Best PlacesBurke County, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Burke 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.
Burke County ranks 1,011th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on good schools by a wide margin, and walkability ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Burke 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 Burke County
The parts of Burke 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.
Morganton
Prices have run up less.
Valdese
It is noisier and tree cover is thinner.
Connellys Springs & Hickory
Fewer adults hold degrees and fewer households have young kids.
Scores across Burke County run from about the 16th to the 88th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Burke County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Burke County ranks high
- School gradeA−, better than 95% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than 87% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 86% of counties
- Local economyBetter than 76% of counties
Where Burke County ranks low
- WalkabilityBetter than only 21% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 28% of counties
- BikingBetter than only 29% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 30% of counties
- Household income$61,559 median, better than only 30% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Burke County
A household needs to earn about $50,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Burke County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $61,559, 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 Burke County's effective rate of 0.65%, 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 Burke County
Burke County 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 Burke County.
Who works in Burke County, and how
Work in Burke County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 92%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Burke County
Burke County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and more parkland per resident than 66% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Burke County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Burke County growing, and who is moving in?
Burke County has lost about 1% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Hickory, NC metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Burke County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Burke County, month by month
Burke County sees roughly 77 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 51, 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 | 51° | 39° | 30° |
| April | 74° | 59° | 46° |
| July | 90° | 77° | 67° |
| October | 74° | 59° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Burke County
Charlotte/Douglas International sits about 53 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 25.9 million passengers in 2025, with 213 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Burke County
Schools across Burke County average an A−, better than 95% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- New DimensionsA · 70% proficient
- Icard ElementaryA− · 60% proficient
- Baton ElementaryA− · 57% proficient
Top middle schools
- Heritage MiddleA · 64% proficient
- East Burke MiddleA · 59% proficient
- Harris MiddleA− · 58% proficient
Top high schools
- Burke Middle CollegeA+ · 93% proficient
- Robert L. Patton High SchoolA− · 63% proficient
- Jimmy C Draughn High SchoolB+ · 57% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Burke County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Burke 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 Burke County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Burke County suits
Common questions about living in Burke County
Is Burke County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Burke County ranks 1,011th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on good schools, tree cover, and state finances, and lowest on walkability 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 Burke County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $195,032. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $61,559 median income, cost of living beats 31% of counties.
Is Burke County safe?
Yes, Burke County is safer than 74% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $319 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Burke County?
July highs average about 90 degrees, and January highs near 51 with lows near 30. That works out to about 77 pleasant days a year, more than 34% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Burke County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Morganton, Valdese, and Connellys Springs & Hickory. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Burke County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Burke County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Burke 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.
Burke County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Burke County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Burke County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Burke County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Burke County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Burke 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.