Best PlacesHarkers Island, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Harkers Island, 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.
Harkers Island ranks 35,508th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Harkers Island
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.
Harkers Island's strengths and weaknesses
Where Harkers Island ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 99% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 97% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 92% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 90% of towns
Where Harkers Island ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 7% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 14% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Harkers Island
A household needs to earn about $76,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Harkers Island home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $61,288, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Harkers Island's effective rate of 0.38%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Harkers Island
Harkers Island 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 Harkers Island.
Who works in Harkers Island, and how
Work in Harkers Island centers on education and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Harkers Island
The coast is about 29 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Harkers Island, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Harkers Island, month by month
Harkers Island sees roughly 80 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 58, with lows near 37. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 58° | 47° | 37° |
| April | 73° | 64° | 54° |
| July | 88° | 82° | 75° |
| October | 78° | 68° | 59° |
Flying in and out of Harkers Island
The nearest airport, Coastal Carolina Regional, is about 38 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 150 miles away.
The best schools in and around Harkers Island
Schools across Harkers Island average an A, better than 92% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Down East Middle And Smyrna ElementaryA · 63% proficient
- Harkers Island ElementaryA− · 60% proficient
Top middle schools
- Beaufort MiddleA− · 56% proficient
Top high schools
- East Carteret HighA · 73% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Harkers Island school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Harkers Island 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 Harkers Island against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Harkers Island
Is Harkers Island a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Harkers Island ranks 35,508th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on civic engagement, health care access, and good schools, and lowest on disaster risk and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Harkers Island expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $308,676. The overall cost of living runs about 7% below the national average. Set against a $61,288 median income, cost of living beats 24% of towns.
Is Harkers Island safe?
Harkers Island is safer than 44% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $358 per resident a year.
Compare Harkers Island with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Harkers Island. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Harkers Island 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.
Harkers Island detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Harkers Island: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Harkers Island: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Harkers Island: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Harkers Island: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Harkers Island 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.