Best PlacesCooleemee, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Cooleemee, 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.
Cooleemee ranks 20,495th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on fast internet by a wide margin, and education levels rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Cooleemee
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.
Cooleemee's strengths and weaknesses
Where Cooleemee ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 94% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 83% of towns
- School gradeB+, better than 82% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 81% of towns
Where Cooleemee ranks low
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 18% of towns
- Household income$61,634 median, better than only 30% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 31% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 33% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 34% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Cooleemee
A household needs to earn about $41,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cooleemee home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $61,634, 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 Cooleemee's effective rate of 0.63%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Cooleemee
Cooleemee'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 Cooleemee.
Who works in Cooleemee, and how
Work in Cooleemee centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 95%
- Work from home 3%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Cooleemee
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Cooleemee.
What the weather is like in Cooleemee, month by month
Cooleemee sees roughly 77 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 50, with lows near 31. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 50° | 40° | 31° |
| April | 72° | 60° | 49° |
| July | 89° | 77° | 69° |
| October | 73° | 60° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Cooleemee
The nearest airport, Concord-Padgett Regional, is about 30 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 47 miles away.
The best schools in and around Cooleemee
Schools across Cooleemee average a B+, better than 82% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Cooleemee ElementaryB− · 43% proficient
Top middle schools
- South Davie MiddleB+ · 49% proficient
- West Rowan MiddleC+ · 36% proficient
Top high schools
- Davie County Early College HighA+ · 83% proficient
- Rowan Co Early CollegeA− · 65% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cooleemee school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cooleemee 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 Cooleemee against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Cooleemee
Is Cooleemee a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cooleemee ranks 20,495th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on fast internet, state finances, and walkability, and lowest on education levels and low incomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Cooleemee expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $159,642. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $61,634 median income, cost of living beats 33% of towns.
Is Cooleemee safe?
Cooleemee is safer than 41% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $363 per resident a year.
Compare Cooleemee with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cooleemee. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cooleemee 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.
Cooleemee detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cooleemee: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cooleemee: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cooleemee: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cooleemee: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cooleemee 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.