HomeNorth CarolinaMacon CountyHighlands town
Highlands town, North Carolina: commercial real estate data.
Highlands town is a Census town of 1,074 people across 6.25 square miles of land, lying across Macon County and Jackson County. Median household income is $71,509, 67.2 percent of occupied homes are owned, and the SBA record carries 8 7(a) approvals to borrowers here worth $9.7 m.
71 sourced place values · tier FULL · 8 sections · underlined figures are computed by MMCG Analytics, not published by the agency
Highlands
What Highlands is
- Census place typetown
- Land area6.25 sq mi
- Water area0.14 sq mi
- Population per square mile of land172 plus or minus 38
- County holding the largest share of its areaMacon County, 91.5 percent
- Counties this place lies inMacon County 91.5 percent, Jackson County 8.5 percent
Highlands town crosses a county line. The split above is measured from the Census boundary of the place against the county boundaries, by area, so it says where the ground is and not where the town hall is.
US Census Bureau, cartographic boundary file, places, 2024 vintage. US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, place level, 2020-2024 5-year.
Highlands
How many people live in Highlands
- Population1,074 plus or minus 236
- Median age62.7
- Population under 1872 plus or minus 48
- Share under 186.7 percent plus or minus 4.3
- Population 65 and over504
- Share 65 and over46.9 percent plus or minus 13.8
- Households643 plus or minus 154
- Family households301 plus or minus 76
- Share of households that are families46.8 percent
US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, place level, 2020-2024 5-year.
Highlands
Income and work in Highlands
- Median household income$71,509
- Per capita income$63,661
- Civilian labor force469 plus or minus 153
- Employed449 plus or minus 148
- Unemployed20 plus or minus 27
- Unemployment rate4.3 percent plus or minus 5.6
- Adults 25 and over932 plus or minus 190
- Adults 25 and over with a high school diploma or higher96.9 percent plus or minus 27.2
- Adults 25 and over with a bachelor degree or higher57.8 percent
- Adults 25 and over with a graduate degree20.9 percent plus or minus 5.4
US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, place level, 2020-2024 5-year.
Highlands
Housing in Highlands
- Housing units2,454
- Occupied units643 plus or minus 154
- Vacant units1,811
- Vacancy rate73.8 percent
- Owner occupied432 plus or minus 94
- Renter occupied211 plus or minus 124
- Ownership rate67.2 percent plus or minus 21.7
- Median owner-occupied home value$700,900
- Median gross rent, monthly$650 plus or minus $533
- Annual rent as a share of median income10.9 percent plus or minus 9.0
- Single family units1,878
- Share single family76.5 percent
- Units in buildings of two or more468 plus or minus 127
- Share in buildings of two or more19.1 percent plus or minus 4.8
- Mobile homes108 plus or minus 80
- Median year structure built1981
US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, place level, 2020-2024 5-year.
Highlands
How Highlands gets to work
- Workers 16 and over who commute341 plus or minus 140
- Commuting under 15 minutes252 plus or minus 122
- Share commuting under 15 minutes73.9 percent plus or minus 19.0
- Commuting 30 minutes or more43 plus or minus 36
- Share commuting 30 minutes or more12.6 percent plus or minus 9.1
- Drove alone43.6 percent
- Carpooled7.2 percent plus or minus 7.9
- Public transport0.0 percent
- Walked25.5 percent plus or minus 25.2
- Worked from home23.7 percent plus or minus 8.6
US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, place level, 2020-2024 5-year.
Highlands
SBA loans in Highlands (7(a))
- Approvals8
- Gross approval$9,659,100
- Average approval$1,207,388
- Median approval$800,000
- Ninetieth percentile approval$4,758,000
- Largest approval$4,758,000
- Jobs supported54
- Jobs per approval6.8
- Loans with a final outcome1
- Paid in full0
- Charged off1
- Median term120 months
- Share on real estate terms of 20 years or more25.0 percent
- Share to franchises12.5 percent
- Distinct lenders7
- Distinct industries by NAICS7
A charge-off rate is not published here. only 1 resolved loans, too few to publish a rate, and a rate over that few outcomes would move several points on one loan.
