Best PlacesCharlotte, VT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Charlotte, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Charlotte ranks 1,026th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on population health by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Charlotte
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.
Charlotte's strengths and weaknesses
Where Charlotte ranks high
- Health outlookBetter than 99% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 98% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 96% of towns
- Household income$136,807 median, better than 96% of towns
Where Charlotte ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,718 a month, better than only 1% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 9% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 14% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 15% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 73 pleasant days a year, better than only 33% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Charlotte
A household needs to earn about $196,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Charlotte home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $136,807, 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 Charlotte's effective rate of 1.32%, 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 Charlotte
Charlotte 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 Charlotte.
Who works in Charlotte, and how
Work in Charlotte 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 66%
- Work from home 26%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Charlotte
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Charlotte.
What the weather is like in Charlotte, month by month
Charlotte sees roughly 73 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 33, with lows near 15. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 33° | 24° | 15° |
| April | 59° | 46° | 35° |
| July | 86° | 74° | 63° |
| October | 64° | 53° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Charlotte
The nearest airport, Patrick Leahy Burlington International, is about 12 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 166 miles away.
The best schools in and around Charlotte
Schools across Charlotte average an A, better than 91% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Lake View CampusA− · 60% proficient
- Charlotte Central SchoolA− · 57% proficient
Top high schools
- Ausable Valley High SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
- Mountain View CampusA · 70% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Charlotte school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Charlotte 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 Charlotte against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Charlotte
Is Charlotte a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Charlotte ranks 1,026th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on population health, an educated workforce, and civic engagement, and lowest on childcare costs and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Charlotte expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $701,804. The overall cost of living runs about 22% above the national average. Set against a $136,807 median income, cost of living beats 91% of towns.
Is Charlotte safe?
Yes, Charlotte is safer than 91% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $181 per resident a year.
Compare Charlotte with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Charlotte. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Charlotte 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.
Charlotte detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Charlotte: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Charlotte: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Charlotte: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Charlotte: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Charlotte 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.