Best PlacesCabarrus County, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Cabarrus County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages hide a wide spread here, so the area matters as much as the address. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Cabarrus County ranks 109th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. Paychecks stretch further here than almost anywhere else: the median household brings in $101,204, everyday costs sit below the national average, and a strong job market ranks near the top of the country. The main drawbacks are an overheated housing market, childcare costs, and long commutes.
The best neighborhoods in Cabarrus 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 Cabarrus County
The parts of Cabarrus 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.
Concord
More adults hold degrees, local pay stretches further, and incomes run higher.
Harrisburg
Fewer homes sit empty and more residents vote.
Davidson
Advertised internet is slower.
Midland & Flows Store
It is quieter and crime runs lower.
Mount Pleasant
Tree cover is thicker, though fewer households have young kids.
Kannapolis
Homes cost less, though schools score lower.
Cabarrus County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 10% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Cabarrus County's strengths and weaknesses
Cabarrus County ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. What local pay buys, a strong job market, and high incomes carry most of that.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. An overheated housing market, childcare costs, and long commutes hold the score down. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Cabarrus County ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 96% of counties
- Local economyBetter than 96% of counties
- Household income$101,204 median, better than 93% of counties
- School gradeA−, better than 92% of counties
- Health outlookBetter than 91% of counties
Where Cabarrus County ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 8% of counties
- Cheap childcare$1,018 a month, better than only 16% of counties
- Short commute27.3 minutes each way, better than only 28% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 28% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than only 33% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Cabarrus County
A household needs to earn about $95,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cabarrus County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $101,204, 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 Cabarrus County's effective rate of 0.76%, 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 Cabarrus County
Cabarrus County's age mix sits close to the national median, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Cabarrus County.
Who works in Cabarrus County, and how
Work in Cabarrus County centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Cabarrus County
Cabarrus County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and less parkland per resident than most counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Cabarrus County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Cabarrus County growing, and who is moving in?
Cabarrus County has grown about 28% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Charlotte, NC metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Cabarrus County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Cabarrus County, month by month
Cabarrus County sees roughly 79 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 52, with lows near 34. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 52° | 43° | 34° |
| April | 74° | 62° | 51° |
| July | 91° | 80° | 71° |
| October | 75° | 63° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Cabarrus County
The nearest airport, Concord-Padgett Regional, is about 5 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 22 miles away.
The best schools in and around Cabarrus County
Schools across Cabarrus County average an A−, better than 92% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Cox Mill ElementaryA+ · 80% proficient
- W R Odell ElementaryA+ · 79% proficient
- Harrisburg ElementaryA+ · 73% proficient
Top middle schools
- Harris Road MiddleA+ · 80% proficient
- Hickory Ridge MiddleA+ · 77% proficient
- J N Fries Magnet SchoolA · 67% proficient
Top high schools
- Cabarrus Early College Of TechnologyA+ · 88% proficient
- Cox Mill High SchoolA+ · 82% proficient
- Cabarrus-kannapolis Early CollA+ · 80% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cabarrus County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cabarrus 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 Cabarrus County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Cabarrus County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 96% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 18% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Cabarrus County
Is Cabarrus County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cabarrus County ranks 109th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on what local pay buys, a strong job market, and high incomes, and lowest on an overheated housing market and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Cabarrus County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $366,690. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $101,204 median income, cost of living beats 96% of counties.
Is Cabarrus County safe?
Yes, Cabarrus County is safer than 70% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $338 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Cabarrus County?
July highs average about 91 degrees, and January highs near 52 with lows near 34. That works out to about 79 pleasant days a year, more than 38% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Cabarrus County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Concord, Harrisburg, and Davidson. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Cabarrus County good for families?
Schools beat 92% of counties, crime safety beats 70%, and childcare runs $1,018 a month.
Is Cabarrus County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 96% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 86% of counties. About 18% of workers already work from home.
Compare Cabarrus County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cabarrus County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cabarrus 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.
Cabarrus County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cabarrus County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cabarrus County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cabarrus County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cabarrus County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cabarrus 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.