Kenly, North Carolina.
Typical home $253,467 (+2.0% in a year). Raleigh-Cary, NC metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$783 (+143%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $4,984 +2%
- $248,483$253,467 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $60,941 +32%
- $192,526$253,467 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.
- Kenly$1,330
- North Carolina$1,743
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 13 years.
Typical home values in Kenly, NC rose 2.0% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Kenly, Johnston County, North Carolina
Kenly is a town of 1,491 people in Johnston County. Unemployment in Johnston County was 3.1% in August 2026, and the county had 7.5% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most people in Johnston County work in schools and health care, then construction.
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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Kenly is a small town in Johnston County, North Carolina, home to a population that is small even by the standards of towns in the state. Fewer adults here hold a four-year degree than is typical, and a noticeably larger share of residents live below the poverty line. Home values in town sit well under what many homeowners elsewhere would expect. Winters are mild and rarely snowy, summers are hot, and rain falls steadily through the year.
Work. Residents mostly work in schools, hospitals and social care, the building trades, professional and business services, and shops. In town, Cox Enterprises, Food Lion and the Hershey Creamery Company are among the largest workplaces. Johnston County has been adding jobs, and unemployment there is a little lower than a year ago. The typical commute is a fairly long one, and very few people work from home.
Things to do. Buckhorn Reservoir, a short drive away, is the closest spot for time on the water, and Southern National Motorsports Park, also a short drive away, is a race track. Farther out, Cliffs of the Neuse State Park is a protected area along the river, and the Ava Gardner Museum is a longer drive away for those who enjoy local history and film.
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- 898households
- 8%of adults have a degree
- 14%below the poverty line
- 27 mintypical commute
- 2%work from home
What people in Johnston County work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Johnston County had 65,551 jobs in 2025, 7.5% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 52° and lows near 33°; warmest in July, with highs near 90° and lows near 71°. About 2 inches of snow and 50 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Wilson Southwest weather station, 12 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Kenly
- Cox EnterprisesAutomobile and other motor vehicle merchant wholesalers172
- Food LionGrocery stores66
- Hershey Creamery CompanyIce cream manufacturing27
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 3 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 265 people in all. 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
- Winter weatherRelatively high
- TornadoesRelatively high
- DroughtRelatively moderate
- HurricanesRelatively moderate
- HailRelatively moderate
- Strong windRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Kenly’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively low. 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 Johnston County and the Raleigh-Cary, NC metro.
Kenly home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Kenly$253,467
- North Carolina$332,159
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 3 Kenly listings — 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.
- Kenly32.50%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Kenly22
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Kenly7
Zip codes with a Kenly address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Kenly — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.