US Small Business Administration, 7(a) FOIA release, FY2020 to FY2026 year to date, as of 2026-06-30.
Highlands
Flood risk in Highlands
- Listed NFIP communities1
- Of those, participating1
- NFIP community number370574
- Currently effective map date04/19/10
This community carries no Community Rating System class, so no CRS premium discount applies to it.
FEMA, National Flood Insurance Program Community Status Book, Community Status Book, as retrieved.
Macon County, not Highlands
Macon County context, not Highlands figures
These are Macon County figures. There is no place level equivalent published for any of them, so they are shown as the county backdrop and never as Highlands measurements.
- Establishments in Macon County1,282
- Employment at those establishments, Macon County10,736
- Covered employment, Macon County12,334
- Average annual pay, Macon County$46,461
- Average weekly wage, Macon County$893
- Housing units permitted, Macon County218
- Of those, single family, Macon County218
- County product, 2024, Macon County$2,129,760,000
- County product change over the prior year, Macon County1.7 percent
- Average income of an arriving household, Macon County$133,313
Every figure in this section is published for Macon County as a whole and is not a measurement of Highlands. It is here because a county backdrop is what a credit committee reads a place against, and it is labelled so that it can never be quoted as the place's own.
US Census Bureau, County Business Patterns, 2023. US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, 2024 annual averages. US Census Bureau, Building Permits Survey, 2024 annual. US Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional, table CAGDP2, CAGDP2, through 2024. US Internal Revenue Service, Statistics of Income county migration flows, 2021 to 2022 filing years.
Coverage
What this page does not hold.
Every item below could be filled with a plausible figure. None of them is. On a page a lender may read, a number that cannot be traced is worse than an absence, so the absences are named.
- Parcel level detail, zoning and flood zone at an address are resolved in the platform, not on this page.
SBA figures count approvals to borrowers whose address is in the place. They are not approvals for projects inside the place boundary: the tape records a borrower city and a project county, and those can differ.
Common questions
Highlands questions, answered from the record.
How many people live in Highlands, North Carolina?
1,074, in 643 households. Highlands town covers 6.25 square miles of land, which is 172 people per square mile. Source: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, place level, 2020-2024 5-year.
What county is Highlands in?
Highlands lies in more than one. By area it is 91.5 percent in Macon County, 8.5 percent in Jackson County. This page sits under Macon County because that county holds the largest share. The split is measured from the Census boundary of the place against the county boundaries.
What is the median household income in Highlands?
$71,509. The median owner-occupied home is valued at $700,900. Median gross rent is $650 per month. Source: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, place level, 2020-2024 5-year.
How much SBA lending goes to Highlands businesses?
8 7(a) approvals totalling $9.7 m, across 7 lenders, median approval $800,000. These count approvals to borrowers whose address is in Highlands, not projects sited inside the place boundary, and they are approvals recorded in the release rather than loans disbursed.
Do SBA loans to Highlands borrowers get paid back?
No rate is published for Highlands. only 1 resolved loans, too few to publish a rate, and a percentage over that few outcomes would move several points on a single loan. The counts are shown instead.
Is Highlands in the National Flood Insurance Program?
Yes. Highlands appears in the FEMA Community Status Book as community 370574, with no Community Rating System class, so no CRS discount applies. Whether a specific parcel sits in a mapped special flood hazard area is an address level question the platform answers.
Are the county figures on this page Highlands figures?
No, and they are labelled so. County Business Patterns, QCEW, the Building Permits Survey, BEA product and IRS migration are published for Macon County as a whole and there is no place level equivalent. They appear in one clearly marked section as context and are never presented as measurements of Highlands.
Is zoning published for Highlands?
Not yet. The zoning layer is in build. Nothing on this page presents parcel level zoning.