Best PlacesAirport, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Airport, 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.
Airport ranks 36,068th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and a weak job market ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Airport
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.
Airport's strengths and weaknesses
Where Airport ranks high
- Short commute11.2 minutes each way, better than 99% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 99% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 92% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of towns
Where Airport ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 8% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 9% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 14% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Airport
A household needs to earn about $61,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Airport home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $59,065; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
Where the monthly payment goes
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 Airport's effective rate of 0.18%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Airport
Airport runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Airport.
Who works in Airport, and how
Work in Airport centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Airport
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Airport.
What the weather is like in Airport, month by month
Airport sees roughly 82 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 50, with lows near 28. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 50° | 37° | 28° |
| April | 71° | 56° | 43° |
| July | 86° | 73° | 65° |
| October | 72° | 57° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Airport
The nearest airport, Asheville Regional, is about 40 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 131 miles away.
The best schools in and around Airport
Schools across Airport average a C+, better than 52% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Scotts Creek ElementaryB− · 41% proficient
- Swain County East ElementaryC+ · 38% proficient
- Smokey Mountain ElementaryC− · 26% proficient
Top middle schools
- Swain County Middle SchoolA− · 53% proficient
Top high schools
- Smoky Mountain High SchoolA− · 64% proficient
- Swain County High SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Cherokee Central High SchoolD− · 18% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Airport school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Airport 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 Airport against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Airport
Is Airport a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Airport ranks 36,068th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on short commutes, low property taxes, and tree cover, and lowest on a weak job market and thin health care access. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Airport expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $253,127. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $59,065 median income, cost of living beats 15% of towns.
Is Airport safe?
Airport is safer than 9% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $628 per resident a year.
Compare Airport with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Airport. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Airport 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.
Airport detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Airport: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Airport: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Airport: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Airport: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Airport detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- 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.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.