Best PlacesBrowns Summit, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Browns Summit, 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.
Browns Summit ranks 8,336th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Browns Summit
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.
Browns Summit's strengths and weaknesses
Where Browns Summit ranks high
- TransitBetter than 92% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 88% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 88% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 83% of towns
Where Browns Summit ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 13% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 66 pleasant days a year, better than only 18% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 32% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 34% of towns
- Cheap childcare$851 a month, better than only 42% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Browns Summit
A household needs to earn about $81,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Browns Summit home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $86,789, 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 Browns Summit's effective rate of 0.68%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Browns Summit
Browns Summit runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Browns Summit.
Who works in Browns Summit, and how
Work in Browns Summit centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Browns Summit
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Browns Summit.
What the weather is like in Browns Summit, month by month
Browns Summit sees roughly 66 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 52, with lows near 29. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 52° | 40° | 29° |
| April | 74° | 60° | 47° |
| July | 91° | 79° | 69° |
| October | 75° | 62° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Browns Summit
The nearest airport, Piedmont Triad International, is about 14 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 57 miles away.
The best schools in and around Browns Summit
Schools across Browns Summit average a B, better than 72% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Northern Guilford ElementaryA+ · 77% proficient
- Jesse Wharton ElemA+ · 72% proficient
- Williamsburg ElementaryB− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Brown Summit MiddleA+ · 98% proficient
- Northern Guilford MiddleA · 66% proficient
- Rockingham County MiddleA− · 53% proficient
Top high schools
- Rockingham Co Early College HighA+ · 91% proficient
- Uncg Early/middle CollegeA− · 67% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Browns Summit school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Browns Summit 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 Browns Summit against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Browns Summit
Is Browns Summit a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Browns Summit ranks 8,336th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on transit, state finances, and low disaster risk, and lowest on noise and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Browns Summit expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $314,227. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $86,789 median income, cost of living beats 73% of towns.
Is Browns Summit safe?
Yes, Browns Summit is safer than 62% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $308 per resident a year.
Compare Browns Summit with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Browns Summit. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Browns Summit 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.
Browns Summit detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Browns Summit: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Browns Summit: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Browns Summit: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Browns Summit: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Browns Summit 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.