Best PlacesEdgecombe County, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Edgecombe 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.
Edgecombe County ranks 2,681st of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. Crime pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on state finances.
The best neighborhoods in Edgecombe 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 Edgecombe County
The parts of Edgecombe 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.
Pinetops & Macclesfield
It is quieter, prices have run up less, and local pay stretches further.
Tarboro
Streets are more walkable, though fewer households have young kids.
Rocky Mount
Biking is better, though crime runs higher.
Scores across Edgecombe County run from about the 1st to the 57th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Edgecombe County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Edgecombe County ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 87% of counties
- TransitBetter than 83% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 79% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than 75% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than 70% of counties
Where Edgecombe County ranks low
- Crime safetyBetter than only 2% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 10% of counties
- Household income$54,357 median, better than only 15% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 16% of counties
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 18% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Edgecombe County
A household needs to earn about $35,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Edgecombe County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $54,357, 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 Edgecombe County's effective rate of 0.90%, 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 Edgecombe County
Edgecombe County's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Edgecombe County.
Who works in Edgecombe County, and how
Work in Edgecombe County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Edgecombe County
Edgecombe County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties. That concentrates in some parts of Edgecombe County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Edgecombe County growing, and who is moving in?
Edgecombe County has lost about 10% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Rocky Mount, NC metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Edgecombe County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Edgecombe County, month by month
Edgecombe County sees roughly 75 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 53, with lows near 33. The comfortable stretch runs March through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 53° | 42° | 33° |
| April | 74° | 61° | 50° |
| July | 91° | 80° | 72° |
| October | 74° | 61° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Edgecombe County
The nearest airport, Pitt-Greenville, is about 24 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 63 miles away.
The best schools in and around Edgecombe County
Schools across Edgecombe County average a C+, better than 66% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- G W Carver ElementaryB− · 40% proficient
- Martin Millennium AcademyC · 32% proficient
- Coker-wimberly ElementaryD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- West Edgecombe MiddleB− · 39% proficient
- South Edgecombe MiddleC+ · 35% proficient
- W A Pattillo MiddleC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Nrm Early College High SchoolA+ · 83% proficient
- Edgecombe Early College HighA · 77% proficient
- Southwest Edgecombe HighC+ · 37% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Edgecombe County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Edgecombe 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 Edgecombe County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Edgecombe County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 10% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Edgecombe County
Is Edgecombe County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Edgecombe County ranks 2,681st of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on state finances, transit, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on crime 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 Edgecombe County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $133,468. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $54,357 median income, cost of living beats 18% of counties.
Is Edgecombe County safe?
Edgecombe County is safer than 2% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $966 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Edgecombe County?
July highs average about 91 degrees, and January highs near 53 with lows near 33. That works out to about 75 pleasant days a year, more than 30% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Edgecombe County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Pinetops & Macclesfield, Tarboro, and Rocky Mount. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Edgecombe County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Edgecombe County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Edgecombe 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.
Edgecombe County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Edgecombe County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Edgecombe County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Edgecombe County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Edgecombe County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Edgecombe 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.