Living in High Point, NC

Guilford County (majority); city limits also extend into Randolph, Forsyth & Davidson Counties -- the only city in North Carolina spanning four counties

High Point is a genuinely unusual North Carolina city on two counts: it is the only municipality in the state whose limits span four counties (Guilford, where the large majority of the city and its roughly 119,000-121,000 residents sit, plus Randolph, Forsyth, and Davidson), and it is the twice-yearly host of the High Point Market -- the largest furniture trade show in the world, drawing an estimated 75,000 attendees from over 100 countries across more than 2,000 exhibitors and roughly 11 million square feet of exhibition space each April and October. The High Point Market Authority cites the event's annual economic impact to North Carolina at $6.73 billion, including $202 million in state and local tax revenue -- a real, documented figure from an interested party, corroborated independently on scale (attendance, exhibitor count, square footage) by multiple outside sources, even though the dollar figures themselves trace to the Market Authority's own reporting rather than a fully independent audit. High Point University adds a second, genuinely distinct growth engine: it opened the 2026-27 academic year with a record 6,561 students, the largest enrollment in the school's 102-year history, continuing unbroken annual growth since Dr. Nido Qubein became president in 2005, and the university's own materials cite an $850 million annual local economic impact. Beyond these two anchors, High Point's housing runs affordable by national standards (a $283,500 median closed sale price in February 2026, up a fast 12.5% year over year) and its overall cost of living sits about 13% below the national average. The city's four-county footprint is a genuine, disclosed complexity rather than a minor footnote: county property tax rates range from Randolph's $0.50 per $100 up to Guilford's $0.7305, and the specific county a parcel sits in determines its appraisal district and total tax stack (see the taxes topic). Crime-data readings run less favorable than many comparably sized NC cities -- CrimeGrade places High Point in only the 24th percentile nationally for overall crime -- and median household income runs below both city-level income figures typically expected at this cost of living, a real tradeoff disclosed rather than smoothed over. Downtown High Point has also seen a real, substantial public-private revitalization push: the city's 2016 'Catalyst Project,' anchored by the 3,800-seat Truist Point stadium (home to the High Point Rockers baseball team and Carolina Core FC), has generated a reported $238 million in new private investment over five years against an initial $100 million, 10-year improvement goal.

Explore High Point in depth

• Moving to High Point: Pros, Cons & What to Know
• Cost of Living in High Point
• Housing Market in High Point
• Buying a Home in High Point
• Renting in High Point
• Taxes in High Point
• Homeowners Insurance & Natural Hazard Costs in High Point
• Climate & Weather in High Point
• Jobs & Economy in High Point
• Schools in High Point
• Crime & Safety in High Point
• Healthcare in High Point
• Traffic & Transportation in High Point
• Best Areas to Live in High Point
• Pros and Cons of Living in High Point
• Retiring in High Point
• Who Should / Shouldn’t Move to High Point

Housing

Taxes

The tradeoffs

Who this fits

Best for: Affordability-focused buyers and first-time homebuyers who want genuinely low housing costs and a below-average overall cost of living without leaving a mid-size NC Piedmont city; anyone connected to the furniture/home-furnishings industry or High Point University; buyers comfortable navigating a real four-county tax picture in exchange for that affordability.

Maybe not for you if: Buyers who want a single, simple county jurisdiction for tax and school-zoning research should weigh a single-county Piedmont Triad city more heavily, or at minimum confirm the specific county for any High Point address before assuming a uniform tax rate. Anyone prioritizing a citywide crime profile clearly above the national average, rather than the 24th-percentile CrimeGrade read disclosed here, should look at this topic closely and compare directly against other Triad markets before committing.