Best PlacesGlen Alpine, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Glen Alpine, 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.
Glen Alpine ranks 18,514th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Glen Alpine
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.
Glen Alpine's strengths and weaknesses
Where Glen Alpine ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of towns
- School gradeA−, better than 90% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 86% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 83% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 82% of towns
Where Glen Alpine ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 15% of towns
- Household income$58,179 median, better than only 24% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 27% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 33% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 40% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Glen Alpine
A household needs to earn about $42,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Glen Alpine home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $58,179, 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 Glen Alpine'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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Glen Alpine
Glen Alpine runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Glen Alpine.
Who works in Glen Alpine, and how
Work in Glen Alpine centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Glen Alpine
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Glen Alpine.
What the weather is like in Glen Alpine, month by month
Glen Alpine sees roughly 80 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 51, with lows near 30. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 51° | 39° | 30° |
| April | 74° | 59° | 46° |
| July | 90° | 77° | 67° |
| October | 74° | 59° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Glen Alpine
The nearest airport, Asheville Regional, is about 47 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 59 miles away.
The best schools in and around Glen Alpine
Schools across Glen Alpine average an A−, better than 90% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Glen Alpine ElementaryB · 50% proficient
- W A Young ElementaryB− · 42% proficient
Top middle schools
- Table Rock MiddleB+ · 50% proficient
Top high schools
- Burke Middle CollegeA+ · 93% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Glen Alpine school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Glen Alpine 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 Glen Alpine against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Glen Alpine
Is Glen Alpine a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Glen Alpine ranks 18,514th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, good schools, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on noise and low incomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Glen Alpine expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $163,224. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $58,179 median income, cost of living beats 27% of towns.
Is Glen Alpine safe?
Yes, Glen Alpine is safer than 82% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $229 per resident a year.
Compare Glen Alpine with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Glen Alpine. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Glen Alpine 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.
Glen Alpine detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Glen Alpine: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Glen Alpine: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Glen Alpine: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Glen Alpine: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Glen Alpine 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.