Best PlacesFair Bluff, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Fair Bluff, 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.
Fair Bluff ranks 47,571st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and crime is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Fair Bluff
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.
Fair Bluff's strengths and weaknesses
Where Fair Bluff ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 88% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 79% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 78% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 78% of towns
Where Fair Bluff ranks low
- Crime safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
- Household income$40,956 median, better than only 3% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 7% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Fair Bluff
A household needs to earn about $32,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Fair Bluff home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $40,956, 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 Fair Bluff's effective rate of 0.85%, 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 Fair Bluff
Fair Bluff 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 Fair Bluff.
Who works in Fair Bluff, and how
Work in Fair Bluff centers on health care & social and hospitality & food. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 98%
- Work from home 0%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Fair Bluff
Fair Bluff has more restaurants and bars per resident than 98% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Fair Bluff and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Fair Bluff, month by month
Fair Bluff sees roughly 79 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 57, with lows near 38. The comfortable stretch runs March through May and September through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 57° | 47° | 38° |
| April | 76° | 64° | 53° |
| July | 91° | 81° | 73° |
| October | 77° | 66° | 57° |
Flying in and out of Fair Bluff
The nearest airport, Florence Regional, is about 41 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 110 miles away.
The best schools in and around Fair Bluff
Schools across Fair Bluff average a D+, better than 22% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Green Sea Floyds ElementaryB · 45% proficient
- Lake View ElementaryC− · 30% proficient
- Long Branch ElementaryD · 20% proficient
Top middle schools
- Orrum MiddleD · 19% proficient
Top high schools
- Psrc Early College At RccA+ · 93% proficient
- Green Sea Floyds HighB− · 45% proficient
- West Columbus HighB− · 43% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Fair Bluff school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Fair Bluff 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 Fair Bluff against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Fair Bluff
Is Fair Bluff a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Fair Bluff ranks 47,571st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, a strong job market, and walkability, and lowest on crime and low incomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Fair Bluff expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $122,652. The overall cost of living runs about 21% below the national average. Set against a $40,956 median income, cost of living beats 7% of towns.
Is Fair Bluff safe?
Fair Bluff is safer than 3% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $919 per resident a year.
Compare Fair Bluff with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Fair Bluff. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Fair Bluff 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.
Fair Bluff detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Fair Bluff: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Fair Bluff: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Fair Bluff: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Fair Bluff: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Fair Bluff 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.