Best PlacesDenton, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Denton, 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.
Denton ranks 24,615th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and education levels rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Denton
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.
Denton's strengths and weaknesses
Where Denton ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 81% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 80% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 78% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 76% of towns
Where Denton ranks low
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 27% of towns
- Household income$60,142 median, better than only 27% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 29% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 29% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 33% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Denton
A household needs to earn about $51,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Denton home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $60,142, 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 Denton'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, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Denton
Denton 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 Denton.
Who works in Denton, and how
Work in Denton centers on manufacturing 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 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Denton
Denton has more restaurants and bars per resident than 70% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Denton and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Denton, month by month
Denton sees roughly 82 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 50, with lows near 32. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 50° | 40° | 32° |
| April | 72° | 61° | 50° |
| July | 89° | 78° | 70° |
| October | 73° | 61° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Denton
The nearest airport, Piedmont Triad International, is about 34 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 56 miles away.
The best schools in and around Denton
Schools across Denton average a B, better than 72% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Farmer Elementary SchoolA− · 57% proficient
- Tabernacle Elementary SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Denton ElementaryB · 48% proficient
Top middle schools
- Central Davidson MiddleA− · 53% proficient
- Southwestern Randolph MiddleB+ · 48% proficient
- North Stanly MiddleB− · 43% proficient
Top high schools
- Randolph Early College High SchoolA+ · 93% proficient
- Central Davidson HighB+ · 58% proficient
- North Stanly HighB+ · 53% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Denton school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Denton 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 Denton against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Denton
Is Denton a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Denton ranks 24,615th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, cheap car insurance, 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 Denton expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $201,924. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $60,142 median income, cost of living beats 29% of towns.
Is Denton safe?
Denton is safer than 33% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $403 per resident a year.
Compare Denton with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Denton. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Denton 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.
Denton detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Denton: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Denton: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Denton: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Denton: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Denton 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.