Best PlacesGreensboro, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Greensboro metro, 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.
Photo by Beyonce245 of English Wikipedia., via commons
Greensboro ranks 179th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on state finances and low disaster risk. The weaker spots are the weather, walkability, and noise.
The best neighborhoods in the Greensboro 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 Greensboro
The towns and districts of the Greensboro 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.
Stokesdale, Summerfield & Oak Ridge
Local pay stretches further, incomes run higher, and crime runs lower.
High Point & Jamestown
More adults hold degrees and health outcomes score higher.
Liberty, Ramseur & Franklinville
It is quieter, though biking is worse.
Reidsville, Eden & Browns Summit
Homes cost less and more households have young kids.
Whitsett & McLeansville
Prices have run up more and tree cover is thinner.
Asheboro & Randleman
Scores close to Whitsett & McLeansville, except that transit reaches fewer jobs here.
Downtown Greensboro
Streets are more walkable, though health care is harder to reach.
Trinity, Archdale & Sophia
Greensboro shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 3% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Greensboro's strengths and weaknesses
Greensboro lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. State finances, low disaster risk, and good schools carry most of that.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. The weather, walkability, and noise hold the score down. The detail is below, and the map is where it turns into a choice of neighborhood rather than just a place.
Where Greensboro ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of metro areas
- Disaster safetyBetter than 87% of metro areas
- School gradeB+, better than 84% of metro areas
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 82% of metro areas
- Tree shadeBetter than 80% of metro areas
Where Greensboro ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 70 pleasant days a year, better than only 21% of metro areas
- WalkabilityBetter than only 21% of metro areas
- QuietBetter than only 26% of metro areas
- Crime safetyBetter than only 28% of metro areas
- Cell coverageBetter than only 34% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Greensboro
A household needs to earn about $64,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Greensboro home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $75,101, 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 Greensboro's effective rate of 0.80%, 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 Greensboro
Greensboro'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 Greensboro.
Who works in Greensboro, and how
Work in Greensboro 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 84%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Greensboro
Greensboro 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 Greensboro and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Greensboro growing, and who is moving in?
Greensboro has grown about 7% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Winston Salem, NC.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Greensboro go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Greensboro, month by month
Greensboro sees roughly 70 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 52, 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 | 52° | 40° | 29° |
| April | 74° | 60° | 47° |
| July | 91° | 79° | 69° |
| October | 75° | 62° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Greensboro
The nearest airport, Piedmont Triad International, is about 7 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 59 miles away.
The best schools in and around Greensboro
Schools across Greensboro average a B+, better than 84% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Oak Ridge ElementaryA+ · 85% proficient
- Southwest ElementaryA+ · 85% proficient
- Ep Pearce ElementaryA+ · 83% proficient
Top middle schools
- Brown Summit MiddleA+ · 98% proficient
- Northwest Guilford MiddleA+ · 75% proficient
- Kernodle MiddleA+ · 69% proficient
Top high schools
- Early College At GuilfordA+ · 95% proficient
- Stem Early College @ Nc A&t SuA+ · 95% proficient
- Randolph Early College High SchoolA+ · 93% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Greensboro school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Greensboro 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 Greensboro against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Greensboro suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 12% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Greensboro
Is Greensboro a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Greensboro ranks 179th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on state finances, low disaster risk, and good schools, and lowest on the weather and walkability. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Greensboro expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $246,469. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $75,101 median income, cost of living beats 50% of metro areas.
Is Greensboro safe?
Greensboro is safer than 28% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $453 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Greensboro?
July highs average about 91 degrees, and January highs near 52 with lows near 29. That works out to about 70 pleasant days a year, more than 21% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Greensboro?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Stokesdale, Summerfield & Oak Ridge, High Point & Jamestown, and Liberty, Ramseur & Franklinville. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Greensboro good for families?
Schools beat 84% of metro areas, crime safety beats 28%, and childcare runs $800 a month.
Is Greensboro good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 50% of metro areas, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 70% of metro areas. About 12% of workers already work from home.
Compare Greensboro with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Greensboro. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Greensboro 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.
Greensboro detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Greensboro: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Greensboro: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Greensboro: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Greensboro: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Greensboro 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.