Best PlacesFort Bragg, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Fort Bragg, 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.
Fort Bragg ranks 30,760th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and thin health care access ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Fort Bragg
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.
Fort Bragg's strengths and weaknesses
Where Fort Bragg ranks high
- Short commute8.0 minutes each way, better than 99% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 99% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 87% of towns
- BikingBetter than 83% of towns
Where Fort Bragg ranks low
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 4% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 5% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 58 pleasant days a year, better than only 6% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 12% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Fort Bragg
A household needs to earn about $41,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Fort Bragg home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $56,460, 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 Fort Bragg's effective rate of 0.89%, 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 3 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Fort Bragg
Fort Bragg runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Fort Bragg.
Who works in Fort Bragg, and how
Work in Fort Bragg centers on health care & social and public administration. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 71%
- Work from home 2%
- Transit, walk, or bike 26%
Life in Fort Bragg
Fort Bragg has more restaurants and bars per resident than 75% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Fort Bragg and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Fort Bragg, month by month
Fort Bragg sees roughly 58 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 57, with lows near 32. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 57° | 43° | 32° |
| April | 78° | 64° | 50° |
| July | 93° | 82° | 72° |
| October | 78° | 64° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Fort Bragg
The nearest airport, Fayetteville Regional/Grannis Field, is about 12 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 52 miles away.
The best schools in and around Fort Bragg
Schools across Fort Bragg average a C, better than 34% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Vass-lakeview ElementaryA− · 58% proficient
- J W Coon ElementaryB− · 40% proficient
- College Lakes ElementaryC · 33% proficient
Top middle schools
- Seventy-first Classical MiddleA+ · 68% proficient
- Crain's Creek MiddleB+ · 50% proficient
- Reid Ross Classical MiddleB · 43% proficient
Top high schools
- Cumberland International Early CollegeA+ · 83% proficient
- Union Pines HighA− · 66% proficient
- Pine Forest HighA− · 60% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Fort Bragg school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Fort Bragg 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 Fort Bragg against the other 50,332 towns.
Who Fort Bragg suits
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Fort Bragg
Is Fort Bragg a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Fort Bragg ranks 30,760th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on short commutes, population health, and state finances, and lowest on thin health care access and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Fort Bragg expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $153,961. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $56,460 median income, cost of living beats 24% of towns.
Is Fort Bragg safe?
Fort Bragg is safer than 16% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $603 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Fort Bragg?
July highs average about 93 degrees, and January highs near 57 with lows near 32. That works out to about 58 pleasant days a year, more than 6% of towns.
Is Fort Bragg good for families?
Schools beat 34% of towns, crime safety beats 16%, and childcare runs $763 a month.
Compare Fort Bragg with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Fort Bragg. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Fort Bragg 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.
Fort Bragg detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Fort Bragg: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Fort Bragg: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Fort Bragg: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Fort Bragg: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Fort Bragg 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.