Best PlacesElon, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Elon, 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.
Elon ranks 9,175th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on population health by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Elon
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.
Elon's strengths and weaknesses
Where Elon ranks high
- Health outlookBetter than 96% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 94% of towns
- TransitBetter than 94% of towns
- BikingBetter than 92% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of towns
Where Elon ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 16% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 67 pleasant days a year, better than only 19% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 35% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 40% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Elon
A household needs to earn about $92,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Elon home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $88,739; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Elon's effective rate of 0.68%, 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 Elon
Elon runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Elon.
Who works in Elon, and how
Work in Elon centers on education and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 67%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 20%
Life in Elon
Elon has more restaurants and bars per resident than 67% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Elon and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Elon, month by month
Elon sees roughly 67 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 54, with lows near 29. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 54° | 41° | 29° |
| April | 76° | 61° | 47° |
| July | 92° | 80° | 69° |
| October | 76° | 62° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Elon
The nearest airport, Piedmont Triad International, is about 24 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 43 miles away.
The best schools in and around Elon
Schools across Elon average a B, better than 67% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Marvin B Smith ElementaryA− · 58% proficient
- Highland ElementaryB+ · 52% proficient
- Gibsonville ElementaryB · 49% proficient
Top middle schools
- Western Alamance MiddleB+ · 50% proficient
- Turrentine MiddleB− · 39% proficient
Top high schools
- Walter M Williams HighB+ · 56% proficient
- Western Alamance HighB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Elon school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Elon 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 Elon against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Elon
Is Elon a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Elon ranks 9,175th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on population health, cell coverage, and transit, and lowest on an overheated housing market and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Elon expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $359,677. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $88,739 median income, cost of living beats 78% of towns.
Is Elon safe?
Elon is safer than 47% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $353 per resident a year.
Compare Elon with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Elon. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Elon 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.
Elon detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Elon: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Elon: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Elon: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Elon: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Elon 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.