Best PlacesHaywood, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Haywood, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Haywood ranks 6,674th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Haywood
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.
Haywood's strengths and weaknesses
Where Haywood ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 99% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 95% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 93% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 92% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of towns
Where Haywood ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 3% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 68 pleasant days a year, better than only 21% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 24% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Haywood
A household needs to earn about $107,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Haywood home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $111,986, 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 Haywood's effective rate of 0.62%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Haywood
Haywood'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 Haywood.
Who works in Haywood, and how
Work in Haywood centers on professional & technical and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 39%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 41%
Life in Haywood
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Haywood.
What the weather is like in Haywood, month by month
Haywood sees roughly 68 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 52, with lows near 31. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 52° | 40° | 31° |
| April | 74° | 60° | 47° |
| July | 90° | 78° | 69° |
| October | 74° | 61° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Haywood
Raleigh-Durham International sits about 23 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 7.7 million passengers in 2025, with 128 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Haywood
Schools across Haywood average a B+, better than 79% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Tramway ElementaryB+ · 52% proficient
- Moncure SchoolB · 47% proficient
Top middle schools
- East Lee MiddleB− · 39% proficient
Top high schools
- Lee Early CollegeA+ · 90% proficient
- Northwood HighA · 70% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Haywood school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Haywood 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 Haywood against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Haywood
Is Haywood a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Haywood ranks 6,674th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on civic engagement, an educated workforce, and health care access, and lowest on internet speeds and empty homes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Haywood expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $418,168. The overall cost of living runs about 2% below the national average. Set against a $111,986 median income, cost of living beats 92% of towns.
Is Haywood safe?
Haywood is safer than 51% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $329 per resident a year.
Compare Haywood with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Haywood. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Haywood 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.
Haywood detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Haywood: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Haywood: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Haywood: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Haywood: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Haywood 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.