Best PlacesCary, MS Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Cary, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Cary ranks 49,664th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on quiet by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Cary
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.
Cary's strengths and weaknesses
Where Cary ranks high
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Short commute18.9 minutes each way, better than 91% of towns
- Cheap childcare$534 a month, better than 89% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 72% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 65% of towns
Where Cary ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 1% of towns
- School gradeF, better than only 1% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 3% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Cary
A household needs to earn about $9,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cary home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $23,438, 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 Cary's effective rate of 0.77%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Cary
Cary runs older than the country, 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 Cary.
Who works in Cary, and how
Work in Cary centers on other services and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Cary
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Cary.
What the weather is like in Cary, month by month
Cary sees roughly 87 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 59, with lows near 39. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 59° | 48° | 39° |
| April | 78° | 67° | 57° |
| July | 93° | 82° | 74° |
| October | 82° | 68° | 56° |
Flying in and out of Cary
The nearest airport, Greenville Mid-Delta, is about 47 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Memphis International, about 164 miles away.
The best schools in and around Cary
Schools across Cary average an F, better than 1% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- South Delta Elementary SchoolD− · 13% proficient
Top middle schools
- South Delta Middle SchoolF · 9% proficient
Top high schools
- South Delta High SchoolF · 9% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cary school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cary 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 Cary against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Cary
Is Cary a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cary ranks 49,664th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on quiet, short commutes, and affordable childcare, and lowest on internet speeds and the schools. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Cary expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $34,400. The overall cost of living runs about 24% below the national average. Set against a $23,438 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Cary safe?
Cary is safer than 4% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $411 per resident a year.
Compare Cary with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cary. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cary 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.
Cary detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cary: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cary: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cary: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cary: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cary 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.