Best PlacesAlamance County, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Alamance County, 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.
Alamance County ranks 1,026th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on state finances and fast internet. The weaker spots are an overheated housing market, the weather, and noise.
The best neighborhoods in Alamance County
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.
The best areas in Alamance County
The parts of Alamance County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Liberty
Local pay stretches further, incomes run higher, and more households have young kids.
Haw River & Swepsonville
Crime runs lower and schools score higher.
Mebane
Fewer homes sit empty and health outcomes score higher.
Graham
Tree cover is thicker and prices have run up less.
Elon, Elon College & Gibsonville
Green Level
It is quieter, though fewer adults hold degrees.
Burlington
Health care is harder to reach and fewer residents vote.
Alamance County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 4% of the country and others in the top 5%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Alamance County's strengths and weaknesses
Alamance County lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. State finances, fast internet, and transit carry most of that.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. An overheated housing market, the weather, and noise hold the score down. Cost swings more from one part of Alamance County to another than it does between Alamance County and its neighbors, which the map below shows.
Where Alamance County ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 87% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than 86% of counties
- TransitBetter than 85% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than 83% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 82% of counties
Where Alamance County ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 10% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 68 pleasant days a year, better than only 17% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 29% of counties
- Short commute25.9 minutes each way, better than only 37% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than only 38% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Alamance County
A household needs to earn about $64,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Alamance County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $70,619, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
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 Alamance County's effective rate of 0.66%, 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.
Who lives in Alamance County
Alamance County's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Alamance County.
Who works in Alamance County, and how
Work in Alamance County centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Alamance County
Alamance County has less parkland per resident than most counties. That concentrates in some parts of Alamance County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Alamance County growing, and who is moving in?
Alamance County has grown about 18% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Chapel Hill, NC.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Alamance County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Alamance County, month by month
Alamance County sees roughly 68 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 54, with lows near 29. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 54° | 41° | 29° |
| April | 76° | 61° | 47° |
| July | 92° | 80° | 69° |
| October | 76° | 62° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Alamance County
The nearest airport, Piedmont Triad International, is about 30 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 38 miles away.
The best schools in and around Alamance County
Schools across Alamance County average a B−, better than 68% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Hillsborough ElementaryA · 69% proficient
- Perry W Harrison ElementaryA− · 58% proficient
- Marvin B Smith ElementaryA− · 58% proficient
Top middle schools
- Margaret B. Pollard MiddleA+ · 69% proficient
- Mcdougle MiddleA+ · 69% proficient
- Hawfields MiddleA− · 57% proficient
Top high schools
- Chatham School Of Science & EngineeringA+ · 90% proficient
- Abss Early College At AccA+ · 87% proficient
- Northwood HighA · 70% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Alamance County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Alamance County 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 Alamance County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Alamance County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 12% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Alamance County
Is Alamance County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Alamance County ranks 1,026th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on state finances, fast internet, and transit, and lowest on an overheated housing market and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Alamance County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $250,883. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $70,619 median income, cost of living beats 60% of counties.
Is Alamance County safe?
Alamance County is safer than 38% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $423 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Alamance County?
July highs average about 92 degrees, and January highs near 54 with lows near 29. That works out to about 68 pleasant days a year, more than 17% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Alamance County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Liberty, Haw River & Swepsonville, and Mebane. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Alamance County good for families?
Schools beat 68% of counties, crime safety beats 38%, and childcare runs $645 a month.
Is Alamance County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 60% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 86% of counties. About 12% of workers already work from home.
Compare Alamance County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Alamance County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Alamance County 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.
Alamance County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Alamance County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Alamance County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Alamance County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Alamance County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Alamance County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.