Best PlacesBarkers Creek, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Barkers Creek, 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.
Barkers Creek ranks 20,728th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on heat safety by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Barkers Creek
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.
Barkers Creek's strengths and weaknesses
Where Barkers Creek ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 95% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 94% of towns
- Short commute17.7 minutes each way, better than 94% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of towns
Where Barkers Creek ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 3% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 15% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Barkers Creek
A household needs to earn about $58,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Barkers Creek home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $67,830, 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 Barkers Creek's effective rate of 0.32%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Barkers Creek
Barkers Creek 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 Barkers Creek.
Who works in Barkers Creek, and how
Work in Barkers Creek centers on health care & social and admin & support services. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 95%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Barkers Creek
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Barkers Creek.
What the weather is like in Barkers Creek, month by month
Barkers Creek sees roughly 81 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 Barkers Creek
The nearest airport, Asheville Regional, is about 44 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 134 miles away.
The best schools in and around Barkers Creek
Schools across Barkers Creek average a B, better than 75% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Smokey Mountain ElementaryC− · 26% proficient
Top high schools
- Jackson Co Early CollegeA+ · 85% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Barkers Creek school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Barkers Creek 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 Barkers Creek against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Barkers Creek
Is Barkers Creek a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Barkers Creek ranks 20,728th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on heat safety, tree cover, and low property taxes, and lowest on cell coverage and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Barkers Creek expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $238,600. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $67,830 median income, cost of living beats 42% of towns.
Is Barkers Creek safe?
Yes, Barkers Creek is safer than 59% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $296 per resident a year.
Compare Barkers Creek with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Barkers Creek. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Barkers Creek 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.
Barkers Creek detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Barkers Creek: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Barkers Creek: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Barkers Creek: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Barkers Creek: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Barkers Creek 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.