Town Information and Demographics
The Town of Fletcher, which was incorporated in 1989, is located in Henderson County, North Carolina approximately 13 miles south of Asheville. The Town contains 6.1 square miles of land area and measures six miles in an east-west direction and less than four miles from north to south. Fletcher consists of primarily level and at times hilly terrain, which is dominated by Cane Creek and French Broad River and their tributaries.
Several major roadways provide easy access to Fletcher. US Highway 25 runs north-south through the center of the Town and is the main thoroughfare for residents. Interstate 26 is located to the west and travels through North Carolina to Tennessee and South Carolina. State Route 280 enters the Fletcher from the west, and then turns to the north. The Asheville Regional Airport, located just west of Town, provides convenient non-stop service to Charlotte, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Detroit, Houston, Minneapolis, Newark, Orlando and Chicago. Apple County Transit, an area bus line, connects Fletcher residents with the City of Hendersonville.
Since its incorporation, the Town has more than doubled its population. Between 1990 and 2000, the population grew from 2,787 to 4,185. This growth has continued to an estimated 8,491 in 2020. Based on the 2010 US Census, the estimated number of Fletcher residents over the age of 18 is 5,061. Approximately 88.3% of residents are Caucasian, while 4.1% are African American and 3.1% are Asian, respectively.
To accommodate the growth in population, the Town’s housing supply has also increased. The Census has estimated that Fletcher currently has a total number of 3,208 households and the median value of owner-occupied housing is $180,700 and the average household size is 2.29 persons.
Nearly 90% of Fletcher residents are a high school or college graduate and more than 27% have a bachelor’s degree or higher form of education. In 2000, roughly 74% of the Town’s population 16 years and over was employed. On average, Town residents travel 20 minutes to work, which is below the national average of 25 minutes. The median household income of residents was $44,097 (based on 2010 census).
Students in the Fletcher vicinity would attend public school at either Fletcher Elementary School located at 500 Howard Gap Road or Glenn C. Marlow Elementary School located at 1985 Butler Bridge Road. Students are then sent to either Apple Valley Middle School located at 43 Fruitland Road or Rugby Middle School located at 3345 Haywood Road. High school students attend either North High School located at 35 Fruitland Road or West High School located at 3600 Haywood Road. Fernleaf Charter school, opened in the fall of 2016 for grades K-3, and is located at 40 Howard Gap Road, within the Town’s limits. Veritas Christian Academy, a private school for students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade, is located at 17 Cane Creek Road within the Town’s limits.
The climate in Fletcher is fairly mild with temperatures ranging from the lower 60s in the summer to the mid-80s in the summer. Rainfall averages in the area total 47 inches annually. The chart below provides average climate data collected from 1971 through 2000 obtained from the State Climate Office of North Carolina.
