Best Places28025, NC Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 28025, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.

See the map of best neighborhoods

28025 ranks 6,498th of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.

#6,498
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 28025

Map of the best neighborhoods in the 28025 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.

28025'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 28025 with other zip codes.

Where 28025 ranks high

  • State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of zip codes
  • School gradeB+, better than 83% of zip codes
  • Cheap car insuranceBetter than 80% of zip codes
  • Internet speedBetter than 79% of zip codes
  • TransitBetter than 79% of zip codes

Where 28025 ranks low

  • Housing crash safetyBetter than only 10% of zip codes
  • Cheap childcare$1,018 a month, better than only 32% of zip codes
  • Air qualityBetter than only 37% of zip codes
  • Short commute28.0 minutes each way, better than only 39% of zip codes
  • Nice weatherabout 80 pleasant days a year, better than only 44% of zip codes

What it costs to buy a home in 28025

A household needs to earn about $81,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 28025 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $86,173, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.

Income to buy the median home
$81,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$1,901
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $314,646 home
Median rent
$1,377
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$1,604
Property tax$191
Homeowners insurance$105

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 28025's effective rate of 0.73%, 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 28025

28025 runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.

Median age
38
younger than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
13%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.8
above the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1825%
18 to 3423%
35 to 4920%
50 to 6419%
65 and older13%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 28025.


Who works in 28025, and how

Work in 28025 centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.

Work from home
14%
about the national average
Unemployment
5.6%
above the national average
Job growth
+3.3%
/y 2019-2023, faster than the national pace

Largest industries

Health care & social15%
Retail trade12%
Manufacturing10%
Construction10%
Education8%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 84%
  • Work from home 14%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 2%

Life in 28025

The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across 28025.

Places to eat and drink
212
restaurants, bars, and fast food, about 36.5 per 10,000 residents, more than 53% of zip codes
Coffee shops
21
about 3.6 per 10,000 residents, more than 58% of zip codes
Parkland
88 acres
about 1.5 acres per 1,000 residents, more than 57% of zip codes
Open past 10pm
~50
food and drink venues open late, about 8.6 per 10,000 residents, more than 61% of zip codes

What the weather is like in 28025, month by month

28025 sees roughly 80 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 52, with lows near 34. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, 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°43°34°
April74°62°51°
July91°80°71°
October75°63°52°

Flying in and out of 28025

The nearest airport, Concord-Padgett Regional, is about 8 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 25 miles away.

Nearest airport
JQF
Concord-Padgett Regional, about 8 miles
Airport size
Nonhub
218th-busiest in the US
Average drive
12 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around 28025

Schools across 28025 average a B+, better than 83% 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 28025 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


28025 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 28025 against the other 33,109 zip codes.


Who 28025 suits

Families

Schools beat 83% of zip codes.

See the families priority ↑

Remote workers

Cost of living against local pay beats 75% of zip codes, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 14% 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 28025

Is 28025 a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 28025 ranks 6,498th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on state finances, good schools, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on an overheated housing market and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is 28025 expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $314,646. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $86,173 median income, cost of living beats 75% of zip codes.

Is 28025 safe?

28025 is safer than 51% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $381 per resident a year.

What is the weather like in 28025?

July highs average about 91 degrees, and January highs near 52 with lows near 34. That works out to about 80 pleasant days a year, more than 44% of zip codes.

Is 28025 good for families?

Schools beat 83% of zip codes, crime safety beats 51%, and childcare runs $1,018 a month.


Compare 28025 with other zip codes


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 28025. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 28025 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.

28025 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for 28025: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in 28025: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of 28025: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in 28025: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

28025 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.