Best Places27262, NC Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 27262, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.

See the map of best neighborhoods

27262 ranks 15,762nd of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and crime is the weak spot.

#15,762
of 33,110 zip codes
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 33,110 zip codes
Your rank
Set your priorities to see your rank

The best neighborhoods in 27262

Map of the best neighborhoods in the 27262 area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
Colorblind friendly off
Popular priorities:

BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.

27262's strengths and weaknesses

Top 10%State finances
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare 27262 with other zip codes.

Where 27262 ranks high

  • State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of zip codes
  • Internet speedBetter than 89% of zip codes
  • WalkabilityBetter than 87% of zip codes
  • Disaster safetyBetter than 87% of zip codes
  • Short commute20.1 minutes each way, better than 84% of zip codes

Where 27262 ranks low

  • Crime safetyBetter than only 12% of zip codes
  • Nice weatherabout 65 pleasant days a year, better than only 16% of zip codes
  • Housing crash safetyBetter than only 19% of zip codes
  • QuietBetter than only 25% of zip codes
  • Low vacancyBetter than only 26% of zip codes

What it costs to buy a home in 27262

A household needs to earn about $60,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 27262 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $69,908, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.

Income to buy the median home
$60,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$1,388
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $224,469 home
Median rent
$1,063
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$1,145
Property tax$169
Homeowners insurance$75

Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses 27262's effective rate of 0.90%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.

Renting versus buying

At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in 27262

27262's age mix sits close to the national median, and households here run smaller than average.

Median age
39
younger than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
16%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.3
below the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1822%
18 to 3428%
35 to 4917%
50 to 6417%
65 and older16%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 27262.


Who works in 27262, and how

Work in 27262 centers on manufacturing and education. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.

Work from home
7%
below the national average
Unemployment
6.2%
above the national average
Job growth
+11.4%
/y 2019-2023, faster than the national pace

Largest industries

Manufacturing16%
Education12%
Health care & social12%
Retail trade12%
Hospitality & food8%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 83%
  • Work from home 7%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 10%

Life in 27262

27262 has more restaurants and bars per resident than 81% of zip codes and more parkland per resident than 88% of zip codes. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of 27262 and thins out in others, which the map shows.

Places to eat and drink
193
restaurants, bars, and fast food, about 72.2 per 10,000 residents, more than 81% of zip codes
Coffee shops
28
about 10.5 per 10,000 residents, more than 84% of zip codes
Parkland
248 acres
about 9.3 acres per 1,000 residents, more than 88% of zip codes
Open past 10pm
~52
food and drink venues open late, about 19.5 per 10,000 residents, more than 89% of zip codes
Living on campus
4,040
students living in college or university housing

What the weather is like in 27262, month by month

27262 sees roughly 65 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 52, with lows near 29. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January52°40°29°
April74°60°47°
July91°79°69°
October75°62°50°

Flying in and out of 27262

The nearest airport, Piedmont Triad International, is about 10 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 69 miles away.

Nearest airport
GSO
Piedmont Triad International, about 10 miles
Airport size
Small hub
104th-busiest in the US, 35 nonstop destinations
Average drive
15 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around 27262

Schools across 27262 average a B−, better than 57% of zip codes.

Top elementary schools

Top middle schools

Top high schools

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every 27262 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


27262 measure by measure

Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare 27262 against the other 33,109 zip codes.


Who 27262 suits

Families

Schools beat 57% of zip codes.

See the families priority ↑

Remote workers

Internet is fast and widely advertised and 7% already work from home.

See the remote-work priority ↑

Retirees

Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.

See the retirees priority ↑


Common questions about living in 27262

Is 27262 a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 27262 ranks 15,762nd of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on state finances, fast internet, and walkability, and lowest on crime and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is 27262 expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $224,469. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $69,908 median income, cost of living beats 48% of zip codes.

Is 27262 safe?

27262 is safer than 12% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $664 per resident a year.

What is the weather like in 27262?

July highs average about 91 degrees, and January highs near 52 with lows near 29. That works out to about 65 pleasant days a year, more than 16% of zip codes.

Is 27262 good for families?

Schools beat 57% of zip codes, crime safety beats 12%, and childcare runs $850 a month.


Compare 27262 with other zip codes


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 27262. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 27262 represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.

27262 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for 27262: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in 27262: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of 27262: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in 27262: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

27262 detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
  2. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  3. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  4. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  5. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  6. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  7. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  8. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  9. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  10. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  11. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  12. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.