Are you thinking about moving to rural North Carolina
Did you watch our best rural towns in the Tar Heel State video? If you did, today we're looking at the other side
of that Tar Heel coin. That's right, we're looking at the worst rural towns
in North Carolina. Whenever I post a best rural towns video, I get a flood of emails and comments
that normally start with, what about this town? And then they go on to list some random rural town
that in most cases isn't really a great town to live in. Like I said in the last video
I thought I should start listing the rural towns that you should probably avoid
Are these towns the worst place on earth? No, they just have some bad stats
a bad location, things like that. These towns have high crime, high unemployment numbers
and more than enough poverty to go around. One thing I do need to say
when you look at small rural towns anywhere in this country or other countries
90% of the people are some of the best folks you will ever encounter. Small town people are like that
They're always willing to lend a hand, help you out. They just have that 10% screwing up a really nice place
That's usually the scenario with any rural or small town. Got it
Get it? Good. Let's take a look at North Carolina. Number six, Ansonville, North Carolina
Ansonville sits about an hour east of Charlotte, North Carolina, just a little west of the Petey River
where you could do some fishing and try and figure out why somebody named an island Buzzard Island
This is the type of place you don't want to be stomping around the woods without knowing where you're going
You might run into someone's moonshining operation. Just kidding. That's not as much of a thing as it once was here in the South
but it's not out of the realm of possibility. Keep that in mind. The good news about Ansonville is they got a Dollar General last March
It opened up, which a Dollar General is great. You don't have to get all dressed up like you would if you're going to Walmart
Ansonville has a livability score of 55. Like I said in the last video, if you're above 85 or 90
it's a really nice place to live and it's probably a gated community. When you get around 80 to, let's say, 75
it's normal middle-class blue-collar place. When you start getting below, let's say 70 and 65
it starts to suck pretty good. Ansonville is 55. They've got a population of just about 700 residents
and they're continually losing some, just a few every couple of years, but they're not growing
They also have a little good news in their stats. Their cost of living is 15% below the national average
Like we've all learned, if nobody wants to live someplace, it's pretty cheap. Housing is 49% below the national average
and here's where it starts getting bad. Their crime rate is 76% higher than the national average
and their violent crime rate, 69% higher than the national average. So they're getting after each other there
Their poverty level is almost 20% above the national average, 19.9 to be exact
And their unemployment numbers, 72% higher than the national average. If you decide you wanna buy a home here
the homes are pretty cheap. I was looking around, they have nothing for sale right now
but in June of this year in May, they sold some homes that are, you know, livable that normally come on like a half an acre or
something like that. You can get them between 150 and $200,000. That's not bad. If you need a doctor
they're doing pretty good there too. They got a clinic in town and a family practice. So that's
legit. If you need anything more, you can go to Charlotte or Monroe. They have full blown hospitals
That's like as an hour or 45 minutes away to Monroe. And then Wadesboro has some bigger
facilities than Ansonville has. Number five, Garland, North Carolina. Garland is a rural
small town far away from everything The nearest major city is Wilmington about an hour to the south fayetteville is a little bit closer to the north but i have a policy about fayetteville never suggest going there to anyone unless i don like them if you were ever stationed at fort bragg you
know exactly what i'm talking about this is a little out of the way farm place it's really
around nothing just other little small rural towns one cool thing i did read about garland
is last month they played wizard of oz at the local theater on what would have been judy garland's
100th birthday garland doesn't have any good fishing or golf they do however have a lot of
homes in the area that use their front yard as a salvage operation this place has a livability score
of 50 remember what i said anything below like 65 starts to suck yeah they're at 50 garland has a
population of about 552 residents their cost of living here's another bonus again like we've
learned if you don't want to live there it's cheap 17 lower than the national average housing is 61
1% lower than the national average. There's nothing for sale right now, except for a few lots. And
depending on the acreage, that can be anywhere from 10,000 to a hundred thousand in the last
few months though, they did sell some homes that needed a little work and they were a little bit
older. They were like under $70,000. That ain't bad. Now here's where it is bad. Their total crime
