Best PlacesCumberland County, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Cumberland County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Cumberland County ranks 1,656th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on an overheated housing market and the weather. It does better on fast internet, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in Cumberland County
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 Cumberland County
The parts of Cumberland County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Parkton
Fewer homes sit empty, local pay stretches further, and crime runs lower.
Linden & Wade
Tree cover is thicker and more adults hold degrees.
Stedman
Fewer households have young kids and commutes are longer.
Fort Bragg & Spring Lake
Fewer residents vote and homes cost more.
Fayetteville
Prices have run up more.
Hope Mills
Health outcomes score lower.
Eastover
Heat risk is higher and incomes run lower.
Scores across Cumberland County run from about the 1st to the 89th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Cumberland County's strengths and weaknesses
Cumberland County lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Fast internet, state finances, and cell coverage carry most of that.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. An overheated housing market, the weather, and crime hold the score down. Cost swings more from one part of Cumberland County to another than it does between Cumberland County and its neighbors, which the map below shows.
Where Cumberland County ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 88% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than 87% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 83% of counties
- School gradeB, better than 82% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 75% of counties
Where Cumberland County ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 10% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 65 pleasant days a year, better than only 12% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than only 12% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than only 22% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 26% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Cumberland County
A household needs to earn about $54,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cumberland County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $66,302, 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 Cumberland County's effective rate of 0.92%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Cumberland County
Cumberland County runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Cumberland County.
Who works in Cumberland County, and how
Work in Cumberland County centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Cumberland County
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Cumberland County.
Is Cumberland County growing, and who is moving in?
Cumberland County has grown about 2% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Fayetteville, NC metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Cumberland County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Cumberland County, month by month
Cumberland County sees roughly 65 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 94 degrees. January highs sit near 58, with lows near 33. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 58° | 45° | 33° |
| April | 79° | 64° | 50° |
| July | 94° | 82° | 72° |
| October | 79° | 65° | 54° |
Flying in and out of Cumberland County
The nearest airport, Fayetteville Regional/Grannis Field, is about 5 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 58 miles away.
The best schools in and around Cumberland County
Schools across Cumberland County average a B, better than 82% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Beaver Dam ElementaryA · 65% proficient
- Eastover-central ElementaryA · 63% proficient
- Long Hill ElementaryA− · 60% proficient
Top middle schools
- Seventy-first Classical MiddleA+ · 68% proficient
- New Century International MiddleA− · 58% proficient
- John R Griffin MiddleA− · 57% proficient
Top high schools
- Cross Creek Early CollegeA+ · 93% proficient
- Cumberland International Early CollegeA+ · 83% proficient
- Cumberland PolytechnicA+ · 83% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cumberland County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cumberland County 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 Cumberland County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Cumberland County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 8% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Cumberland County
Is Cumberland County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cumberland County ranks 1,656th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on fast internet, state finances, and cell coverage, and lowest on an overheated housing market and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Cumberland County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $202,802. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $66,302 median income, cost of living beats 46% of counties.
Is Cumberland County safe?
Cumberland County is safer than 12% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $655 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Cumberland County?
July highs average about 94 degrees, and January highs near 58 with lows near 33. That works out to about 65 pleasant days a year, more than 12% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Cumberland County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Parkton, Linden & Wade, and Stedman. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Cumberland County good for families?
Schools beat 82% of counties, crime safety beats 12%, and childcare runs $763 a month.
Is Cumberland County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 46% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 88% of counties. About 8% of workers already work from home.
Compare Cumberland County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cumberland County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cumberland County 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.
Cumberland County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cumberland County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cumberland County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cumberland County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cumberland County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cumberland County 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.