Best PlacesCary, NC 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. 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.
Cary ranks 1st of 445 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index, the highest of any. Paychecks stretch further here than almost anywhere else: the median household brings in $144,680, everyday costs sit below the national average, and good schools ranks near the top of the country. The main drawbacks are the weather, cell coverage, and walkability.
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.
The best areas in Cary
The parts of Cary, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the city.
Panther Creek
More households have young kids, prices have run up less, and local pay stretches further.
Central Cary
Transit reaches more jobs and biking is better.
Southern Cary
Tree cover is thicker and more residents vote.
Northeastern Cary
Southeastern Cary
Incomes run lower and more homes sit empty.
Eastern Cary
Fewer adults hold degrees and crime runs higher.
Scores across Cary run from about the 51st to the 100th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Cary's strengths and weaknesses
Cary ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. What local pay buys is the standout, in the top 1% of cities. Health care access and good schools follow.
The one real hole is the weather, near the bottom of the country. Cell coverage and walkability also cost it ground. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Cary ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 99% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of cities
- School gradeA, better than 98% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than 98% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than 97% of cities
Where Cary ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 56 pleasant days a year, better than only 1% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than only 16% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than only 27% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than only 31% of cities
- TransitBetter than only 36% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Cary
A household needs to earn about $151,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cary home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $144,680; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 0.70%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Cary
Cary'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 Cary.
Who works in Cary, and how
Work in Cary centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 61%
- Work from home 36%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Cary
Cary has more restaurants and bars per resident than 79% of cities and more parkland per resident than 90% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Cary and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Cary, month by month
Cary sees roughly 56 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 94 degrees. January highs sit near 56, with lows near 31. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 56° | 43° | 31° |
| April | 77° | 62° | 48° |
| July | 94° | 81° | 71° |
| October | 77° | 63° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Cary
Raleigh-Durham International sits about 7 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 7.7 million passengers in 2025, with 128 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Cary
Schools across Cary average an A, better than 98% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Davis Drive ElementaryA+ · 86% proficient
- Green Hope ElementaryA+ · 86% proficient
- Highcroft ElementaryA+ · 85% proficient
Top middle schools
- Mills Park MiddleA+ · 89% proficient
- Davis Drive MiddleA+ · 87% proficient
- Alston Ridge MiddleA+ · 78% proficient
Top high schools
- Wake Stem Early College High SchoolA+ · 95% proficient
- Green Level HighA+ · 92% proficient
- Panther Creek HighA+ · 87% 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 444 cities.
Who Cary suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 99% of cities, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 36% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Cary
Is Cary a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cary ranks 1st of 445 cities. It scores highest on what local pay buys, health care access, and good schools, and lowest on the weather and cell coverage. 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 $585,836. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $144,680 median income, cost of living beats 99% of cities.
Is Cary safe?
Yes, Cary is safer than 93% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $251 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Cary?
July highs average about 94 degrees, and January highs near 56 with lows near 31. That works out to about 56 pleasant days a year, more than 1% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Cary?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Panther Creek, Central Cary, and Southern Cary. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Cary good for families?
Schools beat 98% of cities, crime safety beats 93%, and childcare runs $1,195 a month.
Is Cary good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 99% of cities, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 94% of cities. About 36% of workers already work from home.
Compare Cary with other cities
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.