rate is 68% above the national average. Violent crime rate is 61% above the national average
And your stuff is definitely not safe here because the property crime rate is 70% above the national
average. They've got a poverty rate that's almost 19%, 18.8%. Their unemployment is 15
lower than the U.S. average. That's weird. They actually have jobs here. They can't be good paying
jobs because the median household income here is $30,000. That's 45% lower than U.S. average
Now, they have a Garland shirt company that pretty much employs most of the town. They did shut down
during the pandemic, which sucked, but they have since reopened and hired new employees. This Garland
factory has been making shirts since the 1950s garland's not doing bad when it comes to health
care they've got a medical center in town it's small but you know might suit your needs but if
you need a full-blown hospital you got about a 20 minute ride to the southwest to elizabeth town
which is the next on our list number four elizabeth town north carolina like i said 20 minutes southwest
of garland you have the town of elizabeth town elizabeth town is a great place if you do like
to fish and go to Walmart. They have both. They have the Cape Fear River running right alongside
the town and they got a Walmart about the center of town. This one's a little bigger than most of
the towns on this list, but it is definitely a rural small town. There's a couple of theories
on how this place got its name. One believes that this English nobleman, his wife's name was
Elizabeth and they named this town after her. And then the other one is a local landowner had a
mistress and he named the town after his mistress. Elizabeth town though is a good size place, has
things like Pizza Hut, Domino's, Lion King. It's like a little city, but it's definitely rural
There's nothing around this place. I should say nothing outside of town other than wooded areas
a river, a few lakes and farmland. Like I said, the last one, Elizabethtown does have a hospital
It's good size. So just about anything you're going to need is going to be done there. If you need anything bigger, you might have to go to Lumberton, which is only about 35 minutes away
But really, Wilmington is your best bet for a legit hospital with everything you're looking for
Lumberton's 35 minutes to the West. Elizabeth town has a livability score of 60
Like I said, this is kind of big, they got about 3 residents here So that a little big for a rural town but it definitely rural The overall cost of living here is 12 below the national average and housing 44 below the national average So that solid What sucks is their crime rate sits about 95 above the national average Violent
crime rates, 146% above the national average. What is going on here? Are they having like surprise
fight clubs behind the Walmart or something like that? You go back behind Walmart, maybe you're
looking for cardboard. Next thing you know, you're involved in a fight club or something
your stuff ain't safe either. That's 85% above the national average for property crime. And
nobody's got jobs because their unemployment rate's about 25% higher than the national average
The people that do have jobs aren't making much because their household income is $21,000. That's
the median. That's 62% lower than the national average. But they got hospitals in town and
fishing. Number three, Rosman, North Carolina. Rosman is a nice little Western North Carolina
a town just south of Asheville, North Carolina. This is a great town if you like to do fly fishing
or really any kind of fishing. You like rafting, kayaking, things like that. The town sits right
on the French Broad River, about an hour or so north of Greenville, South Carolina. Rosman is
actually growing. In the last three census, they've gained 120 people. That doesn't sound like a lot
but the town has under 700 residents, so that's a good jump in population. If you're in the French
Broad River, watch out for snakes. That's one thing I can tell you. If you don't like snakes
don't go in the French Broad River. This whole area has a whole bunch of creeks in the river
there. It's pretty interesting place. What's really interesting is their livability score
It's 56. That's not good. And like I said, they got a population of under 700. It's actually 673
Their overall cost of living, which we've learned, if a place isn't that great, the cost of living
is pretty low. Theirs is 13% below the national average. Housing is 39% below the national average
The total crime rate here is 57% above the national average. Violent crime rate is 50
higher and property crimes 58 higher than the national average those aren't good numbers their
poverty level is pretty scary it's 29.4 so yeah almost 30 of this town lives below the poverty
line the median household income here is less than 25 000 that's 56 lower than the national average
this place is kind of strange when it comes to real estate they've got a lot of really run down
places you don't want to buy and that helps bring down their median home value but they've got a lot
really nice places in and around the river that are pretty expensive. I'm talking $440,000
