As of: 2026-10-19
Neighborhood Profile Areas (NPAs) are the Charlotte–Mecklenburg Quality of Life Explorer’s neighborhood units. This page ranks them by the Explorer’s average age of single-family housing units for 2025 — not by median year built, and not by every housing type.
To keep small-n outliers out of the tables, a neighborhood enters the oldest/newest ranking only when Quality of Life Explorer Single Family Housing counts at least 100 single-family units (layer 76, count year 2023). That floor leaves 410 NPAs in the ranking pool and excludes 31 of the 441 NPAs that have a 2025 age value. The age year (2025) and the unit-count year (2023) differ because that is what each published layer carries.
Familiar names appear only for the 10 oldest and 10 newest NPAs in that pool (for example, “Dilworth (NPA 3)”). Every other NPA is listed by number in the committed CSV, with its unit count and an in_ranking flag. Labels come from address lookup at each NPA’s map centroid, not from an official NPA name field (the Explorer does not publish one).
Key figures
Own analysis of Charlotte–Mecklenburg Quality of Life Explorer Housing Age (2025) joined to Single Family Housing unit counts (2023), NPA aggregates only; method: section “Methodology”; publishers: City of Charlotte, UNC Charlotte Urban Institute, Mecklenburg County.
Age bands in the ranking pool (≥100 single-family units)
| Average age of single-family homes | NPAs in ranking pool |
|---|---|
| 80 years or more | 1 |
| 50 to 79 years | 101 |
| 30 to 49 years | 168 |
| 15 to 29 years | 132 |
| Under 15 years | 8 |
Ten oldest NPAs (≥100 single-family units)
| NPA / area | Average age (years) | Single-family homes (2023) |
|---|---|---|
| Elizabeth area (NPA 367) | 85 | 927 |
| Wilmore (NPA 388) | 75 | 651 |
| Lockwood (NPA 157) | 74 | 185 |
| Revolution Park (NPA 326) | 74 | 247 |
| Dilworth (NPA 3) | 73 | 1,589 |
| Ashley Park (NPA 124) | 73 | 551 |
| Uptown (NPA 476) | 73 | 192 |
| between Chantilly and Morningside (NPA 315) | 72 | 262 |
| Lockwood (NPA 369) | 72 | 376 |
| Chantilly (NPA 2) | 71 | 507 |
Ten newest NPAs (≥100 single-family units)
Among NPAs tied on average age, the table sorts by NPA number ascending so the cut is reproducible.
| NPA / area | Average age (years) | Single-family homes (2023) |
|---|---|---|
| Cresswind (NPA 228) | 7 | 1,045 |
| between Heatherwood and Canyon Hills (NPA 243) | 8 | 970 |
| Palisades (NPA 256) | 12 | 4,135 |
| Pineville area (NPA 430) | 13 | 564 |
| between Druid Hills and Lincoln Heights (NPA 126) | 14 | 125 |
| Croft (NPA 277) | 14 | 1,363 |
| Huntersville (NPA 434) | 14 | 1,643 |
| Downtown Cornelius (NPA 438) | 14 | 1,363 |
| Sterling (NPA 116) | 15 | 1,160 |
| Berewick (NPA 45) | 16 | 1,497 |
Ranking-pool summary
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| NPAs with a 2025 age value | 441 |
| NPAs in ranking (≥100 single-family units, 2023) | 410 |
| NPAs excluded by the unit floor | 31 |
| Unweighted average of neighborhood averages (all 441) | 38.99 |
| Unweighted average of neighborhood averages (ranking pool) | 38.60 |
| Median average age (ranking pool) | 36 |
| Minimum in ranking pool | 7 |
| Maximum in ranking pool | 85 |
What age can mean for plumbing
An NPA average is not a house-level diagnosis. It is still a useful first screen for where older single-family stock concentrates.
Charlotte Water states that homes built after 1986 are less likely to have lead water service lines, that galvanized steel pipes are an additional source of lead in drinking water when they were downstream of lead, and that water service line replacements are prioritized in part by building age and community need (Lead and Copper FAQs).
