Best PlacesHatteras, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Hatteras, 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.
Hatteras ranks 32,901st 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 Hatteras
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.
Hatteras' strengths and weaknesses
Where Hatteras ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 99% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 95% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 91% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of towns
- Short commute19.4 minutes each way, better than 90% of towns
Where Hatteras ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 14% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Hatteras
A household needs to earn about $151,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hatteras home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $60,472, 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 Hatteras' effective rate of 0.51%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Hatteras
Hatteras 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 Hatteras.
Who works in Hatteras, and how
Work in Hatteras centers on construction and real estate. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 70%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Hatteras
The coast is about 1 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Hatteras, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Hatteras, month by month
Hatteras sees roughly 79 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 57, with lows near 39. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 57° | 48° | 39° |
| April | 72° | 63° | 55° |
| July | 88° | 81° | 75° |
| October | 77° | 69° | 61° |
Flying in and out of Hatteras
The nearest airport, Coastal Carolina Regional, is about 77 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 180 miles away.
The best schools in and around Hatteras
Schools across Hatteras average a B+, better than 83% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Cape Hatteras Elementary SchoolB− · 42% proficient
Top middle schools
- Manteo Middle SchoolA− · 53% proficient
Top high schools
- Manteo High SchoolA− · 63% proficient
- Cape Hatteras Secondary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hatteras school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hatteras 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 Hatteras against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Hatteras
Is Hatteras a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hatteras ranks 32,901st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on civic engagement, health care access, and walkability, 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 Hatteras expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $599,868. The overall cost of living runs about 1% below the national average. Set against a $60,472 median income, cost of living beats 16% of towns.
Is Hatteras safe?
Hatteras is safer than 20% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $469 per resident a year.
Compare Hatteras with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hatteras. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hatteras 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.
Hatteras detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hatteras: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hatteras: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hatteras: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hatteras: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hatteras 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.