Best PlacesCorolla, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Corolla, 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.
Corolla ranks 10,260th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and crime is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Corolla
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.
Corolla's strengths and weaknesses
Where Corolla ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 98% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 97% of towns
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 95% of towns
Where Corolla ranks low
- Crime safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 12% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Corolla
A household needs to earn about $178,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Corolla home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $120,568, 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 Corolla's effective rate of 0.46%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Corolla
Corolla 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 Corolla.
Who works in Corolla, and how
Work in Corolla centers on hospitality & food and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 54%
- Work from home 32%
- Transit, walk, or bike 14%
Life in Corolla
Corolla has more restaurants and bars per resident than 98% of towns. The coast is about 4 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Corolla and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Corolla, month by month
Corolla sees roughly 85 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 52, with lows near 33. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 52° | 41° | 33° |
| April | 71° | 61° | 52° |
| July | 90° | 80° | 70° |
| October | 75° | 64° | 55° |
Flying in and out of Corolla
The nearest airport, Norfolk International, is about 40 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Richmond International, about 112 miles away.
The best schools in and around Corolla
Schools across Corolla average a B+, better than 88% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Water's Edge Village SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Jarvisburg ElementaryB · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- Currituck County MiddleB · 43% proficient
Top high schools
- The Jp Knapp Ech (i)schoolA+ · 91% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Corolla school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Corolla 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 Corolla against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Corolla
Is Corolla a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Corolla ranks 10,260th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on health care access, a strong job market, and an educated workforce, and lowest on crime 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 Corolla expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $714,700. The overall cost of living runs about 3% above the national average. Set against a $120,568 median income, cost of living beats 95% of towns.
Is Corolla safe?
Corolla is safer than 0% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,654 per resident a year.
Compare Corolla with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Corolla. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Corolla 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.
Corolla detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Corolla: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Corolla: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Corolla: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Corolla: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Corolla 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.