Best PlacesKennel Beach, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Kennel Beach, 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.
Kennel Beach ranks 33,836th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on quiet by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Kennel 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.
Kennel Beach's strengths and weaknesses
Where Kennel Beach ranks high
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 88% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 80% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 80% of towns
Where Kennel Beach ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 4% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 69 pleasant days a year, better than only 24% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Kennel Beach
A household needs to earn about $49,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Kennel Beach home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $73,581, 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 Kennel Beach's effective rate of 0.84%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Kennel Beach
Kennel 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 Kennel Beach.
Who works in Kennel Beach, and how
Work in Kennel Beach centers on construction and professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Kennel Beach
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Kennel Beach.
What the weather is like in Kennel Beach, month by month
Kennel Beach sees roughly 69 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 59, with lows near 33. The comfortable stretch runs March through May and September through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 59° | 45° | 33° |
| April | 77° | 63° | 50° |
| July | 91° | 80° | 72° |
| October | 78° | 65° | 55° |
Flying in and out of Kennel Beach
The nearest airport, Coastal Carolina Regional, is about 9 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 121 miles away.
The best schools in and around Kennel Beach
Schools across Kennel Beach average a B−, better than 61% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Pamlico County PrimaryB− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Pamlico County MiddleB+ · 49% proficient
Top high schools
- Pamlico County HighB− · 42% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Kennel Beach school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Kennel 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 Kennel Beach against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Kennel Beach
Is Kennel Beach a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Kennel Beach ranks 33,836th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on quiet, state finances, and tree cover, and lowest on disaster risk and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Kennel Beach expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $186,500. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $73,581 median income, cost of living beats 48% of towns.
Is Kennel Beach safe?
Yes, Kennel Beach is safer than 66% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $277 per resident a year.
Compare Kennel Beach with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Kennel Beach. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Kennel 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.
Kennel Beach detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Kennel Beach: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Kennel Beach: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Kennel Beach: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Kennel Beach: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Kennel 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.