Best PlacesAsheville, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Asheville metro, 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.
Photo by Bill McMannis, CC BY 2.0, via commons
Asheville ranks 141st of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on tree cover and heat safety. The weaker spots are empty homes, an overheated housing market, and cell coverage.
The best neighborhoods in the Asheville metro
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 Asheville
The towns and districts of the Asheville metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Laurel Park
Fewer homes sit empty, schools score higher, and local pay stretches further.
Mills River, Etowah & Horse Shoe
It is quieter and crime runs lower.
Weaverville & Mars Hill
More adults hold degrees, though fewer households have young kids.
Fairview, Fletcher & Swannanoa
Tree cover is thicker and incomes run higher.
Hendersonville
Prices have run up less, though biking is worse.
Downtown Asheville
Transit reaches more jobs and streets are more walkable.
Black Mountain
Scores close to Downtown Asheville, except that homes cost less here.
Candler
Scores close to Black Mountain, except that advertised internet is faster here.
Leicester, Marshall & Woodfin
Commutes are longer.
Asheville shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 13% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Asheville's strengths and weaknesses
Asheville lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Tree cover is the standout, in the top 3% of metro areas. Heat safety and civic engagement follow.
The one real hole is empty homes, near the bottom of the country. An overheated housing market and cell coverage also cost it ground. The detail is below, and the map is where it turns into a choice of neighborhood rather than just a place.
Where Asheville ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 97% of metro areas
- Heat safetyBetter than 96% of metro areas
- Voter turnoutBetter than 96% of metro areas
- Healthcare accessBetter than 95% of metro areas
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of metro areas
Where Asheville ranks low
- Low vacancyBetter than only 1% of metro areas
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 3% of metro areas
- Cell coverageBetter than only 5% of metro areas
- WalkabilityBetter than only 12% of metro areas
- BikingBetter than only 25% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Asheville
A household needs to earn about $100,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Asheville home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $76,170, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Asheville's effective rate of 0.55%, 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 Asheville
Asheville runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Asheville.
Who works in Asheville, and how
Work in Asheville centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Asheville
Asheville has more restaurants and bars per resident than 91% of metro areas and less parkland per resident than most metro areas. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Asheville and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Asheville growing, and who is moving in?
Asheville has grown about 11% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Charlotte, NC.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Asheville go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Asheville, month by month
Asheville sees roughly 113 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 48, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 48° | 36° | 27° |
| April | 70° | 55° | 43° |
| July | 84° | 72° | 62° |
| October | 70° | 56° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Asheville
The nearest airport, Asheville Regional, is about 10 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 94 miles away.
The best schools in and around Asheville
Schools across Asheville average a B+, better than 90% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Glenn C Marlow ElementaryA · 70% proficient
- Evergreen Community CharterA · 67% proficient
- Isaac Dickson ElementaryA · 62% proficient
Top middle schools
- Rugby MiddleA+ · 70% proficient
- North Windy Ridge IntermediateA · 62% proficient
- Asheville MiddleA− · 55% proficient
Top high schools
- Nesbitt Discovery AcademyA+ · 96% proficient
- Henderson County Early CollegeA+ · 93% proficient
- Early CollegeA · 75% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Asheville school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Asheville 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 Asheville against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Asheville suits
Retirees
The weather beats 69% of metro areas, health care access beats 95%, and it is quieter than 78%.
Common questions about living in Asheville
Is Asheville a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Asheville ranks 141st of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on tree cover, heat safety, and civic engagement, and lowest on empty homes and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Asheville expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $398,125. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $76,170 median income, cost of living beats 27% of metro areas.
Is Asheville safe?
Asheville is safer than 50% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $383 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Asheville?
July highs average about 84 degrees, and January highs near 48 with lows near 27. That works out to about 113 pleasant days a year, more than 69% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Asheville?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Laurel Park, Mills River, Etowah & Horse Shoe, and Weaverville & Mars Hill. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Asheville good for families?
Schools beat 90% of metro areas, crime safety beats 50%, and childcare runs $815 a month.
Is Asheville good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 27% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 42% of metro areas. About 16% of workers already work from home.
Compare Asheville with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Asheville. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Asheville 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.
Asheville detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Asheville: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Asheville: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Asheville: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Asheville: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Asheville 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.