Best PlacesCedar Island, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Cedar Island, 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.
Cedar Island ranks 30,961st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on quiet by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Cedar Island
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.
Cedar Island's strengths and weaknesses
Where Cedar Island ranks high
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 96% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 92% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 88% of towns
Where Cedar Island ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 8% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 13% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Cedar Island
A household needs to earn about $67,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cedar Island home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $67,500, 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 Cedar Island's effective rate of 0.43%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Cedar Island
Cedar Island 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 Cedar Island.
Who works in Cedar Island, and how
Work in Cedar Island centers on health care & social and public administration. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Cedar Island
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Cedar Island.
What the weather is like in Cedar Island, month by month
Cedar Island sees roughly 80 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 58, 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 | 58° | 47° | 37° |
| April | 73° | 64° | 54° |
| July | 88° | 82° | 75° |
| October | 78° | 68° | 59° |
Flying in and out of Cedar Island
The nearest airport, Coastal Carolina Regional, is about 43 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 154 miles away.
The best schools in and around Cedar Island
Schools across Cedar Island average an A, better than 92% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Atlantic ElementaryA+ · 75% proficient
- Down East Middle And Smyrna ElementaryA · 63% proficient
Top middle schools
- Pamlico County MiddleB+ · 49% proficient
Top high schools
- East Carteret HighA · 73% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cedar Island school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cedar Island 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 Cedar Island against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Cedar Island
Is Cedar Island a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cedar Island ranks 30,961st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on quiet, health care access, and good schools, and lowest on disaster risk and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Cedar Island expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $269,100. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $67,500 median income, cost of living beats 33% of towns.
Is Cedar Island safe?
Cedar Island is safer than 54% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $314 per resident a year.
Compare Cedar Island with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cedar Island. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cedar Island 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.
Cedar Island detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cedar Island: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cedar Island: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cedar Island: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cedar Island: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cedar Island 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.