Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Cost of living, housing, income, commute, climate, and safety — compiled for relocators researching Winston-Salem.
Key figures
Each metric shows how Winston-Salem compares with the U.S. baseline (ACS/BLS nationals where available; catalog-city averages for crime, climate, and commute). Income, housing, population, and crime are for the incorporated city (city limits), not the broader metro/MSA — unemployment is county-level (BLS LAUS).
- Population
- 250,887City limits · not metro/MSA
- Median household income
- $57,673Incorporated place (ACS)27% below U.S. avgU.S. $78,538
- Housing cost index
- 73ACS home+rent vs U.S. (100 = avg)27% below U.S. avgU.S. 100
- Median home value
- $208,200City limits (ACS)31% below U.S. avgU.S. $303,400
- Median rent
- $1,033City limits (ACS)23% below U.S. avgU.S. $1,348
- Unemployment
- 3.7%County LAUS · not city-onlyNear U.S. avg (4.2 pts)U.S. 4.2 pts
- Avg commute
- 21 min16% below U.S. avgU.S. 25 min
- Walk Score
- 2838% below U.S. avgU.S. 45
- Violent crime rate
- UnavailableFBI CDE gap
- Property crime rate
- UnavailableFBI CDE gap
- Summer high
- 86°FNear U.S. avg (87°F)U.S. 87°F
- Winter low
- 33°FNear U.S. avg (34°F)U.S. 34°F
- Annual rainfall
- 43.2 in31% above U.S. avgU.S. 32.9 in
- Sunny days
- 24010% below U.S. avgU.S. 266
Compare Winston-Salem with another city
Winston-Salem (pop. 250,887) sits in North Carolina. Median household income is roughly $57,673, while the ACS housing-cost index sits near 73 — among the more affordable large markets in this catalog on housing costs (100 ≈ U.S. average). Entry home prices around $208,200 still look attainable compared with coastal metros.
Winston-Salem is compact enough that a single wrong neighborhood choice is easy to feel day to day — visit at commute hour before signing. Figures on this page are merged from Census ACS, BLS LAUS, FBI Crime Data Explorer, and NOAA Climate Normals — use them to compare Winston-Salem with nearby alternatives before you relocate.
Piedmont research corridors and coastal storm exposure both matter. The normals show about 43.2 inches of rain and 240 sunny days across a typical year. Plan on roughly 21 minutes each way for a typical commute; Walk Score is about 28. Unemployment recently ran near 3.7%, broadly in line with many large U.S. counties. Official FBI agency crime rates were not published for this place in the latest pull, so treat safety as a neighborhood-level research task.
Nearby & similar cities
Continue researching with these internal links — each page is a full data profile.
Sources
- Census / ACS: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 5-year (Winston-Salem city, 1600000US3775000)
- BLS: BLS LAUS LAUCN370670000000003 (Forsyth County, May 2026)
- Crime: data unavailable
- Climate: NOAA 1991–2020 Monthly Normals (USW00093807 WINSTON SALEM RYNLDS AP)
Last updated 2026-07-28
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