Best PlacesFairfield Harbour, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Fairfield Harbour, 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.
Fairfield Harbour ranks 19,071st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Fairfield Harbour
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.
Fairfield Harbour's strengths and weaknesses
Where Fairfield Harbour ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 98% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 91% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 88% of towns
Where Fairfield Harbour ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 11% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Fairfield Harbour
A household needs to earn about $88,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Fairfield Harbour home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $86,538; 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 Fairfield Harbour's effective rate of 0.47%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Fairfield Harbour
Fairfield Harbour runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Fairfield Harbour.
Who works in Fairfield Harbour, and how
Work in Fairfield Harbour centers on retail trade and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Fairfield Harbour
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Fairfield Harbour.
What the weather is like in Fairfield Harbour, month by month
Fairfield Harbour sees roughly 69 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 59, with lows near 33. The comfortable stretch runs March through May and September through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 59° | 45° | 33° |
| April | 77° | 63° | 50° |
| July | 91° | 80° | 72° |
| October | 78° | 65° | 55° |
Flying in and out of Fairfield Harbour
The nearest airport, Coastal Carolina Regional, is about 4 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 115 miles away.
The best schools in and around Fairfield Harbour
Schools across Fairfield Harbour average a B, better than 79% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Bridgeton ElementaryB− · 40% proficient
- Pamlico County PrimaryB− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Pamlico County MiddleB+ · 49% proficient
- West Craven MiddleB− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- Early College East HighA+ · 95% proficient
- Craven Early College HighA · 75% proficient
- Pamlico County HighB− · 42% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Fairfield Harbour school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Fairfield Harbour 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 Fairfield Harbour against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Fairfield Harbour
Is Fairfield Harbour a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Fairfield Harbour ranks 19,071st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on health care access, a strong job market, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on disaster risk 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 Fairfield Harbour expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $354,500. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $86,538 median income, cost of living beats 73% of towns.
Is Fairfield Harbour safe?
Yes, Fairfield Harbour is safer than 68% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $269 per resident a year.
Compare Fairfield Harbour with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Fairfield Harbour. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Fairfield Harbour 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.
Fairfield Harbour detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Fairfield Harbour: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Fairfield Harbour: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Fairfield Harbour: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Fairfield Harbour: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Fairfield Harbour 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.