Best PlacesDuplin County, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Duplin 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.
Duplin County ranks 2,622nd of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. Disaster risk pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on state finances.
The best neighborhoods in Duplin 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 Duplin County
The parts of Duplin 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.
Beulaville
More adults hold degrees, schools score higher, and health care is easier to reach.
Warsaw
Prices have run up less, though more homes sit empty.
Albertson
It is quieter, though fewer residents vote.
Wallace & Rose Hill
More households have young kids, though local pay stretches less far.
Scores across Duplin County run from about the 2nd to the 63rd percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Duplin County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Duplin County ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 87% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 80% of counties
- Cheap childcare$624 a month, better than 70% of counties
- QuietBetter than 69% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than 69% of counties
Where Duplin County ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 3% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 10% of counties
- Short commute29.3 minutes each way, better than only 19% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than only 20% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than only 20% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Duplin County
A household needs to earn about $41,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Duplin County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $57,578, 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 Duplin County's effective rate of 0.70%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Duplin County
Duplin 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 Duplin County.
Who works in Duplin County, and how
Work in Duplin County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Duplin County
Duplin County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties. The coast is about 57 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Duplin County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Duplin County growing, and who is moving in?
Duplin County has lost about 15% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Jacksonville, NC.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Duplin County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Duplin County, month by month
Duplin County sees roughly 72 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 55, with lows near 34. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 55° | 43° | 34° |
| April | 75° | 62° | 50° |
| July | 90° | 79° | 71° |
| October | 76° | 63° | 54° |
Flying in and out of Duplin County
The nearest airport, Albert J Ellis, is about 20 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 81 miles away.
The best schools in and around Duplin County
Schools across Duplin County average a C+, better than 48% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Chinquapin ElementaryB · 50% proficient
- Beulaville ElementaryC+ · 38% proficient
- North Duplin ElementaryC+ · 36% proficient
Top high schools
- Duplin Early College HighA− · 65% proficient
- North Duplin Jr Sr HighB · 46% proficient
- East Duplin HighB− · 45% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Duplin County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Duplin 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 Duplin County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Duplin County suits
Common questions about living in Duplin County
Is Duplin County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Duplin County ranks 2,622nd of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on state finances, cheap car insurance, and affordable childcare, and lowest on disaster risk and education levels. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Duplin County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $159,141. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $57,578 median income, cost of living beats 23% of counties.
Is Duplin County safe?
Duplin County is safer than 20% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $521 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Duplin County?
July highs average about 90 degrees, and January highs near 55 with lows near 34. That works out to about 72 pleasant days a year, more than 23% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Duplin County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Beulaville, Warsaw, and Albertson. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Duplin County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Duplin County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Duplin 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.
Duplin County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Duplin County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Duplin County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Duplin County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Duplin County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Duplin 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.