City safety & data profile

ShelbyNC

Shelby, NC is a 20K-resident city in Cleveland County with a median household income of $48,376.

Cleveland County, North Carolina. Federal health, economic, and safety indicators for Shelby, drawn from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, CDC PLACES, and CMS Hospital Compare. Shelby has a population larger than 45% of the 4,640 U.S. cities Areazine tracks, a median home value of $197,200, and 1 hospital serving the surrounding area.

Data updated 2026-09-04

20K
Population (place)
Bottom 46%
By size
$48,376
Median income (place)
$197,200
Median home (place)
17.6%
Poverty rate (place)
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The read on Shelby

Shelby posts a median household income higher than 7% of U.S. cities Areazine tracks, where 1 hospital serves the Shelby area.

Bottom 8%
by median income, US cities
1
hospital in & near Shelby

Where Shelby income ranks nationally

Median household income vs. every place Areazine profiles (place-level ACS)

$48,376 Bottom 7% higher than 7% of 3,889 places Areazine profiles

Shelby $0 $260,000 every profiled place, bucketed by value

Each bar is a $20K-wide band; taller bars hold more places Areazine profiles. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.

Source U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (place-level) · 2024 ACS 5-year

Largest cities in NC

Population among 87 NC places with 10,000+ residents and ACS income on Areazine. Tooltip shows the income rank in the same pool.

residents

What this shows Charlotte is the largest NC city on this list; Weddington leads median income.

Source U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (place-level) As of 2024 ACS 5-year

Highest median incomes in NC

Median household income among the same 87-city pool. Tooltip shows the population rank.

median

What this shows Weddington posts the highest place-level median income in NC; Charlotte is largest by headcount.

Source U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (place-level) As of 2024 ACS 5-year

The quick read

Reading Shelby, NC beyond the headline numbers

Shelby sits inside Cleveland County, North Carolina, at roughly 35.29°N, -81.54°W. Population 20,189, $48,376 median household income. Median home value $197,200, median rent $945. Poverty rate 17.6%, read against that income figure since two cities on the same median can differ underneath it.

1 hospital in/around Shelby, 3/5 avg rating, 1 with an ER.

17.6% of Shelby, NC residents live below the poverty line, placing it in the hardest-hit quarter of reporting cities. Read every median on this page against that: half the households are above it, and a large minority are far below.

A median home in Shelby runs about 4.1 times median household income, above the midpoint. Multiples in this range usually mean buyers are arriving from outside the local wage base.

Remote work covers 9.6% of Shelby workers, under the midpoint for reporting cities.

Among the CDC measures on this page, stroke departs furthest from its peer median: 5.2% in Shelby, the highest-prevalence quarter of the 3,759 cities reporting that measure.

Public transit carries 0% of Shelby workers, a smaller share than at least three quarters of reporting cities.

Sources: U.S. Census ACS, CDC PLACES, CMS Hospital Compare, plus live alerts for Shelby from FEMA, NOAA, FDA, and CPSC. Economic comparison bars use the unweighted average across tracked Census places with a reported value, not a household-weighted national median.

Population (place)
20,189
Shelby · Census Place
Median Income (place)
$48,376
-46% vs avg
Median Home Value (place)
$197,200
-52% vs avg
Median Age (place)
39.3
years · ACS place

10-Year Trends 2013–2024

County-level trend (Cleveland County): Shelby's own historical series isn't separately published by the Census Bureau, so these year-over-year figures track the surrounding county, not the city alone.

20132024
Population
101K+3%
Median Income
$58,534+50%
Median Home Value
$200,000+89%
Poverty Rate
16.6%-14%
Unemployment
5.2%-61%

Economics

Economics indicators for Shelby, NC
IndicatorValue
Median Rent
$945/mo
Poverty Rate
17.6% +42% vs avg
Unemployment 3.6%
Bachelor's Degree+ 26.6%
Work From Home 9.6%
Public Transit 0%

Population

White 55.6%
African American 31.3%
Asian 0.9%
Two or More Ethnicities 7.4%

Health Profile 15 measures

Health Indicators

High Blood Pressure
45.1%
Obesity
41.4%
Short Sleep Duration
36.9%
Physical Inactivity
30.3%
Frequent Mental Distress
17.8%
Current Smoking
17%
Diabetes
16%
Frequent Physical Distress
15.5%
Binge Drinking
12.2%
Current Asthma
12.1%

Preventive Care

Dental Visit 56.3%
Annual Checkup 82.1%

Other Measures

Lack of Health Insurance
11.6%
Coronary Heart Disease
8.5%
Stroke
5.2%

Hospitals 1 total

Rating Distribution
★★★★★
0
★★★★
0
★★★
1
★★
0
★
0
Average Rating
3/5
Total Hospitals
1
With ER
1
ATRIUM HEALTH CLEVELAND
SHELBY · Acute Care Hospitals · ER
★★★☆☆

What alerts and safety updates affect Shelby?

