Best PlacesChapel Hill, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Chapel Hill metro, 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.
Photo by CramBetter.com, CC BY 4.0, via commons
Chapel Hill ranks 51st of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. Paychecks stretch further here than almost anywhere else: the median household brings in $94,568, everyday costs sit below the national average, and an educated workforce ranks near the top of the country. The main drawbacks are an overheated housing market, crime, and childcare costs.
The best neighborhoods in the Chapel Hill metro
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 Chapel Hill
The towns and districts of the Chapel Hill metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Carrboro
More adults hold degrees, tree cover is thicker, and incomes run higher.
Apex
Local pay stretches further, though fewer households have young kids.
Morrisville & Cary
Prices have run up less, though heat risk is higher.
Downtown Chapel Hill
Biking is better, though it is noisier.
Hillsborough, Mebane & Efland
Transit reaches fewer jobs and streets are more car-dependent.
Roxboro & Timberlake
Homes cost less, though health outcomes score lower.
Pittsboro & Siler City
Crime runs lower, though advertised internet is slower.
Durham
Health care is harder to reach and fewer residents vote.
Rougemont, Bahama & Butner
Schools score lower and commutes are longer.
Chapel Hill shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 5% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Chapel Hill's strengths and weaknesses
Chapel Hill ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. An educated workforce is the standout, in the top 3% of metro areas. Tree cover and fast internet follow.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. An overheated housing market, crime, and childcare costs hold the score down. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Chapel Hill ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 97% of metro areas
- Tree shadeBetter than 93% of metro areas
- Internet speedBetter than 92% of metro areas
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of metro areas
- School gradeB+, better than 89% of metro areas
Where Chapel Hill ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 17% of metro areas
- Crime safetyBetter than only 19% of metro areas
- Cheap childcare$1,170 a month, better than only 23% of metro areas
- Cell coverageBetter than only 24% of metro areas
- Short commute24.1 minutes each way, better than only 37% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Chapel Hill
A household needs to earn about $112,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Chapel Hill home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $94,568, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Chapel Hill's effective rate of 0.82%, 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 Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Chapel Hill.
Who works in Chapel Hill, and how
Work in Chapel Hill centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 68%
- Work from home 23%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill has less parkland per resident than most metro areas. That concentrates in some parts of Chapel Hill and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Chapel Hill growing, and who is moving in?
Chapel Hill has grown about 15% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Raleigh, NC.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Chapel Hill go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Chapel Hill, month by month
Chapel Hill sees roughly 87 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 51, with lows near 32. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 51° | 40° | 32° |
| April | 73° | 60° | 49° |
| July | 89° | 78° | 69° |
| October | 73° | 61° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Chapel Hill
Raleigh-Durham International sits about 15 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 Chapel Hill
Schools across Chapel Hill average a B+, better than 89% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- The Expedition SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
- Pearsontown ElementaryA · 71% proficient
- Morris Grove ElementaryA · 70% proficient
Top middle schools
- Smith MiddleA+ · 72% proficient
- Phillips MiddleA+ · 72% proficient
- Margaret B. Pollard MiddleA+ · 69% proficient
Top high schools
- Chatham School Of Science & EngineeringA+ · 90% proficient
- Middle College Hs @ DtccA+ · 80% proficient
- City Of Medicine AcademyA · 78% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Chapel Hill school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Chapel Hill 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 Chapel Hill against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Chapel Hill suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 88% of metro areas, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 23% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Chapel Hill
Is Chapel Hill a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Chapel Hill ranks 51st of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on an educated workforce, tree cover, and fast internet, and lowest on an overheated housing market and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Chapel Hill expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $425,284. The overall cost of living runs about 7% below the national average. Set against a $94,568 median income, cost of living beats 88% of metro areas.
Is Chapel Hill safe?
Chapel Hill is safer than 19% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $480 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Chapel Hill?
July highs average about 89 degrees, and January highs near 51 with lows near 32. That works out to about 87 pleasant days a year, more than 50% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Chapel Hill?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Carrboro, Apex, and Morrisville & Cary. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Chapel Hill good for families?
Schools beat 89% of metro areas, crime safety beats 19%, and childcare runs $1,170 a month.
Is Chapel Hill good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 88% of metro areas, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 92% of metro areas. About 23% of workers already work from home.
Compare Chapel Hill with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Chapel Hill. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Chapel Hill 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.
Chapel Hill detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Chapel Hill: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Chapel Hill: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Chapel Hill: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Chapel Hill: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Chapel Hill 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.