Best PlacesBrooksdale, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Brooksdale, 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.
Brooksdale ranks 21,343rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on few empty homes by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Brooksdale
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.
Brooksdale's strengths and weaknesses
Where Brooksdale ranks high
- Low vacancyBetter than 92% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 79% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 79% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 74% of towns
Where Brooksdale ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 27% of towns
- Household income$61,000 median, better than only 29% of towns
- Short commute30.0 minutes each way, better than only 33% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 40% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Brooksdale
A household needs to earn about $55,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Brooksdale home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $61,000, 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 Brooksdale's effective rate of 0.62%, 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 Brooksdale
Brooksdale 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 Brooksdale.
Who works in Brooksdale, and how
Work in Brooksdale centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Brooksdale
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Brooksdale.
What the weather is like in Brooksdale, month by month
Brooksdale sees roughly 91 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 48, with lows near 30. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 48° | 38° | 30° |
| April | 70° | 58° | 47° |
| July | 87° | 76° | 67° |
| October | 71° | 58° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Brooksdale
Raleigh-Durham International sits about 36 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 7.7 million passengers in 2025, with 128 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Brooksdale
Schools across Brooksdale average a B−, better than 55% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Stories Creek ElementaryA− · 57% proficient
- South ElementaryD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Southern MiddleB · 47% proficient
Top high schools
- Person HighB− · 41% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Brooksdale school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Brooksdale 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 Brooksdale against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Brooksdale
Is Brooksdale a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Brooksdale ranks 21,343rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on few empty homes, state finances, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on an overheated housing market and the cost of living against local pay. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Brooksdale expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $217,294. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $61,000 median income, cost of living beats 27% of towns.
Is Brooksdale safe?
Brooksdale is safer than 54% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $316 per resident a year.
Compare Brooksdale with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Brooksdale. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Brooksdale 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.
Brooksdale detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Brooksdale: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Brooksdale: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Brooksdale: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Brooksdale: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Brooksdale 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.