Best PlacesBoone, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Boone, 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.
Boone ranks 1,552nd of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on heat safety by a wide margin, and low incomes rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Boone
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.
Boone's strengths and weaknesses
Where Boone ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 99% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than 95% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than 94% of cities
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 93% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than 92% of cities
Where Boone ranks low
- Household income$43,507 median, better than only 1% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 1% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than only 2% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than only 10% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Boone
A household needs to earn about $101,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Boone home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $43,507, 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 Boone's effective rate of 0.49%, 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 Boone
Boone runs younger 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 Boone.
Who works in Boone, and how
Work in Boone centers on hospitality & food and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 77%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 14%
Life in Boone
Boone has more restaurants and bars per resident than 86% of cities and more parkland per resident than 95% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Boone and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Boone, month by month
Boone sees roughly 92 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 Boone
The nearest airport, Tri-Cities, is about 45 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 80 miles away.
The best schools in and around Boone
Schools across Boone average an A−, better than 87% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Blowing Rock ElementaryA+ · 74% proficient
- Parkway ElementaryA · 65% proficient
- Hardin Park ElementaryA− · 62% proficient
Top high schools
- Watauga HighA · 73% proficient
- Watauga Innovation AcademyA− · 62% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Boone school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Boone 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 Boone against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Boone suits
Common questions about living in Boone
Is Boone a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Boone ranks 1,552nd of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on heat safety, state finances, and low property taxes, and lowest on low incomes 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 Boone expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $402,277. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $43,507 median income, cost of living beats 1% of cities.
Is Boone safe?
Boone is safer than 37% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $392 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Boone?
July highs average about 82 degrees, and January highs near 43 with lows near 24. That works out to about 92 pleasant days a year, more than 55% of cities.
Is Boone good for families?
Schools beat 87% of cities, crime safety beats 37%, and childcare runs $791 a month.
Compare Boone with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Boone. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Boone 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.
Boone detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Boone: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Boone: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Boone: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Boone: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Boone 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.