Best PlacesGlen Raven, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Glen Raven, 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 Raven ranks 30,399th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on fast internet by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Glen Raven
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 Raven's strengths and weaknesses
Where Glen Raven ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 96% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of towns
- BikingBetter than 90% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 81% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 78% of towns
Where Glen Raven ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 9% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 15% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 18% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 19% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 67 pleasant days a year, better than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Glen Raven
A household needs to earn about $50,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Glen Raven home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $55,764, 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 Raven's effective rate of 0.50%, 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 7 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 Raven
Glen Raven runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Glen Raven.
Who works in Glen Raven, and how
Work in Glen Raven centers on manufacturing and education. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Glen Raven
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Glen Raven.
What the weather is like in Glen Raven, month by month
Glen Raven sees roughly 67 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 54, with lows near 29. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 54° | 41° | 29° |
| April | 76° | 61° | 47° |
| July | 92° | 80° | 69° |
| October | 76° | 62° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Glen Raven
The nearest airport, Piedmont Triad International, is about 27 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 42 miles away.
The best schools in and around Glen Raven
Schools across Glen Raven average a C+, better than 51% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Elon ElementaryC+ · 40% proficient
- Eastlawn ElementaryD · 20% proficient
- Hillcrest ElementaryD · 19% proficient
Top middle schools
- Turrentine MiddleB− · 39% proficient
Top high schools
- Walter M Williams HighB+ · 56% proficient
- Western Alamance HighB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Glen Raven school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Glen Raven 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 Raven against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Glen Raven
Is Glen Raven a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Glen Raven ranks 30,399th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on fast internet, state finances, and biking, and lowest on an overheated housing market and thin health care access. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Glen Raven expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $197,467. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $55,764 median income, cost of living beats 18% of towns.
Is Glen Raven safe?
Glen Raven is safer than 34% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $403 per resident a year.
Compare Glen Raven with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Glen Raven. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Glen Raven 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 Raven detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Glen Raven: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Glen Raven: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Glen Raven: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Glen Raven: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Glen Raven 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.