Best PlacesCarolina Shores, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Carolina Shores, 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.
Carolina Shores ranks 13,520th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Carolina Shores
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.
Carolina Shores' strengths and weaknesses
Where Carolina Shores ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 97% of towns
- School gradeA−, better than 92% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 92% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 91% of towns
Where Carolina Shores ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 9% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 25% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 30% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Carolina Shores
A household needs to earn about $70,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Carolina Shores home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $72,359, 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 Carolina Shores' effective rate of 0.47%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Carolina Shores
Carolina Shores 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 Carolina Shores.
Who works in Carolina Shores, and how
Work in Carolina Shores centers on retail trade 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 88%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Carolina Shores
Carolina Shores has more restaurants and bars per resident than 95% of towns. The coast is about 12 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Carolina Shores and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Carolina Shores, month by month
Carolina Shores sees roughly 82 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 59, with lows near 37. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 59° | 47° | 37° |
| April | 75° | 64° | 53° |
| July | 89° | 81° | 74° |
| October | 79° | 67° | 57° |
Flying in and out of Carolina Shores
The nearest airport, Myrtle Beach International, is about 26 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charleston AFB/International, about 110 miles away.
The best schools in and around Carolina Shores
Schools across Carolina Shores average an A−, better than 92% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Jessie Mae Monroe ElementaryB · 45% proficient
Top middle schools
- Shallotte MiddleA− · 56% proficient
Top high schools
- Brunswick County Early CollegeA+ · 98% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Carolina Shores school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Carolina Shores 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 Carolina Shores against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Carolina Shores
Is Carolina Shores a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Carolina Shores ranks 13,520th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on health care access, civic engagement, and good schools, and lowest on disaster risk and summer heat. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Carolina Shores expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $278,746. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $72,359 median income, cost of living beats 62% of towns.
Is Carolina Shores safe?
Yes, Carolina Shores is safer than 91% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $211 per resident a year.
Compare Carolina Shores with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Carolina Shores. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Carolina Shores 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.
Carolina Shores detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Carolina Shores: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Carolina Shores: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Carolina Shores: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Carolina Shores: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Carolina Shores 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.