Best PlacesGarner, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Garner, 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.
Garner ranks 670th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and the weather ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Garner
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.
Garner's strengths and weaknesses
Where Garner ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 95% of cities
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 85% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than 84% of cities
- Local economyBetter than 83% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than 82% of cities
Where Garner ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 68 pleasant days a year, better than only 21% of cities
- BikingBetter than only 22% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than only 22% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than only 24% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than only 28% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Garner
A household needs to earn about $91,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Garner home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $93,237, 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 Garner's effective rate of 0.63%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Garner
Garner'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 Garner.
Who works in Garner, and how
Work in Garner centers on professional & technical and construction. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 76%
- Work from home 22%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Garner
Garner has more restaurants and bars per resident than 76% of cities and more parkland per resident than 81% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Garner and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Garner, month by month
Garner sees roughly 68 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 54, with lows near 34. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 54° | 42° | 34° |
| April | 75° | 61° | 50° |
| July | 90° | 80° | 71° |
| October | 75° | 62° | 53° |
Flying in and out of Garner
Raleigh-Durham International sits about 18 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 7.7 million passengers in 2025, with 128 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Garner
Schools across Garner average a B+, better than 75% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Ballentine ElementaryA · 63% proficient
- Middle Creek ElementaryA− · 60% proficient
- Cleveland ElementaryA− · 56% proficient
Top middle schools
- Holly Ridge MiddleA · 67% proficient
- Cleveland MiddleA · 65% proficient
- Holly Grove MiddleA · 65% proficient
Top high schools
- Johnston Co Early College AcademyA+ · 85% proficient
- Vernon Malone College And Career AcademyA · 77% proficient
- Cleveland HighA− · 60% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Garner school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Garner 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 Garner against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Garner suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 22% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Garner
Is Garner a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Garner ranks 670th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on state finances, cheap car insurance, and fast internet, and lowest on the weather and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Garner expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $356,123. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $93,237 median income, cost of living beats 70% of cities.
Is Garner safe?
Garner is safer than 45% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $374 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Garner?
July highs average about 90 degrees, and January highs near 54 with lows near 34. That works out to about 68 pleasant days a year, more than 21% of cities.
Is Garner good for families?
Schools beat 75% of cities, crime safety beats 45%, and childcare runs $1,117 a month.
Compare Garner with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Garner. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Garner 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.
Garner detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Garner: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Garner: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Garner: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Garner: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Garner 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.