Best PlacesCrossnore, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Crossnore, 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.
Crossnore ranks 8,724th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on heat safety by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Crossnore
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.
Crossnore's strengths and weaknesses
Where Crossnore ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Household income$123,379 median, better than 94% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 93% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 91% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of towns
Where Crossnore ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 8% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 23% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 25% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 28% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 38% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Crossnore
A household needs to earn about $71,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Crossnore home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $123,379, 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 Crossnore's effective rate of 0.40%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Crossnore
Crossnore'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 Crossnore.
Who works in Crossnore, and how
Work in Crossnore centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 95%
- Work from home 2%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Crossnore
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Crossnore.
What the weather is like in Crossnore, month by month
Crossnore sees roughly 90 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 33° | 24° |
| April | 66° | 52° | 40° |
| July | 82° | 70° | 60° |
| October | 67° | 54° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Crossnore
The nearest airport, Tri-Cities, is about 41 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 79 miles away.
The best schools in and around Crossnore
Schools across Crossnore average a B, better than 72% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Crossnore ElementaryB− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Avery MiddleA− · 54% proficient
Top high schools
- Avery County HighB+ · 55% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Crossnore school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Crossnore 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 Crossnore against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Crossnore
Is Crossnore a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Crossnore ranks 8,724th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on heat safety, high incomes, and what local pay buys, 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 Crossnore expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $287,496. The overall cost of living runs about 6% below the national average. Set against a $123,379 median income, cost of living beats 93% of towns.
Is Crossnore safe?
Crossnore is safer than 23% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $453 per resident a year.
Compare Crossnore with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Crossnore. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Crossnore 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.
Crossnore detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Crossnore: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Crossnore: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Crossnore: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Crossnore: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Crossnore 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.