Best PlacesAvery County, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Avery 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.
Avery County ranks 1,409th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Avery 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.
Avery County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Avery County ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 96% of counties
- Local economyBetter than 92% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than 92% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than 91% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 88% of counties
Where Avery County ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 4% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than only 6% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than only 9% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than only 30% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Avery County
A household needs to earn about $68,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Avery County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $70,313, 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 Avery County's effective rate of 0.39%, 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 Avery County
Avery County runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Avery County.
Who works in Avery County, and how
Work in Avery County centers on construction and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Avery County
Avery County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 81% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Avery County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Avery County growing, and who is moving in?
Avery County has grown about 1% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Charlotte, NC.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Avery County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Avery County, month by month
Avery County sees roughly 87 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 33° | 24° |
| April | 66° | 52° | 40° |
| July | 82° | 70° | 60° |
| October | 67° | 54° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Avery County
The nearest airport, Tri-Cities, is about 38 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 82 miles away.
The best schools in and around Avery County
Schools across Avery County average a B+, better than 83% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Banner Elk ElementaryA · 68% proficient
- Freedom Trail ElementaryB+ · 52% proficient
- Crossnore ElementaryB− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Cranberry MiddleA · 65% proficient
- Harris MiddleA− · 58% proficient
- Avery MiddleA− · 54% proficient
Top high schools
- Mayland Early CollegeA+ · 80% proficient
- Avery County HighB+ · 55% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Avery County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Avery 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 Avery County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Avery County
Is Avery County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Avery County ranks 1,409th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on tree cover, a strong job market, and low property taxes, and lowest on an overheated housing market and empty homes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Avery County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $275,686. The overall cost of living runs about 6% below the national average. Set against a $70,313 median income, cost of living beats 36% of counties.
Is Avery County safe?
Avery County is safer than 30% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $463 per resident a year.
Compare Avery County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Avery County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Avery 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.
Avery County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Avery County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Avery County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Avery County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Avery County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Avery 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.