Highlands is a very small town located in the state of North Carolina. With a population of 1,110 people and two associated neighborhoods, Highlands is the 396th largest community in North Carolina. Highlands home prices are not only among the most expensive in North Carolina, but Highlands real estate also consistently ranks among the most expensive in America.Highlands is a decidedly white-collar town, with fully 92.05% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Highlands is a town of sales and office workers, service providers, and managers. There are especially a lot of people living in Highlands who work in sales jobs (18.11%), management occupations (16.64%), and food service (16.45%). Of important note, Highlands is also a town of artists. Highlands has more artists, designers and people working in media than 90% of the communities in America. This concentration of artists helps shape Highlands’s character. Also of interest is that Highlands has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US. Telecommuters are a relatively large percentage of the workforce: 19.37% of people work from home. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce it is high relative to the nation. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes. Another notable thing is that Highlands is a major vacation destination. Much of the town’s population is seasonal: many people own second homes and only live there part-time, during the vacation season. The effect on the local economy is that many of the businesses are dependent on tourist dollars, and may operate only during the high season. As the vacation season ends, Highlands’s population drops significantly, such that year-round residents will notice that the city is a much quieter place to live. Compared to the rest of the country, citizens of Highlands spend much less time in their cars: on average, their commute to work is only 13.93 minutes. This also means that noise and pollution levels in the town are less than they would otherwise be. Being a small town, Highlands does not have a public transit system used by locals to get to and from work.Do you have a 4-year college degree or graduate degree? If so, you may feel right at home in Highlands. 53.01% of adults here have a 4-year degree or graduate degree, whereas the national average for all cities and towns is just 21.84%. The per capita income in Highlands in 2022 was $48,722, which is wealthy relative to North Carolina and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $194,888 for a family of four. However, Highlands contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Highlands is a somewhat ethnically-diverse town. The people who call Highlands home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Highlands residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Highlands also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 10.11% of the town’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Highlands include English, German, Irish, Scots-Irish, and Scottish. The most common language spoken in Highlands is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Miao/Hmong.
