the real monthly outlay than a headline rent figure.

A median age of 51.9 puts Northwest city well into retirement-weighted territory, which pulls median household income down even where household wealth is high, because retirement draws are counted differently from wages. With 690 residents, a handful of survey responses moves every median on this page. Compare Northwest city against its county rather than against national figures.

All values below were released by the Census for this exact geography, with no gap-filling on our side. Small-area estimates still carry wider margins of error than state or national figures, so check the linked ACS tables before relying on them for lending, appraisal or legal work.