$855,000, $420,000. It can get pretty pricey here. It's a, you know, I wouldn't say it's a
resort town. It's kind of an outdoor adventures type of go-to place. Beautiful country around
here. They just don't have the best stats at all. As far as healthcare goes, they don't have
anything in town. So if you get bit by a snake, you better have someone suck the poison out
The good news is right up the road, you got the Transylvania Regional Hospital
That's like 15 minutes away. Number two, Sunbury, North Carolina. Sunbury is a census designated place and an unincorporated community in Gates County
This one's on the eastern side of the state, a little less than an hour from the coast
This is also a great place to move to if you think hanging out at a gas station on a Friday
night sounds like a hoot. You should only move here if you're completely out of options
They have a livability score of 47. You have to try to suck to get that bad
They have a population of about 265 residents and their overall cost of living
is even with the national average. The place isn't great and they're the average
That doesn't make sense at all. You supposed to get a discount for living in a place like this Housing is only 14 below the national average what is high is their crime rate it actually 45 higher than the national average and 12 of their population lives below the poverty line their unemployment
rate averages about 219 above the national average the people that do work aren't doing terrible
their median household income is forty thousand seven hundred eighty one dollars that's only 26
lower than the national average which is still better than a lot of other places like we just
about rosman that one was 24 000 i was reading they had a special meeting because some of the
municipalities and this one included has failing water and sewer infrastructure and they're in
desperate need of fixing that if you want to buy a house here the only thing they have going right
now is yeah it's okay but it's 370 000 which for this area you'd expect it to be a little bit
cheaper in recent months back in may and april of this year though they did have some ones that
need a lot of work and they were going for under a hundred thousand dollars kind of looks like
anything that's decent is going to be around 250 000 a little less a little more as far as health
care goes they got nothing in town but they got a couple places like gateway community health
center in gatesville which is about 15 minutes away that's not terrible but still nothing in town
all right before we get to number one don't forget to hit that like button hit that subscribe
button if you already haven't. It doesn't cost you a thing. And go subscribe to On This Day
our other channel. There's a link down below. All right, on to number one. And number one
Oxford, North Carolina. Oxford sits about 30 minutes northeast of Durham, North Carolina
It's home to Revlon's largest manufacturing facility. Revlon, the makeup people. Yeah
it's right here. Their largest facility. It's also home to Hannah Cyphers. She is a UFC fighter
Actually, she's an ex UFC fighter. She just got dropped from the promotion recently
You lose four fights in a row. That type of thing happens. But I still liked watching her fight
This one almost didn't make the list because it's a little too big. But a lot of the residents live in the rural areas around the town
So we included it. They have a livability score of 50. That's not great
And they have a population of about 8,700 residents. Their overall cost of living is 13% lower than the national average
So that's not bad. It's a good size rural town or small town, whatever you want to call it
And they've got a pretty low cost of living. Their housing is also pretty low, 27 percent below the national average
The downside is their crime is 46 percent above the national average
Their violent crime rate is 163 percent above the national average. That ain't good
Twenty five point eight percent of their residents live below the poverty line. That sucks
If you got some health problems, this is probably a really good place to live because down in
Raleigh, Durham, you have some of the best healthcare we have in the country. Now they
don't have much in and around town. They got a couple of clinics and things like that, and a couple of doctor's offices. But if you need anything big, you're going to head down there
Now, like I said, their homes are a little bit below the national average, but really they're
not. They just have a lot of really run down cheap places that brings down their average
Realistically, if you want to buy a home here, you're looking at a minimum 250,000
anything below 200,000 probably isn't going to be worth your time, but it goes all the way up
They have a lot of new construction for close to 400,000, 500,000
They even have some with a lot of acreage that are going for over a million dollars. But you better bring some horses
because those are usually horse farms or ranches, whatever you want to call them. All right, that's today's video
Hope you guys enjoyed it. Hope you got some information out of it. Now go out, have a productive day
and be nice to each other