Highlands, North Carolina.
Typical home $1,077,971 (+8.1% in a year). Cullowhee, NC metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$3,700 (+189%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $81,138 +8%
- $996,833$1,077,971 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $285,826 +36%
- $792,145$1,077,971 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.
- Highlands$5,658
- North Carolina$1,743
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 11 years.
Typical home values in Highlands, NC rose 8.1% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Highlands, Macon County, North Carolina
Highlands is a town of 1,072 people in Macon County. Half its households earn more than $71,509 a year and half less, against $59,061 across Macon County; 8% of its people live below the poverty line. Unemployment in Macon County was 3.3% in August 2026, and the county had 2.1% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most people in Macon County work in schools and health care, then shops.
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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Highlands is a very small mountain town, with a population small enough that most people likely know one another by sight. Households here earn more than across Macon County as a whole, and a smaller share live below the poverty line than you might expect for a place this size. Homes cost well above what is typical in most of the country, and a large majority of adults hold a four-year degree. Winters are cold, with January highs staying chilly and lows well below freezing, while July is mild and warm. Snow falls a little each year, and the rain is heavy, among the wettest in the country.
Work. Residents mostly work in schools, hospitals and social care, followed by shops, restaurants, hotels and entertainment, and the building trades. Across Macon County, some of the largest workplaces are Macon County Schools, MH Angel Medical Center and Ingles Markets. Unemployment in the county is a little lower than it was a year ago, and the county has added jobs over the past year.
Things to do. Waterfalls are the main draw. Dry Falls and Bridal Veil Falls are both in or beside town, and Cullasaja Falls is a short drive away. For a longer outing, Upper Whitewater Falls is a longer drive away, and the French Broad River is farther still.
Report a mistake
- 643households
- 58%of adults have a degree
- 8%below the poverty line
What people in Macon County work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Macon County had 12,592 jobs in 2025, 2.1% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 42° and lows near 24°; warmest in July, with highs near 78° and lows near 58°. About 10 inches of snow and 88 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Highlands weather station, under a mile away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Macon County
- Macon County SchoolsSchool district639FTE
- Macon CountyExecutive offices, federal, state, and local520
- WalmartWarehouse clubs and supercenters289
- MH Angel Medical Center, LLLPHospitals, general medical and surgical196
- Ingles MarketsSupermarkets and other grocery stores188
- MH Angel Medical Center LllpCritical access hospital180FTE
- Ingles MarketsSupermarkets and other grocery stores167
- Lowe's Companies, INCHomecenter138
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 24 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 2,401 people in all across the county; Highlands has one of its own. School districts come from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24) and hospitals from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023); 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
- LandslidesRelatively high
- Cold wavesRelatively high
- Ice stormsRelatively high
- LightningRelatively high
- Inland floodingrelatively high in parts of HighlandsRelatively moderate
- Tornadoesrelatively high in parts of HighlandsRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Highlands’ 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 Macon County and the Cullowhee, NC metro.
Highlands home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Highlands$1,077,971
- North Carolina$332,159
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 5 Highlands listings, and the typical home goes pending in 45 days — the market is roughly in balance.
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.
- Highlands21.34%
- United States26.90%
Days to pending
How long the typical listing takes to go under contract.
- Highlands45
- United States27
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Highlands195
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Highlands28
Median sale price
What buyers actually paid — closed sales, not asking prices.
- Highlands$1,168,386
- United States$371,407
Zip codes with a Highlands address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Highlands — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.