Best PlacesHolden Beach, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Holden Beach, 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.
Holden Beach ranks 7,650th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Holden Beach
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.
Holden Beach's strengths and weaknesses
Where Holden Beach ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 99% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 98% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 96% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 93% of towns
Where Holden Beach ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 17% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Holden Beach
A household needs to earn about $174,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Holden Beach home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $112,289, 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 Holden Beach's effective rate of 0.58%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Holden Beach
Holden Beach 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 Holden Beach.
Who works in Holden Beach, and how
Work in Holden Beach centers on construction and hospitality & food. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 67%
- Work from home 32%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Holden Beach
The coast is about 2 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Holden Beach, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Holden Beach, month by month
Holden Beach sees roughly 78 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 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° | 47° | 39° |
| April | 73° | 64° | 56° |
| July | 89° | 82° | 76° |
| October | 77° | 68° | 60° |
Flying in and out of Holden Beach
The nearest airport, Wilmington International, is about 34 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charleston AFB/International, about 122 miles away.
The best schools in and around Holden Beach
Schools across Holden Beach average an A−, better than 91% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Union ElementaryA+ · 81% proficient
- Virginia Williamson ElemB+ · 51% proficient
Top middle schools
- Shallotte MiddleA− · 56% proficient
- Cedar Grove MiddleB · 44% proficient
Top high schools
- Brunswick County Early CollegeA+ · 98% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Holden Beach school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Holden Beach 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 Holden Beach against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Holden Beach
Is Holden Beach a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Holden Beach ranks 7,650th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on health care access, civic engagement, and an educated workforce, 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 Holden Beach expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $685,289. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $112,289 median income, cost of living beats 96% of towns.
Is Holden Beach safe?
Holden Beach is safer than 43% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $355 per resident a year.
Compare Holden Beach with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Holden Beach. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Holden Beach 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.
Holden Beach detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Holden Beach: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Holden Beach: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Holden Beach: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Holden Beach: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Holden Beach 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.