Best PlacesDare County, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Dare County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages hide a wide spread here, so the area matters as much as the address. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Dare County ranks 901st of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Dare 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 Dare County
The parts of Dare 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.
Southern Shores
Kill Devil Hills & Kitty Hawk
Crime runs lower, though more homes sit empty.
Nags Head
It is quieter, though tree cover is thinner.
Manteo
More households have young kids, though local pay stretches less far.
Scores across Dare County run from about the 7th to the 88th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Dare County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Dare County ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than 99% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than 95% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than 92% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 91% of counties
Where Dare County ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 1% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than only 6% of counties
- Cheap childcare$983 a month, better than only 18% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than only 33% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Dare County
A household needs to earn about $122,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Dare County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $90,419, 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 Dare County's effective rate of 0.51%, 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 Dare County
Dare County 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 Dare County.
Who works in Dare County, and how
Work in Dare County centers on retail trade and construction. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Dare County
Dare County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 90% of counties and more parkland per resident than 94% of counties. The coast is about 5 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Dare County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Dare County growing, and who is moving in?
Dare County has grown about 9% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Washington, DC.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Dare County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Dare County, month by month
Dare County sees roughly 89 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 52, with lows near 38. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and September through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 52° | 44° | 38° |
| April | 68° | 60° | 53° |
| July | 87° | 80° | 74° |
| October | 73° | 66° | 61° |
Flying in and out of Dare County
The nearest airport, Norfolk International, is about 73 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Richmond International, about 142 miles away.
The best schools in and around Dare County
Schools across Dare County average an A−, better than 88% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Kitty Hawk Elementary SchoolA · 67% proficient
- Nags Head Elementary SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- First Flight Elementary SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
Top middle schools
- First Flight Middle SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Manteo Middle SchoolA− · 53% proficient
Top high schools
- Manteo High SchoolA− · 63% proficient
- First Flight High SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Cape Hatteras Secondary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Dare County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Dare 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 Dare County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Dare County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 87% of counties and 15% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Dare County
Is Dare County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Dare County ranks 901st of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on health care access, civic engagement, and clean air, and lowest on disaster risk 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 Dare County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $486,887. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $90,419 median income, cost of living beats 87% of counties.
Is Dare County safe?
Yes, Dare County is safer than 68% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $406 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Dare County?
July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 52 with lows near 38. That works out to about 89 pleasant days a year, more than 50% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Dare County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Southern Shores, Kill Devil Hills & Kitty Hawk, and Nags Head. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Dare County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Dare County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Dare 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.
Dare County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Dare County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Dare County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Dare County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Dare County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Dare 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.