Best PlacesBuncombe County, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Buncombe County, 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.
Buncombe County ranks 651st of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on heat safety and an educated workforce. The weaker spots are an overheated housing market, empty homes, and noise.
The best neighborhoods in Buncombe County
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.
The best areas in Buncombe County
The parts of Buncombe County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Weaverville
More adults hold degrees, local pay stretches further, and health care is easier to reach.
Fairview & Fletcher
Tree cover is thicker and crime runs lower.
Black Mountain
It is quieter, though more homes sit empty.
Arden
Fewer households have young kids and homes cost more.
Swannanoa
Scores close to Arden, except that disaster risk is higher here.
Candler
Prices have run up less, though biking is worse.
Leicester, Alexander & Woodfin
Streets are more car-dependent and transit reaches fewer jobs.
Asheville
Incomes run lower.
Buncombe County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 13% of the country and others in the top 3%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Buncombe County's strengths and weaknesses
Buncombe County ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. Heat safety, an educated workforce, and transit carry most of that.
The one real hole is an overheated housing market, near the bottom of the country. Empty homes and noise also cost it ground. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Buncombe County ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 96% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than 95% of counties
- TransitBetter than 90% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than 88% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 88% of counties
Where Buncombe County ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 2% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than only 15% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 28% of counties
- Cheap childcare$853 a month, better than only 33% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than only 43% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Buncombe County
A household needs to earn about $108,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Buncombe County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $78,813, 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 Buncombe County's effective rate of 0.56%, 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 Buncombe County
Buncombe County runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Buncombe County.
Who works in Buncombe County, and how
Work in Buncombe County centers on health care & social and retail trade. 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 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Buncombe County
Buncombe County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 71% of counties and less parkland per resident than most counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Buncombe County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Buncombe County growing, and who is moving in?
Buncombe County has grown about 12% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Asheville, NC metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Buncombe County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Buncombe County, month by month
Buncombe County sees roughly 113 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 48, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 48° | 36° | 27° |
| April | 70° | 55° | 43° |
| July | 84° | 72° | 62° |
| October | 70° | 56° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Buncombe County
The nearest airport, Asheville Regional, is about 10 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 94 miles away.
The best schools in and around Buncombe County
Schools across Buncombe County average a B, better than 77% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Glenn C Marlow ElementaryA · 70% proficient
- Evergreen Community CharterA · 67% proficient
- Isaac Dickson ElementaryA · 62% proficient
Top middle schools
- Rugby MiddleA+ · 70% proficient
- North Buncombe MiddleA+ · 69% proficient
- Cane Creek MiddleA · 63% proficient
Top high schools
- Nesbitt Discovery AcademyA+ · 96% proficient
- Henderson County Early CollegeA+ · 93% proficient
- Early CollegeA · 75% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Buncombe County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Buncombe County 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 Buncombe County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Buncombe County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 18% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 70% of counties and health care access beats 85%.
Common questions about living in Buncombe County
Is Buncombe County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Buncombe County ranks 651st of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on heat safety, an educated workforce, and transit, and lowest on an overheated housing market and empty homes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Buncombe County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $426,466. The overall cost of living runs about 3% below the national average. Set against a $78,813 median income, cost of living beats 57% of counties.
Is Buncombe County safe?
Buncombe County is safer than 43% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $437 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Buncombe County?
July highs average about 84 degrees, and January highs near 48 with lows near 27. That works out to about 113 pleasant days a year, more than 70% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Buncombe County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Weaverville, Fairview & Fletcher, and Black Mountain. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Buncombe County good for families?
Schools beat 77% of counties, crime safety beats 43%, and childcare runs $853 a month.
Is Buncombe County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 57% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 76% of counties. About 18% of workers already work from home.
Compare Buncombe County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Buncombe County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Buncombe County 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.
Buncombe County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Buncombe County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Buncombe County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Buncombe County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Buncombe County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Buncombe County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.