Purlear, North Carolina.
Typical home $288,664 (+7.6% in a year). North Wilkesboro, NC metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$926 (+157%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $20,377 +8%
- $268,286$288,664 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $75,905 +36%
- $212,759$288,664 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.
- Purlear$1,515
- 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 Purlear, NC rose 7.6% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Purlear, Wilkes County, North Carolina
The Census does not count Purlear on its own, so the figures here are Wilkes County's. Half the county's households earn more than $51,721 a year and half less; 17% of the county's people live below the poverty line. 74% of the county's homes are lived in by their owners and 26% are rented. Unemployment in Wilkes County was 3.7% in August 2026, and the county had 0.2% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most people in Wilkes County work in schools and health care, then manufacturing.
Written by AI Claude Haiku 5.5 wrote this on 22 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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Purlear is a small town in Wilkes County, in the foothills of the Blue Ridge in northwestern North Carolina. Across Wilkes County, most homes are lived in by their owners, and the county's median age sits toward the older end, with a steady mix of families and retirees. Winters are cold and bring some snow, summers are warm, and rain falls through much of the year.
Work. Many residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, or in manufacturing, with others in shops and in restaurants, hotels and entertainment. Unemployment across the county is lower than it was a year earlier, though the number of jobs has edged down slightly over the same period. Across the county, a smaller share of adults hold a four-year degree than in much of the country.
Things to do. Cascade Falls is a waterfall a short drive away. The Yadkin River, a river a longer drive away, and the North Wilkesboro Speedway, a race track also a longer drive away, offer further options for a day out.
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- 27,107households
- 45.7median age
- 17%of adults have a degree
- 17%below the poverty line
- 26 mintypical commute
- 9%work from home
What people in Wilkes County work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Wilkes County had 18,897 jobs in 2025, 0.2% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 49° and lows near 27°; warmest in July, with highs near 88° and lows near 66°. About 8 inches of snow and 52 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the West Kerr Scott Resv weather station, 10 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Wilkes County
- Wilkes County SchoolsSchool district1,218FTE
- Tyson FarmsPoultry processing1,159
- Wilkes Community CollegeTwo-year college693
- Wrmc Hospital OperatingGeneral hospital539FTE
- Tyson PoultryPoultry processing324
- WalmartWarehouse clubs and supercenters307
- EcmdHome centers, building materials279
- Jeld-WenWood window and door manufacturing196
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 48 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 5,649 people in all. School districts come from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24), colleges from IPEDS (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
- Ice stormsRelatively high
- Inland floodingRelatively moderate
- Strong windRelatively moderate
- Cold wavesRelatively moderate
- TornadoesRelatively moderate
- LightningRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms across Wilkes County, 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 Wilkes County and the North Wilkesboro, NC metro.
Purlear home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Purlear$288,664
- North Carolina$332,159
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 6 Purlear 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.
- Purlear16.54%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Purlear26
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Purlear6
Zip codes with a Purlear address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Purlear — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.