No area-tagged alerts are on record for Shelby right now. New federal and counterpart-agency notices still land in the site feed as agencies publish them.

City alert dispatch desk

Sheet NC-SHELBY-NC · Shelby

Shelby: 8 tagged alerts; lead category NWS weather alert.

  • VOL-LIGHT 8 on record
  • WX-LED 100% weather
  • DESK-MIX NOAA
  • PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Central

Tagged alert mix: Shelby

Published notices carrying this city slug or location tag

Value

What this shows 8 tagged notices on record for Shelby.

Source Areazine publication corpus As of Live tagged feed

Nearest tagged-volume peer: Central, LA (8 tagged · Δ0)

Counts reflect published articles tagged to Shelby; untagged NOAA county warnings may still appear in the site feed. Browse North Carolina state hubs · Methodology

Cities with a similar tagged alert volume 4

Nearest published-notice counts on Areazine (8 tagged here), a feed-density peer set, not an ACS demographic match.

Central, LA 8 alerts Dallas, TX 7 alerts Leicester, MA 7 alerts Albuquerque, NM 10 alerts

Read with this city profile

Understanding Weather Alerts

Watch vs warning vs advisory, how NOAA labels map to action
All safety guides →

Frequently Asked Questions 6

What is the population of Shelby, NC? ▼
Shelby, NC has a population of 20,189 people, located in Cleveland County, North Carolina.
What is the median household income in Shelby? ▼
The median household income in Shelby, NC is $48,376 per year, per the U.S. Census ACS. The poverty rate is 17.6%.
What is the median home value in Shelby? ▼
The median home value in Shelby, NC is $197,200. Median rent is $945/month.
What are the top health concerns in Shelby? ▼
The top health indicators in Shelby include High Blood Pressure (45.1%), Obesity (41.4%), Short Sleep Duration (36.9%). Data from CDC PLACES.
How many hospitals are in Shelby? ▼
Shelby has 1 hospital with an average rating of 3/5 stars. 1 have emergency departments.
What is the median age in Shelby? ▼
The median age in Shelby, NC is 39.3 years. 26.6% of residents have a bachelor's degree or higher.

Nationwide cities with similar poverty or income 8

Two ACS-derived peer sets for Shelby, both outside North Carolina so the neighborhoods are not the geographic nearby list below.

Similar poverty rate

Nearest place-level ACS poverty rates outside NC (17.6% here).

Paradise, NV 17.6% Lawrence, MA 17.6% Battle Creek, MI 17.6% Panama City, FL 17.6%

Similar median income

Nearest place-level ACS median household incomes outside NC ($48,376 here).

Lebanon, MO $48,359 Lewisburg, TN $48,341 York, PA $48,420 South Bradenton, FL $48,315

Compare Shelby with another city

Pick a second U.S. city to open a side-by-side profile on population, income, health, and hospitals, the same federal datasets as this page.

Quick picks:

Nearby Cities 8

Kings Mountain, NC 11K Gaffney, SC 13K Lincolnton, NC 11K Gastonia, NC 75K Morganton, NC 17K Hickory, NC 40K Newton, NC 13K Belmont, NC 11K
All cities in North Carolina → Compare Shelby vs Kings Mountain → All comparisons → Browse all cities

Using Shelby's profile

Use this as a starting research checklist, not a verdict on whether to live here.

  • Check live recalls, weather and hazard alerts scoped to the Shelby area before relying on national headlines. Check your area
  • Read the poverty rate alongside the income figure, two places with the same median can have very different realities.
  • Compare Shelby against North Carolina peers on any ranking lens. Explore North Carolina

Population and economics (income, home value, poverty, education) are place-level U.S. Census ACS; health is CDC PLACES; hospital counts reflect facilities in and around the city. County-level trends are labeled when shown.

Data Sources

All data on this page comes from official U.S. government sources. Population and economic data from the Census Bureau American Community Survey (2024 5-year estimates, place geography). Health data from the CDC PLACES program (2023). Hospital ratings from CMS Hospital Compare (2024). Climate data from NOAA. Education data from NCES. Cost of living from Bureau of Economic Analysis. Crime statistics, where referenced on Areazine, originate from the FBI Crime Data Explorer. Housing market figures referenced on Areazine come from HUD Fair Market Rents. Census economics and population are at place geography; some health and hospital indicators are reported at the county level (Cleveland County) where that is the smallest published unit.

Every figure on Areazine is published directly from official U.S. government sources, no number is typed in by an editor. City demographic and health figures are compiled directly from U.S. Census (place-level ACS), CDC, and CMS releases, updated quarterly within 30 days of upstream release. County-level trends are labeled when shown. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 2026.