Best PlacesAyden, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ayden, 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.
Ayden ranks 37,756th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Ayden
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.
Ayden's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ayden ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 89% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 80% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 80% of towns
- BikingBetter than 76% of towns
Where Ayden ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 11% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 14% of towns
- Household income$52,223 median, better than only 15% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Ayden
A household needs to earn about $42,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ayden home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $52,223, 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 Ayden's effective rate of 0.93%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Ayden
Ayden 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 Ayden.
Who works in Ayden, and how
Work in Ayden centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Ayden
Ayden has more restaurants and bars per resident than 73% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Ayden and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Ayden, month by month
Ayden sees roughly 74 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 54, with lows near 35. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 54° | 43° | 35° |
| April | 75° | 62° | 52° |
| July | 91° | 81° | 72° |
| October | 75° | 64° | 54° |
Flying in and out of Ayden
The nearest airport, Pitt-Greenville, is about 12 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 82 miles away.
The best schools in and around Ayden
Schools across Ayden average a C+, better than 47% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- ChicodA · 69% proficient
- Vanceboro-farm Life ElementaryC · 33% proficient
- Sam D Bundy ElementaryC · 32% proficient
Top middle schools
- Ayden MiddleB− · 41% proficient
- West Craven MiddleB− · 40% proficient
- Farmville MiddleB− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- D H Conley HighA− · 65% proficient
- Greene Early College HighA− · 60% proficient
- Farmville Central HighB− · 42% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ayden school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ayden 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 Ayden against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Ayden
Is Ayden a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ayden ranks 37,756th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, fast internet, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on an overheated housing market and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Ayden expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $156,597. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $52,223 median income, cost of living beats 14% of towns.
Is Ayden safe?
Ayden is safer than 32% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $418 per resident a year.
Compare Ayden with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ayden. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ayden 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.
Ayden detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ayden: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ayden: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ayden: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ayden: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ayden 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.