Best PlacesJacksonville, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Jacksonville metro, 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.
Photo by Indy beetle, CC0, via geo
Jacksonville ranks 274th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on quiet and a strong job market. The weaker spots are disaster risk, walkability, and an overheated housing market.
The best neighborhoods in the Jacksonville metro
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.
The best areas in Jacksonville
The towns and districts of the Jacksonville metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Sneads Ferry
More residents vote, incomes run higher, and more adults hold degrees.
Holly Ridge
It is quieter, though more homes sit empty.
Camp Lejeune & Hubert
Commutes are shorter, though fewer households have young kids.
Maysville
Crime runs lower and health care is easier to reach.
Midway Park & Swansboro
Tree cover is thicker.
Richlands
Biking is worse.
Downtown Jacksonville
Advertised internet is faster, though prices have run up more.
Tarawa Terrace
Local pay stretches less far and homes cost more.
Scores across Jacksonville run from about the 2nd to the 85th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Jacksonville's strengths and weaknesses
Jacksonville lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Quiet is the standout, in the top 1% of metro areas. A strong job market and state finances follow.
The one real hole is disaster risk, near the bottom of the country. Walkability and an overheated housing market also cost it ground. That varies block to block rather than evenly, and the map below shows where.
Where Jacksonville ranks high
- QuietBetter than 99% of metro areas
- Local economyBetter than 97% of metro areas
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of metro areas
- School gradeB+, better than 88% of metro areas
- Health outlookBetter than 85% of metro areas
Where Jacksonville ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 1% of metro areas
- WalkabilityBetter than only 1% of metro areas
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 8% of metro areas
- Cell coverageBetter than only 11% of metro areas
- BikingBetter than only 12% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Jacksonville
A household needs to earn about $62,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Jacksonville home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $74,759, 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 Jacksonville's effective rate of 0.66%, 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 Jacksonville
Jacksonville runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Jacksonville.
Who works in Jacksonville, and how
Work in Jacksonville centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Jacksonville
Jacksonville has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most metro areas and less parkland per resident than most metro areas. The coast is about 28 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Jacksonville and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Jacksonville growing, and who is moving in?
Jacksonville has grown about 11% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Charlotte, NC.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Jacksonville go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Jacksonville, month by month
Jacksonville sees roughly 67 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 59, with lows near 34. The comfortable stretch runs March through May and September through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 59° | 46° | 34° |
| April | 77° | 63° | 51° |
| July | 90° | 80° | 72° |
| October | 78° | 66° | 55° |
Flying in and out of Jacksonville
The nearest airport, Albert J Ellis, is about 11 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 108 miles away.
The best schools in and around Jacksonville
Schools across Jacksonville average a B+, better than 88% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Parkwood ElementaryA · 68% proficient
- Silverdale ElementaryA− · 59% proficient
- Carolina Forest ElementaryA− · 57% proficient
Top middle schools
- New Bridge MiddleA+ · 69% proficient
- Dixon MiddleA · 59% proficient
- Trexler MiddleA− · 54% proficient
Top high schools
- Onslow Early CollegeA+ · 95% proficient
- Dixon HighA− · 65% proficient
- Northside HighA− · 62% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Jacksonville school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Jacksonville 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 Jacksonville against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Jacksonville suits
Common questions about living in Jacksonville
Is Jacksonville a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Jacksonville ranks 274th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on quiet, a strong job market, and state finances, and lowest on disaster risk and walkability. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Jacksonville expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $241,635. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $74,759 median income, cost of living beats 48% of metro areas.
Is Jacksonville safe?
Jacksonville is safer than 44% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $396 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Jacksonville?
July highs average about 90 degrees, and January highs near 59 with lows near 34. That works out to about 67 pleasant days a year, more than 16% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Jacksonville?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Sneads Ferry, Holly Ridge, and Camp Lejeune & Hubert. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Jacksonville good for families?
Schools beat 88% of metro areas, crime safety beats 44%, and childcare runs $776 a month.
Is Jacksonville good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 48% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 51% of metro areas. About 13% of workers already work from home.
Compare Jacksonville with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Jacksonville. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Jacksonville 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.
Jacksonville detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Jacksonville: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Jacksonville: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Jacksonville: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Jacksonville: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Jacksonville 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.