Best PlacesBusick, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Busick, 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.
Busick ranks 18,782nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and biking ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Busick
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.
Busick's strengths and weaknesses
Where Busick ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of towns
- QuietBetter than 90% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 87% of towns
- School gradeB+, better than 83% of towns
Where Busick ranks low
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 3% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 24% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 26% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Busick
A household needs to earn about $61,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Busick home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $67,527, 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 Busick's effective rate of 0.51%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Busick
Busick 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 Busick.
Who works in Busick, and how
Work in Busick centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Busick
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Busick.
What the weather is like in Busick, month by month
Busick sees roughly 88 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 51, with lows near 31. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 51° | 40° | 31° |
| April | 72° | 59° | 48° |
| July | 88° | 77° | 68° |
| October | 73° | 61° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Busick
The nearest airport, Asheville Regional, is about 30 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 80 miles away.
The best schools in and around Busick
Schools across Busick average a B+, better than 83% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- South Toe ElementaryA · 63% proficient
- Old Fort Elementary SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Pleasant Gardens Elementary SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- East Yancey MiddleA · 63% proficient
- Harris MiddleA− · 58% proficient
- West Mcdowell Middle SchoolB · 47% proficient
Top high schools
- Mcdowell Early CollegeA+ · 85% proficient
- Mountain Heritage HighA− · 60% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Busick school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Busick 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 Busick against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Busick
Is Busick a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Busick ranks 18,782nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on tree cover, state finances, and quiet, and lowest on biking and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Busick expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $244,997. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $67,527 median income, cost of living beats 46% of towns.
Is Busick safe?
Yes, Busick is safer than 64% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $283 per resident a year.
Compare Busick with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Busick. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Busick 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.
Busick detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Busick: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Busick: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Busick: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Busick: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Busick 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.