Best PlacesGrifton, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Grifton, 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.
Grifton ranks 43,395th 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 Grifton
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.
Grifton's strengths and weaknesses
Where Grifton ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 95% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 78% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 76% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 70% of towns
Where Grifton ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 7% of towns
- Household income$45,355 median, better than only 8% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 8% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 20% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Grifton
A household needs to earn about $38,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Grifton home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $45,355, 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 Grifton's effective rate of 0.70%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Grifton
Grifton runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Grifton.
Who works in Grifton, and how
Work in Grifton centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Grifton
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Grifton.
What the weather is like in Grifton, month by month
Grifton sees roughly 74 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 55, with lows near 35. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 55° | 44° | 35° |
| April | 75° | 63° | 51° |
| July | 91° | 81° | 72° |
| October | 76° | 64° | 55° |
Flying in and out of Grifton
The nearest airport, Pitt-Greenville, is about 18 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 84 miles away.
The best schools in and around Grifton
Schools across Grifton average a C+, better than 49% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Contentnea-savannah SchoolC+ · 39% proficient
- James W Smith ElementaryC+ · 37% proficient
- Vanceboro-farm Life ElementaryC · 33% proficient
Top middle schools
- Ayden MiddleB− · 41% proficient
- West Craven MiddleB− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- Craven Early College HighA · 75% proficient
- Lenoir County Early College HighA · 70% proficient
- Greene Early College HighA− · 60% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Grifton school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Grifton 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 Grifton against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Grifton
Is Grifton a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Grifton ranks 43,395th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on fast internet, state finances, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on an overheated housing market and the cost of living against local pay. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Grifton expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $146,460. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $45,355 median income, cost of living beats 7% of towns.
Is Grifton safe?
Grifton is safer than 20% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $546 per resident a year.
Compare Grifton with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Grifton. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Grifton 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.
Grifton detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Grifton: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Grifton: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Grifton: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Grifton: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Grifton 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.