Best PlacesHope Mills, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Hope Mills, 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.
Hope Mills ranks 1,495th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and walkability ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Hope Mills
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.
Hope Mills' strengths and weaknesses
Where Hope Mills ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 95% of cities
- Cheap childcare$763 a month, better than 85% of cities
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 82% of cities
- QuietBetter than 76% of cities
- School gradeB, better than 74% of cities
Where Hope Mills ranks low
- WalkabilityBetter than only 5% of cities
- BikingBetter than only 5% of cities
- TransitBetter than only 13% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than only 16% of cities
- Household income$68,640 median, better than only 20% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Hope Mills
A household needs to earn about $58,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hope Mills home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $68,640, 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 Hope Mills' effective rate of 0.85%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Hope Mills
Hope Mills runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Hope Mills.
Who works in Hope Mills, and how
Work in Hope Mills centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Hope Mills
Hope Mills has more restaurants and bars per resident than 67% of cities and more parkland per resident than 78% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Hope Mills and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Hope Mills, month by month
Hope Mills sees roughly 71 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 94 degrees. January highs sit near 58, with lows near 33. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 58° | 45° | 33° |
| April | 79° | 64° | 50° |
| July | 94° | 82° | 72° |
| October | 79° | 65° | 54° |
Flying in and out of Hope Mills
The nearest airport, Fayetteville Regional/Grannis Field, is about 4 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 64 miles away.
The best schools in and around Hope Mills
Schools across Hope Mills average a B, better than 74% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- E Melvin Honeycutt ElementaryA− · 58% proficient
- Stoney Point ElementaryA− · 56% proficient
- Gray's Creek ElementaryB+ · 51% proficient
Top middle schools
- Gray's Creek MiddleA− · 54% proficient
- Reid Ross Classical MiddleB · 43% proficient
- Hope Mills MiddleB− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- Psrc Early College At RccA+ · 93% proficient
- Cumberland International Early CollegeA+ · 83% proficient
- Cumberland PolytechnicA+ · 83% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hope Mills school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hope Mills 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 Hope Mills against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Hope Mills suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 9% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Hope Mills
Is Hope Mills a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hope Mills ranks 1,495th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on state finances, affordable childcare, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on walkability and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Hope Mills expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $219,501. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $68,640 median income, cost of living beats 27% of cities.
Is Hope Mills safe?
Hope Mills is safer than 31% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $438 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Hope Mills?
July highs average about 94 degrees, and January highs near 58 with lows near 33. That works out to about 71 pleasant days a year, more than 28% of cities.
Is Hope Mills good for families?
Schools beat 74% of cities, crime safety beats 31%, and childcare runs $763 a month.
Compare Hope Mills with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hope Mills. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hope Mills 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.
Hope Mills detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hope Mills: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hope Mills: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hope Mills: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hope Mills: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hope Mills 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.