Best PlacesBurlington, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Burlington metro, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Photo by Nyttend, via commons
Burlington ranks 222nd of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on an overheated housing market and walkability. It does better on state finances, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in the Burlington metro
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 Burlington
The towns and districts of the Burlington metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Liberty
Local pay stretches further, incomes run higher, and more households have young kids.
Haw River & Swepsonville
Crime runs lower and schools score higher.
Mebane
Fewer homes sit empty and health outcomes score higher.
Graham
Tree cover is thicker and prices have run up less.
Elon, Elon College & Gibsonville
Green Level
It is quieter, though fewer adults hold degrees.
Downtown Burlington
Health care is harder to reach and fewer residents vote.
Burlington shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 4% of the country and others in the top 5%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Burlington's strengths and weaknesses
Burlington lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. State finances, affordable childcare, and cheap car insurance carry most of that.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. An overheated housing market, walkability, and the weather hold the score down. Cost swings more from one part of Burlington to another than it does between Burlington and its neighbors, which the map below shows.
Where Burlington ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of metro areas
- Cheap childcare$645 a month, better than 87% of metro areas
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 84% of metro areas
- Disaster safetyBetter than 76% of metro areas
- Tree shadeBetter than 74% of metro areas
Where Burlington ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 14% of metro areas
- WalkabilityBetter than only 18% of metro areas
- Nice weatherabout 68 pleasant days a year, better than only 18% of metro areas
- Short commute25.9 minutes each way, better than only 20% of metro areas
- Household income$70,619 median, better than only 24% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Burlington
A household needs to earn about $64,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Burlington home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $70,619, 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 Burlington's effective rate of 0.66%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Burlington
Burlington's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Burlington.
Who works in Burlington, and how
Work in Burlington centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Burlington
Burlington has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most metro areas and less parkland per resident than most metro areas. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Burlington and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Burlington growing, and who is moving in?
Burlington has grown about 18% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Chapel Hill, NC.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Burlington go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Burlington, month by month
Burlington sees roughly 68 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 54, 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 | 54° | 41° | 29° |
| April | 76° | 61° | 47° |
| July | 92° | 80° | 69° |
| October | 76° | 62° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Burlington
The nearest airport, Piedmont Triad International, is about 27 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 40 miles away.
The best schools in and around Burlington
Schools across Burlington average a B−, better than 66% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Hillsborough ElementaryA · 69% proficient
- Marvin B Smith ElementaryA− · 58% proficient
- Highland ElementaryB+ · 52% proficient
Top middle schools
- Southeast Guilford MiddleB+ · 50% proficient
- Western Alamance MiddleB+ · 50% proficient
- Southern Alamance MiddleB+ · 48% proficient
Top high schools
- Uncg Early/middle CollegeA− · 67% proficient
- Orange HighA− · 63% proficient
- Southern Alamance HighA− · 63% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Burlington school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Burlington 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 Burlington against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Burlington suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 12% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Burlington
Is Burlington a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Burlington ranks 222nd of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on state finances, affordable childcare, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on an overheated housing market and walkability. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Burlington expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $250,883. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $70,619 median income, cost of living beats 36% of metro areas.
Is Burlington safe?
Burlington is safer than 34% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $423 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Burlington?
July highs average about 92 degrees, and January highs near 54 with lows near 29. That works out to about 68 pleasant days a year, more than 18% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Burlington?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Liberty, Haw River & Swepsonville, and Mebane. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Burlington good for families?
Schools beat 66% of metro areas, crime safety beats 34%, and childcare runs $645 a month.
Is Burlington good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 36% of metro areas, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 72% of metro areas. About 12% of workers already work from home.
Compare Burlington with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Burlington. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Burlington 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.
Burlington detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Burlington: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Burlington: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Burlington: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Burlington: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Burlington 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.