Best PlacesGoldsboro, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Goldsboro metro, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Photo by Indy beetle, CC0, via wiki
Goldsboro ranks 334th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on walkability and biking. It does better on quiet, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in the Goldsboro metro
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.
The best areas in Goldsboro
The towns and districts of the Goldsboro metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Pikeville
Crime runs lower, local pay stretches further, and incomes run higher.
Seven Springs & La Grange
It is quieter and prices have run up less.
Downtown Goldsboro
More adults hold degrees and biking is better.
Mount Olive & Dudley
Fewer residents vote and schools score lower.
Scores across Goldsboro run from about the 2nd to the 83rd percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Goldsboro's strengths and weaknesses
Goldsboro ranks near the bottom because several of the basics fall short at once. Quiet, state finances, and a stable housing market carry most of that.
The weak spots are broad rather than narrow: walkability, biking, and low incomes all drag on the score. Those are area averages, and the map below shows which parts run well above them.
Where Goldsboro ranks high
- QuietBetter than 92% of metro areas
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of metro areas
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 86% of metro areas
- Cheap childcare$667 a month, better than 84% of metro areas
- School gradeB, better than 83% of metro areas
Where Goldsboro ranks low
- WalkabilityBetter than only 3% of metro areas
- BikingBetter than only 6% of metro areas
- Household income$63,397 median, better than only 7% of metro areas
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 8% of metro areas
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 8% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Goldsboro
A household needs to earn about $47,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Goldsboro home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $63,397, 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 Goldsboro's effective rate of 0.75%, 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 Goldsboro
Goldsboro'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 Goldsboro.
Who works in Goldsboro, and how
Work in Goldsboro centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Goldsboro
Goldsboro has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most metro areas and less parkland per resident than most metro areas. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Goldsboro and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Goldsboro growing, and who is moving in?
Goldsboro has lost about 3% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Raleigh, NC.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Goldsboro go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Goldsboro, month by month
Goldsboro sees roughly 66 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 57, with lows near 34. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 57° | 44° | 34° |
| April | 77° | 64° | 50° |
| July | 93° | 81° | 72° |
| October | 79° | 65° | 54° |
Flying in and out of Goldsboro
The nearest airport, Pitt-Greenville, is about 38 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 57 miles away.
The best schools in and around Goldsboro
Schools across Goldsboro average a B, better than 83% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Northeast ElementaryA− · 57% proficient
- Northwest ElementaryB · 48% proficient
- Grantham ElementaryB · 48% proficient
Top middle schools
- Norwayne MiddleA− · 54% proficient
- Rosewood MiddleB+ · 51% proficient
- Spring Creek MiddleB− · 43% proficient
Top high schools
- Wayne Early / Middle College HighA+ · 88% proficient
- Wayne School Of EngineeringA · 79% proficient
- Greene Early College HighA− · 60% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Goldsboro school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Goldsboro 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 Goldsboro against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Goldsboro suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 6% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Goldsboro
Is Goldsboro a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Goldsboro ranks 334th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on quiet, state finances, and a stable housing market, and lowest on walkability and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Goldsboro expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $182,157. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $63,397 median income, cost of living beats 8% of metro areas.
Is Goldsboro safe?
Goldsboro is safer than 9% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $549 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Goldsboro?
July highs average about 93 degrees, and January highs near 57 with lows near 34. That works out to about 66 pleasant days a year, more than 15% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Goldsboro?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Pikeville, Seven Springs & La Grange, and Downtown Goldsboro. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Goldsboro good for families?
Schools beat 83% of metro areas, crime safety beats 9%, and childcare runs $667 a month.
Is Goldsboro good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 8% of metro areas, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 63% of metro areas. About 6% of workers already work from home.
Compare Goldsboro with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Goldsboro. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Goldsboro 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.
Goldsboro detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Goldsboro: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Goldsboro: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Goldsboro: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Goldsboro: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Goldsboro 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.