Best PlacesKill Devil Hills, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Kill Devil Hills, 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.
Kill Devil Hills ranks 10,353rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Kill Devil Hills
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.
Kill Devil Hills' strengths and weaknesses
Where Kill Devil Hills ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 96% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 95% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 92% of towns
- BikingBetter than 92% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of towns
Where Kill Devil Hills ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Cheap childcare$983 a month, better than only 26% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 33% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Kill Devil Hills
A household needs to earn about $111,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Kill Devil Hills home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $87,672, 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 Kill Devil Hills' effective rate of 0.48%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Kill Devil Hills
Kill Devil Hills 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 Kill Devil Hills.
Who works in Kill Devil Hills, and how
Work in Kill Devil Hills centers on construction and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Kill Devil Hills
Kill Devil Hills has more restaurants and bars per resident than 90% of towns. The coast is about 4 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Kill Devil Hills and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Kill Devil Hills, month by month
Kill Devil Hills sees roughly 90 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 52, with lows near 38. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and September through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 52° | 44° | 38° |
| April | 68° | 60° | 53° |
| July | 87° | 80° | 74° |
| October | 73° | 66° | 61° |
Flying in and out of Kill Devil Hills
The nearest airport, Norfolk International, is about 67 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Richmond International, about 137 miles away.
The best schools in and around Kill Devil Hills
Schools across Kill Devil Hills average an A−, better than 84% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Nags Head Elementary SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- First Flight Elementary SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
Top middle schools
- First Flight Middle SchoolA− · 58% proficient
Top high schools
- First Flight High SchoolA− · 60% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Kill Devil Hills school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Kill Devil Hills 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 Kill Devil Hills against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Kill Devil Hills
Is Kill Devil Hills a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Kill Devil Hills ranks 10,353rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on clean air, civic engagement, and health care access, 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 Kill Devil Hills expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $442,967. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $87,672 median income, cost of living beats 68% of towns.
Is Kill Devil Hills safe?
Yes, Kill Devil Hills is safer than 89% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $216 per resident a year.
Compare Kill Devil Hills with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Kill Devil Hills. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Kill Devil Hills 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.
Kill Devil Hills detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Kill Devil Hills: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Kill Devil Hills: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Kill Devil Hills: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Kill Devil Hills: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Kill Devil Hills 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.