Bostic, North Carolina.
Typical home $216,901 (+2.5% in a year). Forest City, NC metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$613 (+117%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $5,194 +2%
- $211,707$216,901 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $32,790 +18%
- $184,110$216,901 since Sep 2021
Monthly payment to buy the typical home
Home value × that month's 30-year mortgage rate, 20% down, principal and interest. This is the line households feel: prices and rates compound each other.
- Bostic$1,138
- North Carolina$1,743
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 21 years.
Typical home values in Bostic, NC rose 2.5% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Bostic, Rutherford County, North Carolina
Bostic is a town of 355 people in Rutherford County. Unemployment in Rutherford County was 4.1% in August 2026, and the county had 0.9% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most people in Rutherford County work in schools and health care, then manufacturing.
Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 23 October 2026 from the figures here, a list of nearby places and what it knows. It can be wrong or out of date.
What it’s like
The place. Bostic is a very small town in Rutherford County, North Carolina, with far fewer residents than most towns people think of when they picture a town. Homes here cost less than what is typical across the country, and household incomes across Rutherford County run below the national picture. Winters are cold but not severe, summers are hot, and rain and melted snow fall steadily through the year.
Work. Many residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, with manufacturing, shops and professional and business services also common. Among the largest workplaces across Rutherford County are Rutherford County Schools, Walmart and Rutherford Hospital. Fewer adults here hold a four-year degree than in most of the country, and very few work from home, so most people travel to their jobs.
Things to do. Catheys Creek runs in or beside town, a river that suits a quiet walk along the water. A longer drive brings you to Chimney Rock State Park, a protected area known for its rock formations and mountain views. Also a longer drive away, High Shoals Falls is a waterfall worth the trip, and Lake James is a reservoir for time on the water.
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- 19%of adults have a degree
- 26 mintypical commute
- 3%work from home
What people in Rutherford County work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Rutherford County had 18,151 jobs in 2025, 0.9% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 52° and lows near 27°; warmest in July, with highs near 89° and lows near 67°. About 52 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Forest City West weather station, 9 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Rutherford County
- Rutherford County SchoolsSchool district1,108FTE
- WalmartWarehouse clubs and supercenters402
- Rutherford HospitalGeneral hospital390FTE
- Isothermal Community CollegeTwo-year college343
- TEP HoldingsTower, power distribution and communication, construction268
- The Timken Company210
- Town of Forest CityGeneral public administration191
- Parton Lumber CompanySawmills190
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 42 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 4,754 people in all across the county; Bostic has none of its own. School districts come from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24), hospitals from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023) and colleges from IPEDS (NCES, 2023–24); FTE marks full-time equivalent staff. Not listed: many offices and banks, which need not report to OSHA; military bases, whose staff OPM withholds; and, in about half the states, city and county governments.
Natural hazards
- Strong windVery high
- Ice stormsRelatively high
- LightningRelatively high
- Inland floodingRelatively moderate
- TornadoesRelatively moderate
- Cold wavesRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Bostic’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively moderate. It is meant for planning, not a substitute for a local risk assessment or a flood map: FEMA’s index.
From the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 census and its American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey, so each figure has a margin of error, and figures it is not sure of are left out. More on Rutherford County and the Forest City, NC metro.
Bostic home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Bostic$216,901
- North Carolina$332,159
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 4 Bostic listings — the market is cooling.
When this market ran hot
Each cell is that month's year-on-year home-value growth. Read left to right, top row is the latest year — the 2021–22 band is the boom.
Market heat, inside the city limits
Share of listings with a price cut
The early-warning dial: sellers cut when buyers stop reaching. Rising cuts cool a market months before prices notice.
- Bostic25.42%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Bostic43
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Bostic8
Zip codes with a Bostic address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Bostic — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.