If you are planning a whole-home renovation in an older house, see whole-home repiping. Neighborhood context for close-in stock includes Dilworth.
What is not measured
- Multi-family buildings, commercial buildings, and any stock outside the published “single-family housing units” age variable
- Parcel-level year built, pipe material, or service-line material
- A City of Charlotte versus Mecklenburg County split — this study frames Charlotte–Mecklenburg neighborhoods (all NPAs in the layer). A city-boundary overlay is a possible later update
- Official NPA display names (none are published; only the 20 labeled rows above carry familiar neighborhood names)
- Plumbing condition, leak history, or permit status
- Median year built (a different statistic; not used here)
- Unit-weighted countywide mean as the headline (the key figure is the unweighted average of neighborhood averages; a unit-weighted mean for the ranking pool is in the summary CSV)
Methodology
- Sources: Charlotte–Mecklenburg Quality of Life Explorer. Publishers as stated by the program: City of Charlotte, UNC Charlotte Urban Institute, and Mecklenburg County. Portal: mcmap.org/qol.
- Age variable (layer 64):
Var_Desc= “Average age of single-family housing units”; value fieldVal_Norm(years);Year= 2025. - Unit counts (layer 76): Single Family Housing;
Val_Raw= number of single-family units (Var_Raw_Unit= Units); latest published year 2023. The age year and the count year differ on purpose — each layer’s published year is used as-is. - Ranking floor: only NPAs with ≥ 100 single-family units (2023) enter the oldest/newest tables (410 NPAs). 31 NPAs with a 2025 age value fall below that floor and stay in the CSV with
in_ranking=false. - Coverage: 441 NPAs with a non-null 2025 age value. Aggregates only — no address or parcel rows are stored.
- Labels (Option B): name only the 10 oldest and 10 newest NPAs in the ranking pool; always show the NPA number (“Dilworth (NPA 3)”); name = familiar neighborhood at the NPA centroid from Nominatim address lookup, cross-checked on the QoL map; an NPA spanning several familiar names is “between X and Y”. Confirmation notes for all 20 are in
data/research/charlotte-qol-explorer/2026-10-19/npa-labels-oldest-newest-20.csv. - Tie-break: sort by average age (desc for oldest / asc for newest), then by NPA number ascending.
- Means: the “about 39 years” callout is the unweighted average of neighborhood averages across all 441 NPAs with a 2025 age value. It is not weighted by single-family unit counts.
- Publisher of this page’s calculation: charlotte-plumbing.com.
FAQ
Is 85 years the age of every house in that NPA?
No. It is the Explorer’s average age of single-family housing units for that NPA in 2025, and only NPAs with at least 100 single-family units (2023 counts) enter the ranking. Individual houses can be newer or older.
Why exclude NPAs with fewer than 100 single-family homes?
A very small stock can dominate an NPA average (for example, a handful of old houses next to non-residential land). The floor keeps the oldest/newest lists on neighborhoods with a meaningful single-family count.
Why do some rows say “between X and Y”?
When the NPA centroid sits where familiar neighborhood names overlap, the label names both sides instead of picking one.
Does this split Charlotte city from Mecklenburg County?
No. The frame is Charlotte–Mecklenburg neighborhoods (NPAs). A city-boundary overlay is not in this snapshot.
Does an old NPA average mean lead pipes?
No. Age is a screen, not a material test. Charlotte Water’s guidance on service lines and building age is linked above; a plumber still has to see the pipe.
Sources
- Charlotte–Mecklenburg Quality of Life Explorer
- UNC Charlotte Urban Institute — Quality of Life Explorer
- QoL Explorer Housing Age layer (ArcGIS MapServer 64)
- QoL Explorer Single Family Housing layer (ArcGIS MapServer 76)
- Charlotte Water — Lead and Copper FAQs
- Committed NPA aggregates:
data/research/charlotte-qol-explorer/2026-10-19/(catalog idcharlotte-qol-explorerindata/research/datasets.json)