Best PlacesDrexel, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Drexel, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Drexel ranks 10,427th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on good schools by a wide margin, and a weak job market ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Drexel
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.
Drexel's strengths and weaknesses
Where Drexel ranks high
- School gradeA, better than 94% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 94% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 90% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 88% of towns
Where Drexel ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 16% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 30% of towns
- Household income$62,212 median, better than only 31% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 33% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 36% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Drexel
A household needs to earn about $43,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Drexel home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $62,212, 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 Drexel's effective rate of 0.40%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Drexel
Drexel 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 Drexel.
Who works in Drexel, and how
Work in Drexel centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Drexel
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Drexel.
What the weather is like in Drexel, month by month
Drexel sees roughly 80 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 51, with lows near 30. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 51° | 39° | 30° |
| April | 74° | 59° | 46° |
| July | 90° | 77° | 67° |
| October | 74° | 59° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Drexel
Charlotte/Douglas International sits about 53 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 25.9 million passengers in 2025, with 213 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Drexel
Schools across Drexel average an A, better than 94% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Baton ElementaryA− · 57% proficient
- Drexel ElementaryB+ · 54% proficient
Top middle schools
- Heritage MiddleA · 64% proficient
- Hudson MiddleA− · 54% proficient
Top high schools
- Burke Middle CollegeA+ · 93% proficient
- Caldwell Early CollegeA · 77% proficient
- Hallyburton AcademyD− · 15% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Drexel school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Drexel 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 Drexel against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Drexel
Is Drexel a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Drexel ranks 10,427th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on good schools, low crime, and state finances, and lowest on a weak job market and health outcomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Drexel expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $173,219. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $62,212 median income, cost of living beats 33% of towns.
Is Drexel safe?
Yes, Drexel is safer than 94% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $196 per resident a year.
Compare Drexel with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Drexel. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Drexel 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.
Drexel detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Drexel: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Drexel: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Drexel: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Drexel: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Drexel 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.