Best PlacesHalifax County, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Halifax County, 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.
Halifax County ranks 2,950th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. Crime pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on state finances.
The best neighborhoods in Halifax County
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 Halifax County
The parts of Halifax County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Roanoke Rapids
Streets are more walkable, fewer homes sit empty, and schools score higher.
Enfield
More households have young kids, though crime runs higher.
Weldon
Tree cover is thinner and fewer adults hold degrees.
Scotland Neck
Heat risk is higher and commutes are longer.
Scores across Halifax County run from about the 1st to the 65th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Halifax County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Halifax County ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 87% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than 84% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 80% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than 76% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than 66% of counties
Where Halifax County ranks low
- Crime safetyBetter than only 1% of counties
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 7% of counties
- Household income$49,152 median, better than only 7% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 10% of counties
- School gradeD+, better than only 12% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Halifax County
A household needs to earn about $36,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Halifax County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $49,152, 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 Halifax County's effective rate of 0.95%, 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 Halifax County
Halifax County 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 Halifax County.
Who works in Halifax County, and how
Work in Halifax County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Halifax County
Halifax County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and less parkland per resident than most counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Halifax County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Halifax County growing, and who is moving in?
Halifax County has lost about 11% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Northampton County, NC.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Halifax County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Halifax County, month by month
Halifax County sees roughly 78 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 50, with lows near 31. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 50° | 39° | 31° |
| April | 71° | 58° | 47° |
| July | 87° | 77° | 68° |
| October | 72° | 60° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Halifax County
The nearest airport, Pitt-Greenville, is about 53 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 71 miles away.
The best schools in and around Halifax County
Schools across Halifax County average a D+, better than 12% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Manning Elementary SchoolC · 35% proficient
- Belmont Elementary SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Aurelian Springs Institute Of Global LeaC− · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Chaloner Middle SchoolB · 46% proficient
- Red Oak MiddleB− · 41% proficient
- Enfield Middle S.t.e.a.m. AcademyD · 19% proficient
Top high schools
- Halifax County Early College HighA · 68% proficient
- Roanoke Rapids Early College HighB+ · 52% proficient
- Roanoke Valley Early CollegeB− · 45% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Halifax County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Halifax County 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 Halifax County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Halifax County suits
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Halifax County
Is Halifax County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Halifax County ranks 2,950th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on state finances, tree cover, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on crime 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 Halifax County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $135,248. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $49,152 median income, cost of living beats 7% of counties.
Is Halifax County safe?
Halifax County is safer than 1% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,001 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Halifax County?
July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 50 with lows near 31. That works out to about 78 pleasant days a year, more than 36% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Halifax County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Roanoke Rapids, Enfield, and Weldon. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Halifax County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Halifax County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Halifax County 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.
Halifax County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Halifax County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Halifax County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Halifax County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Halifax County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Halifax County 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.