Best PlacesBuies Creek, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Buies Creek, 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.
Buies Creek ranks 26,317th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on an educated workforce by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Buies 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.
Buies Creek's strengths and weaknesses
Where Buies Creek ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 93% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 93% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 81% of towns
- BikingBetter than 78% of towns
Where Buies Creek ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Household income$53,525 median, better than only 17% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 18% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 22% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 23% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Buies Creek
A household needs to earn about $64,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Buies Creek home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $53,525, 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 Buies Creek's effective rate of 0.70%, 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 Buies Creek
Buies Creek 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 Buies Creek.
Who works in Buies Creek, and how
Work in Buies Creek centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Buies Creek
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Buies Creek.
What the weather is like in Buies Creek, month by month
Buies Creek sees roughly 73 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 54, with lows near 35. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 54° | 43° | 35° |
| April | 76° | 63° | 52° |
| July | 91° | 80° | 72° |
| October | 76° | 64° | 55° |
Flying in and out of Buies Creek
The nearest airport, Fayetteville Regional/Grannis Field, is about 29 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 33 miles away.
The best schools in and around Buies Creek
Schools across Buies Creek average a B, better than 63% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Buies Creek ElementaryB · 45% proficient
Top middle schools
- Harnett Central MiddleB− · 43% proficient
Top high schools
- Harnett Central HighB · 45% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Buies Creek school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Buies 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 Buies Creek against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Buies Creek
Is Buies Creek a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Buies Creek ranks 26,317th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on an educated workforce, population health, and state finances, and lowest on an overheated housing market and low incomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Buies Creek expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $249,252. The overall cost of living runs about 20% below the national average. Set against a $53,525 median income, cost of living beats 18% of towns.
Is Buies Creek safe?
Yes, Buies Creek is safer than 60% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $295 per resident a year.
Compare Buies Creek with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Buies Creek. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Buies 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.
Buies Creek detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Buies Creek: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Buies Creek: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Buies Creek: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Buies Creek: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Buies 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.